"THE HOUSE OF DANCING WATER"-MACAU
- Apr 22, 2018
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 27, 2018
Macau is a country that, among other amazing platters, offers an experience that is a
perfect example of the fact that human ambition, when realized, can sometimes
bring out wonders that the world has never seen - “The House of Dancing Water”.
This immersive, involving and invigorating permanent show is one of a kind due to
the bewildering feats it manages to achieve in a short span of just 90 minutes.
Attended by a thousand people at a time, the show begins with dimmed lights and
soft music, creating a welcoming atmosphere. As the audience settles, they embark
on a journey to witness one of the most creative shows made that features a
transformative stage, exciting acrobatics and an ambience that is able to separate
them from the real world outside the theatre. Since 2011, this show has been
attended by over four million people over 2500 ninety-minute acts. It is a story that
transcends human kind into believing that its most powerful asset is nature in
defeating the evils that one may encounter.
The most striking feature of this show is the stage as it transforms from a land scene
to a sea scene in a matter of a couple of seconds. Created by the Pei architectural
firm of New York (U.S.A), the show is frutified by marvellous engineering, design,
architectural and direction work that flow seamlessly together. Use of special
materials like “Mondo”, a perforated material, more than a couple hundred
automated fountains, almost a dozen elevators enable this stage to get transformed
from a sea stage to a solid land stage in no time.
As more than a couple hundred water jets shoot up water from the ground in sync
with the background score, each spring is separately illuminated using special LED
lights that give way to the audience left in awry. The trance of this show is further
enhanced by immaculate costume design that, on the whole, contain around 15000
separate pieces of crystals by Swarovski. Moreover, the attention to detail kept in
this show calls for more than 275 specially crafted footwear tailor-made for each
performer along with 13 different hair designs for the 90 performers’ wigs. The heavy
duty hydraulic elevators are responsible to lift the stage up from the ground by
around 7 meters creating a pool of 17 million litres of water deep enough for
performers to dive from an 80 ft. height, most often called the highlight moment of the
show.
The stage contains a pool that is around 10 meters deep and 50 meters in diameter
which is then transformed to a dry solid stage, 20 meter in diameter . Even so, to
the audience it does not seem like a shift in size as only around 21 meters in
diameter of the pool is visible to them and the rest is used as storage and performer
entrances. There are specific acclimatization points under water where performers
can catch a breath as they prepare for a re-entry. The pool is lit from the bed up with
blue LED lights specially created for the specific purpose only and to provide a more
realistic sight, 1,25,000 litres of compressed air is pushed out under water to create
microbubbles through around 400 pods. The theatre is draped by around 350 kg of
flame retardant curtains from the company ShowTex that act as acoustic masking.
The use of various in line microphones that are placed intelligently throughout the
audience area captures live sounds and puts it out through the surrounding speakers
to create a reverberating effect.
A spectacle as such, it has been built up from the ground using 3D modelling which
makes the experience a very inclusive one. Performers can emerge and disperse
from and to anywhere on the stage which actually culminates to an experience best
described as not just watching the show but being one with it and in it. In fact, for the
first few rows the experience is 4D with water splashing at them from time to time
due to the acrobatic stunts. Combining all these aesthetics and functionalities of the
stage with immersive video projections, more than a hundred dynamic and moving
light fixtures, more than a couple dozen smoke machines harmonizing with each
other as the stage rises up from the water like a sunken ship makes for a true delight
to one’s senses. The five sharks followed by a 5-meter- tall giraffe later in the show
make for a mind-boggling contrast of scenery. The two groups are obviously never
harmed in any way during the show.
The stage had been initially the brain child of Franco Dragone, an acclaimed
director. To this date, the show still follows his ideal of creating “a sense of intimacy
on a heroic scale.” The dynamic and progressive nature of the show portrays the very characterization Dragone intended to present to the world in the form of a beautifully incorporated entertainment marvel.
References
1. Ebrahimian, B. (2006). Sculpting space in the theater. Burlington, Mass: Focal Press
2. Thorne, G. (2011). Stage Design. New York: Crowood
3. Ebrahimian, B. (2004). The cinematic theater. Lanham: The Scarecrow Press
4. Theatreprojects.com. (2018). [online]
5. Peipartnership.com. (2018). [online]
6. Dragone. (2018). Dragone · Spectators are our passion. Creation is our core.. [online]
7. Thehouseofdancingwatermedia.com. (2018). THE HOUSE OF DANCING WATER – INTERESTING FAST FACTS | "The House of Dancing Water". [online]
Image Source:
1. Peipartnership.com. (2018). [online]
2. The House of Dancing Water. (2018). The Show. [online]
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