We recently connected with Nathalie Yves Gaulthier and have shared our conversation below.
Nathalie Yves , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.
Le PeTiT CiRqUe® is vastly different from the industry standard. We seek out gifted youths in circus arts, martial arts, dancers singers and musicians, ventriloquists , specialty acts and visual artists and package them into jaw dropping live productions for the greater good. It’s basically Cirque du Soleil JUNIOR but with more variety and with pint-sized wonders, and of course, the humanitarian aspect of gifted youths utilizing their gifts to aid others, is globally unique . Employing minors in any industry comes with a load of intricate issues , issues that most production companies would prefer to run in a different direction.
I have always been known as the “kid agent” , “kid star maker”, “dream maker ” etc .. Having owned my own talent agencies for 25 years for young stars in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Beverly Hills, CA, it was an easy pivot into a family entertainment production company.
The industry standard is all-adult companies which perform globally. Rarely , has it ever been, an all youth professional level family entertainment company.
We have to concern ourselves with things that all other companies do not need to think about. We need to have a Child performers Services permit in California ( the approval to employ minors), we are all background checked, finger printed and CPR/First Aid certified. We have to appoint sound chaperones (also all background checked etc) and do a lot of parent hand- holding and be there emotionally for the minors.
It is often an uphill fight to secure bookings as buyers are often not exposed to this type of entertainment and they have to see it to believe it. Their initial assumption is often : “I don’t want a bunch of kids swinging around the stage” , or ” we need 10 million in insurance coverage for this” .. It takes lots of unedited video footage of solid acts with our minors to constantly PROVE ourselves. It’s a never ending process to convince buyers that these minors are as good as, if not better, than adult artists.
The one great selling factor, is the WOW factor.
This is where being different really impresses and has made us an award-winning, internationally recognized and respected family entertainment company. Once they have seen the performance, it always results in rousing standing ovations, as people cannot believe the proficiency of skill, maturity and the impressive astonishing results over an audience in seeing gifted youths , all together on one stage , all dressed in our magical warm-toned costumes and wigs. It is MAGICAL and breathtaking, but most of all, utterly INSPIRING. Young people LIKE to see the or peers doing amazing things – hence, it inspires others , yiuyng and old, ty9o do more for the planet, or be kind, or help others or even, just get to the gym lol .
Nathalie Yves , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My story is quite unique and a bit .. crazy .. I was born in a small fishing village in Gaspe, Quebec.The raised from 6 days old to age 10 in Nunavut, a small Inuit village just below Greenland. Dad was the in the air traffic control; tower there. Hence, I grew up a complete minority with platinum hair , green eyes and very white skin, imparted to all of my classmates (ALL Inuit ( Eskimo) with much darker complexions)
I thought something was wrong with me, I turned to fit in and be accepted, I ran away from some Inuit grandmothers running after me with scissors to cut a lock of my waist-length hair. ( I later come to the conclusion that I would live with my hair on 2 braids and a kerchief over my head like Little House on the Prairie)
I hid behind that kerchief in almost every school photo.
I wanted to be liked, and I had wild ideas in my head, ALWAYS.
At age 7, I write my first play, “Blue Christmas”. I presented it to my 1st grade teacher and she called my parents asking how they had written this for me. My parents were bewildered, they knew nothing about scripts and showbusiness. Luckily, this wonderful teacher let me cast the play and present it in front of the whole school : kindergarten to 6th grade.
The show was hit and I was interviewed win CBC Radio about it lol.
I was also teased profusely by the 4th to 6 th graders , and had a hard time afterwards, b7t I knew in my heart, I had =found my calling.
I was destined to be a show creator, a director. I was, the Greatest ShowWOman!
What set me apart was my age.
By age 14 , I created a company in Montreal called “KIDS IN ACT-ION” , it became one of the top musical theatre and contemporary theatre companies for youth of its time in Montreal , then it expanded to Toronto, then Vancouver, then Hollywood by the time I was 33.
By age 16, I decided to turn all of the Kids in Act-ion branches into talent agencies. Well, that’s when it all exploded!
I was humbly the agent to many , many young stars and helped launch their careers. Booking the starring roles : Ryan Gosling, Hayden Christensen on Star Wars , Elisha Cuthbert on ” 24″ , Rachel Blanchard on “Clueless” series , AJ cook on “Criminal Minds”, Jay Baruchel, Amanda Walsh, and even the upcoming new Mary Tyler Moore ,Emily Hampshire, all had “Gaulthier Artists Inc at the top of their resumes and out had been in my acting programs.
I was on top of the world ad moved to Hollywood in 1997.
Eventually, the agencies were literally stolen from me by agents I had employed – that set me back for YEARS. It was devastating emotionally and financially.
But in hindsight, was the very best thing that could have ever happened to me,
I RE-discovered my original path as a show creator and stared back at ground zero, in Hollywood. The greatest showWOman was BACK!
but this time, on much , MUCH larger playing field.
We were the first in the state of California to open a circus school exclusively for gifted youths. Eventually, the phone and emails poured in, and many wanted ti book these prodigies for all to see.
