Carmen Ruest was on the ground floor as a street performer when Cirque du Soleil was born in the 1970s in Montreal.

Make that stilts: In her earlier career, Ruest was dancing on stilts, partnering with Gilles Ste-Croix, who would also become a pioneer in mounting what the world knows now as Cirque du Soleil.

In an interview recently, when Quebec-based Cirque announced that it was bringing "Saltimbanco" to Honolulu, Ruest — who now is the franchise's director of creation — said she has been at the heartbeat of the Cirque phenom and explosion.

"It all started with a dream," Ruest said of how Cirque was founded by the visionary Guy Laliberte who envisioned a performing circus without animals doing feats in the air and on the floor. It is said that the French Canadian Laliberte. was vacationing in Hawai'i and basking in the sun when he imagined this spectacle of troupers. Hence, the moniker, the circus of the sun.

"I lived it, I saw it coming," Ruest said of the humble beginnings. "The artists were all so passionate; everything was happening. We were all totally immersed in what we were experiencing; we wondered, is it going to work in a year?"

Cirque's mantra, "Impossible is not a word in our company," is proven each time a new production bows — and Las Vegas seems to be Montreal South, what with its proliferation of Cirque shows.

"We provoke the imagination," she said of the Cirque magic dust. "What we wish for is that when a person comes to see a Cirque show for the first time, he will open a new door and a new imagination, sharing with others his joy, and more and more will come (to the shows)."

With its penchant for capturing the unique and the unusual, and restaging feats and prowess for the masses, "what is normal?" Ruest wondered. "If it's different, it's possible to stage."

The journey to Hawai'i posed transportation challenges.

"We normally have 10 to 12 trucks. … For Hawai'i, we have to fly in everything," she said.

The local performance space is also gargantuan. "We usually have 2,500 seats; for Hawai'i, we'll have 4,000 seats — three sides (of seating)."

And, she said, Cirque indulges in inventive music. " 'Saltimbanco' was the first show to use singers. I tell you a secret: It's about an imaginary city, so you think you hear Italian, but maybe Greek, maybe Spanish. We wanted the music to have the fabric of the city."

While Cirque searches for fertile soil in Honolulu, the company is readying launches of new shows in Macao and Tokyo this year, with three more launchings in 2009.

"Guy (Cirque founder) is a fanatic of music, so that's why original Cirque music always is there — except for the Beatles 'Love' show in Vegas, which has Beatles music," she said.

Since its '70s origin in a tented arena, Cirque has played to 80 million in 200 cities on five continents, making art and theater from basic gymnastics, acrobatics and aerial ballet.