Lamarre says his vision has been to diversify and enhance Cirque du Soleil's international footprint since he joined in 2001.

It acquired the New York-based Blue Man Productions, best known for the Blue Man Group series, in July.

"We realized that goal by increasing the number of shows touring about 150 different cities around the world to today's 450 cities in the world," Lamarre says.

"Now, our new priority is to give full commitment to the Chinese market."

Cirque du Soleil has worked with the China Performing Arts Agency to bring Chinese artists into most of Cirque du Soleil's shows over the last 30 years.

Yao Dengbo is the only Chinese actor in Kooza. The native of Huainan, Anhui province, joined the company in 2007 and is skilled at balancing on eight chairs.

Lamarre has traveled to China 10 times this year, including a trip to Beijing in early December to attend the second annual prime ministers' meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

"I believe that Cirque du Soleil is in the heart of the collaboration between China and Canada," he says.

"Its cultural and artistic content is a link between the countries. Our artistic content is broader than a circus. In the future, live entertainment is going to be more technological. We are going to have an evolution of live entertainment."

If you go

7:30 pm, until Feb 11. North Gate Chaoyang Park, 1 Nongzhannan Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 400-610-3721.