Born and raised in Bordeaux, France, Guillaume Dufresnoy abandoned a possible career path as an engineer or math teacher to join the circus. After a short stint at the Conservatoire National des Arts du Cirque in Paris, Guillaume and his partner Frédérique Vanetti created an aerial perch act, named Les Casaly, and went on to perform in France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and Finland. Guillaume then joined forces with a new partner, Mireille Fenwick, to work on a spectacular aerial cradle-casting act, under the guidance of Jean Palacy, one of the world’s foremost specialists in this difficult discipline. With Les Casaly, Guillaume won a Silver Medal at the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris in 1986. Les Casaly performed their extraordinary act with Switzerland’s Circus Nock, with the French National Circus (Cirque Gruss), and, from 1987 to 1990, with the Big Apple Circus. They also appeared on American television in “Seven Wonders of the Circus World” and “Great Circuses of the World.” In 1991, they performed with the world-renowned Circus Knie in Switzerland. Following that season, Guillaume came back to the Big Apple Circus to hold, successively, the positions of Performance Director, Vice-President and General Manager (1997) and, eventually, Artistic Director (2009).