Pink, Cirque and the Québécisation de l’industrie

Abstract

On 31 January 2010, during the broadcast of the 52 ^nd Grammy awards, the multiple-prize-winning vocal artist Pink offered a performance of the hit single Glitter in the Air that stunned many viewers. Spectators present in Los Angeles’s Staples Center, along with those watching via electronic media that reached some 26 million people through television in the United States alone, were both thrilled and astonished. ‘C’est la Québécisation de l’industrie!’, commented one excited observer. This paper attempts to unpack this observation and its celebration of a Québécois influence on, even signs of Québec itself in, the international performance industry. Through an exploration of certain genealogies associated with both the art and the artists and an examination of certain moments in the development of the circus arts in Québec, the article notes real traces of Québécois cultural productions appearing in international performance spaces. As it turns to offer a critical gaze onto the very celebration of this perception of a Québec in the popular cultural industry, these pages close on a proposed way of understanding how these performances may ultimately help create and maintain a Québécois identity for their viewers.