Nakheel to bring touring Cirque du Soleil show to Palm Jumeirah in spring 2009

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The announcement, made at Arabian Travel Market 2008, comes one year after Nakheel and Cirque du Soleil announced a major partnership to develop a permanent show on Palm Jumeirah. In May 2007, an initial 15-year deal was signed with the two organizations announcing the intention to jointly design and build a 1,800-seat theatre that will be home to the first ever Cirque resident show to be staged outside of the USA and Japan. Designs for the theatre are underway, as are the plans for the completely original show, which is being custom produced for Palm Jumeirah.

The company also announced the location for the permanent show, which will be housed in Palm Mall, Palm Jumeirah - the major retail hub at the top of the trunk of the island and one of five mega-malls which Nakheel announced last month.

Chris O'Donnell, CEO, Nakheel, said:

'When we announced the partnership with Cirque du Soleil to have a purpose built theatre and unique show on Palm Jumeirah, it created a huge amount of excitement in the tourism industry and reaffirmed our intention to make Palm Jumeirah the premier tourist destination in the region. Plans for the permanent show are going very well but we did not want Dubai to wait until 2011 to experience Cirque du Soleil again so we are delighted to be bringing Alegria to Palm Jumeirah next year.'

Alegria, which is Spanish for 'jubilation' is one of Cirque du Soleil's most established shows, having been created 13 years ago. Currently on world tour, it will play in Taipei before arriving in Dubai.

Daniel Lamarre, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cirque du Soleil said: 'Alegria is one of our most loved shows and currently enjoying an extremely successful world tour. We are delighted to be bringing it to Dubai where we enjoyed enormous success with our touring show Quidam in January 2007. Quidam's success led to the long term partnership with Nakheel and we are sure that Alegria will be even more successful.'

Of the announced location of the permanent show, Chris O'Donnell said:

'Palm Mall on Palm Jumeirah will be a major destination in its own right - a luxury retail, dining and entertainment destination covering 1 million square feet of space and including three floors of luxury retail. Having our purpose built Cirque du Soleil theatre as the anchor attraction will increase further the appeal of Palm Mall and add to the diverse set of attractions throughout the island, from Trump International Hotel & Tower and Atlantis to Golden Mile and the QE2.'