The death of Sarah Guyard-Guillot during a performance of the Cirque du Soleil show Ka on Saturday night left audiences shocked, especially since they could hear her screams.
Guyard-Guillot, 31, had been a performer in the popular show since it began at the MGM Grand in 2004 and was the mother of two children between the ages of 5 and 8. The Paris-born performer was also a teacher at a Las Vegas school and graduated from the Annie Fratellini Art & Circus Academy. Her nickname was Sassoon.
On Saturday night, she fell from the stage, then rushed to the hospital. At 11:35 pm. Saturday night, she was pronounced dead at the University Medical Center.
According to The Las Vegas Sun, members of the audience said that they heard screams as the show tried to start up again after Guyard-Guillot fell. But the performers quickly decided not to go on and the show has been postponed since then.
“(The artist) was being hoisted up the side of the stage and then just plummeted down,” Dan Mosqueda, a member of the audience, told the Sun. “Initially, a lot of people in the audience thought it was part of the choreographed fight. But you could hear screaming, then groaning, and we could hear a female artist crying from the stage.”
USA Today reports that Mosqueda’s wife Annie tweeted, “Wire snapped. Performer on far stage left side of stage. He/she fell fast & awkwardly at LEAST 50 feet into pit.”
After the performance was stopped, a voice over the speakers told the audience that they would receive refunds.
“I am heartbroken,” Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte said. “I wish to extend my sincerest sympathies to the family. We are all completely devastated with this news. Sassoon was an artist with the original cast of Kà since 2006 and has been an integral part of our Cirque du Soleil tight family.”
He added, “We are reminded, with great humility and respect, how extraordinary our artists are each and every night. Our focus now is to support each other as a family.”
Laliberte’s company is based in Montreal and is celebrating 30 years. This is the first death of a performer in the company’s history, although there have been accidents. Just last week, a performer suffered a concussion during the last preview show for Michael Jackson One.