31-year-old, famous French ‘Crique du Soleil’ acrobatics performer, Sarah Guyard-Guillot, has perished after falling 15 meters / 50ft from a Las Vegas stage. The fall which fatally wounded her occurred during a live performance of the Ka show at the MGM Grand.
Written by Chris White
Her tragic death marks the first fatality during a live performance in the show’s 30-year history.
Witnesses have described how Ms. Guyard-Guillot was being lifted up the side of the stage when her safety harness appeared to unravel, allowing her to slip through to her plummeting death below.
One witness described the incident saying: “Initially, a lot of people in the audience thought it was part of the show, but you could hear screaming, then groaning and we could hear a female artist crying from the stage.”
Guy Laliberte, founder of Cirque du Soleil last night issued a statement, saying: “I am heartbroken. I wish to extend my sincerest sympathies to the family. We are reminded with great humility and respect how extraordinary our artists are each and every night.”
Guyard-Guillot had been performing acrobatics for 20 years since the age of 11 and joined Cirque du Soleil in 2006 at the age of 24. The Ka show is a complicated art genre which involves the mixture of dance, acrobatics with pyrotechnics.
Once the fatality had occurred the show was stopped and audience members offered refunds or vouchers as compensation.
All further shows have been cancelled.
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