What I am the most proud of was happened after I received a lead on The Nobel Peace Prize Concert and Warner Brothers Television. I went after this fast and furious sending them videos and pitching a concept to headline The Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway.
We made it happen with 23 youths for 4 different countries. I rehearsed them on “Skype” , barely slept and created an anti-nuclear weapons piece with cirque and the Norwegian youth choir called “We all need a HERO” . Music and lyrics by Aguilera’s songwriter , Heather Holley.
SURREAL it was. We were all flown to Oslo and headlined The Nobel Peace Prize Concert and met all of the laureates at the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. We were crowned with a 10,000 person standing ovation at Telenor Arena, headlining and hanging with John Legend, Sigrid, Lukas Graham and Zara Larson. whoa!!
The main thing I want people to know about me is, I work my BOOTY OFF to get where I land. I have sacrificed having children to do this. I am sensitive and more fragile than I appear, and I genuinely care about my artists, like they were my own blood. I believe in integrity , and have faced some really icky moments , but I believe in honoring God’s words and doing the right thing, ALWAYS.
Le PeTiT CiRqUe® is in a planet all of its own. Our shows are as good as cirque du Soleil, and we haver helped raise $6.3 million for global charities.
We have performed for The Nobel Committee. The Olympic committee , The Dalai Lama, Sultans, Royalty, world leaders, and graced the stages of 2000-4000 seat performing arts centers as well as performing 21 shows in Dubai UAE, Singapore, Canada and all across the USA.
We have 8 full musicals with cirque productions ready to go. Two of which are booked out already. We open OCT 29 in Miami , Florida with our latest Hallow’s eve Hit “The Dummy’s Attic” and “Polaris:” our Holiday cirque musical opens in Troy, Ohio Dec 3 at the Arbogast Performing Arts Center , to Pence Center for the Arts in Coolidge , Arizona and back to Miami, Florida again.
All of our productions feature young prodigies, world and national Champions, stars of Little Big Shots, America’s Got talent, The Voice etc.
All productions are message based and thought provoking on subjects such as community, family, tolerance and acceptance, anti bullying and acceptance of self and one’s calling in life.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Believe it or not, Instagram is my best friend. Literally. That is where we have found a lot of our young talent. Mind you, 85 % of the posts have been EXTREMELY misleading , but the authentic 15% we HAVE cast, have been phenomenal.
While so many parents will post MAJORLY edited videos , we have discovered what is real and what isn’t .
Social media is such a “look at me , look at me” platform, that it has served us well in finding young talents with un edited footage, world champions, and sometimes, natural talent that even the parent has no idea how gifted their child is.
The ones that are overly flashy in their posts, are usually NOT the ones we cast, as when time comes to interview them, the youths are often shy, too parent-driven, and cannot display any skill past 50 seconds or they have no endurance or they are not emotionally “connected”.
I don’t know how many times young people have answered “why do you want to make the world a better place” in an overly rehearsed, disconnected and fake delivery.
We seek out the youths that are authentic, un-glamorized, real and gifted. The ones that know what paying your dues is and hard work.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Oh dear, resilience is written on my heart and skin! My first talent agency ,which had become Montreal’s premiere talent agency, was literally stolen from me in 1997, by a mother I had hired to work for me.
I was in Los Angeles launching the LA branch when she refused to sign her contract renewal , then announced she was “starting her own talent agency: and had already contacted ALL of my star clients and falsehoods were spread me and my life.
This was someone I loved very much and it crushed me, I lost everything I’m one day.
The following day, my Toronto agency decided to join forces with the Montreal branch and I lost that too.
I all happened so fast and so carefully planned.
Then in 2014, it happened AGAIN, by another wealthy mother who opened down the street from me and took 65% of my clientele along with my head coach.
Whoa.. I could city compete with their budget and lost my studio in Culver City,
I felt doomed and that it was all over. It kind of was as I only had 11 kids left.
It was then , at the moment of , I AM DONE AND I GIVE UP, that we found a phenomenal budding near LAX in Inglewood,
It was half the price of the Culver City studio and I picked top the pieces and stared at ground zero again.
It took a bit , and we lost all of our wealthier clients to the mom in Culver City , God forbid they be seen in Inglewood) , but in time, we became the top family entertainment program in the US, attracting young artists from all over the world.
And oh, our commercial neighbors at our facility are now all film and music stars and we are now in a prime entertainment industry HUB, in Inglewood.
Many times, I thought I wouldn’t;ty make it, yet I KEPT GOING with pennies , sometimes loans, because I believed ion this SOOOOO MUCH, I could see it and taste it.
Contact Info:
- Website: lpcla.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lepetitcirqueofficial/
- Facebook: le petit cirque
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/le-petit-cirque®%EF%B8%8F-gaulthier-799049218/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lepetitcirque7909
- Other: Nobel peace prize https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NDijDrQQlU&start_radio=1&list=RD3NDijDrQQlU
Image Credits
photos by Jeff Rovner, Thomas Rhys, Jamie Johnson, Katie Clark , Greg Papazian