July 2, 2013
Occupational safety inspectors have launched an investigation into the death of a 31-year-old Cirque du Soleil performer who fell to her death Saturday night during the climactic closing scene in “Ka,” when the stage is raised vertically and combatants wearing harnesses move about on cables.
Sarah Guyard-Guillot, a mother of two children ages 8 and 5, was performing in the 7 p.m. show Saturday at MGM Grand when she fell an estimated 50 feet to a pit below the stage and out of the audience’s view. Her anguished cries and moans were heard throughout the hushed theater as the performance was halted. Fellow performers watched helplessly from above before being lowered to the ground, and the audience was ushered out. She was pronounced dead at 11:43 p.m. at University Medical Center.
A tribute and memorial website, ForSasoun.com, has been flooded with condolences and reflections for Guyard-Guillot, who was known as Sasoun and had coached at a Cirque du Soleil acrobatics school earlier in the day. One comment read, “Sarah, you were a blessing wrapped in angel wings with the heart of gold. May you know how much love surrounds you still. Your aerials are dreams to millions of watchers, and you touched our souls. You will be greatly missed. My heart is broken for your family and friends. Spread your wings and fly.”
Another read, “I can’t believe I’ll never again see your smiling face behind that mask of warrior paint. Or hear your infectious laugh. I will dearly miss your sky-high platforms, clunking into dressing room D, making those child-sized flared jeans look a foot longer. I will miss you asking me clarification about English cuss words so you could more effectively banter with Julie and Zula. Most of all, I will miss your unbreakable spirit. You were, and always in my heart will be, among the most badass of badasses. The tiny, hard-bodied girl who kept the boys in Climb at the top of their game. If I ever grow to be half the badass that I knew you to be, I can pass into the unknown a happy girl. So much love forever.”
Guyard-Guillot was born in Paris and had spent more than 22 years as an acrobatic performer. She was a graduate of Annie Fratellini Art & Circus Academy, named for the famed French circus clown and actress. The official website for Cirqeufit acrobatics school in Las Vegas, where Guyard-Guillot served as a coach, said she was an acrobatic and aerialist specialist. She was hired by “Ka” as the production opened at MGM Grand in 2006.
It is the first reported death from an accident onstage in Cirque’s history. The company was founded in 1984.
According to reports from audience members, the incident occurred Saturday night during the latter stages of the production at MGM Grand. Guyard-Guillot was one of the artists suspended by a wire from the show’s vertical stage in the show-closing Final Battle scene. As she ascended to the top of the stage, she slipped free of her safety wire and dropped to the open, unseen pit below the performers.
After the incident, one eyewitness seated in the middle of the audience and just a few rows from the lip of the stage said Guyard-Guillot dropped from the left side of the set (or on the right side, as audience members face the production) over a distance of at least 50 feet. Later, audience members said she fell from a far greater distance, possibly up to 100 feet.
Read more at lasvegassun.com
Related Fall Protection Training DVDs:
