The crowning attraction of the many multi-media and live entertainment venues at the City of Dreams complex in Macau will be the Dragone aqua spectacular, House of Dancing Water, which is scheduled to première later in 2010.
Stage Technologies was brought on board to design, supply and install a 141-axis automation system, controlled by a powerful combination of two fixed Acrobat desks, two portable Nomad desks, and four handheld Solo consoles.
The system includes a 40-unit track and trolley system, which can transport up to 250kg at 3.5m/sec, allowing mobile flying axes to pitch acrobats over the heads of the audience in heart-stopping feats of power flying, and swing performers from the prominent catwalk stage into the water below. The 100m by 60m grid mirrors the entire theatre area, which is almost completely covered by an immense pool that holds approximately 2.5 million gallons of water.
Lineset winches are rated to 2,000kg at 2½m/s, resulting in the capacity for incredibly fast changeovers of Dragone’s characteristically complex and beautiful, but sometimes load-heavy sets. The Stage Technologies system also controls the eight hydraulic stage lifts and three vomitory lifts.
In addition, equipment was provided for Dragone’s rehearsals in Belgium. The rehearsal studio contains two tracks and trolleys and eight point hoists, mimicking the main system’s functionality and allowing the automation programmers to rehearse and programme the show both with real world movements and also in an offline, virtual, 3D configuration. The rehearsal control system adds six local control joysticks to the control consoles.
Steve Colley, the Head of Automation and Rigging at Dragone had this to say about working with Stage Technologies:
‘Our decision to ask Stage Technologies to supply all of the equipment for our rehearsals, as well as the City of Dreams, was definitely the right one. It has enabled us to provide as seamless a transition as possible for the performers and operators when switching from rehearsals in Belgium to the real thing in Macau. Stage Technologies has been unbelievably helpful in providing a complete set of new high-speed winches for rehearsals and as a result we have a system that very closely replicates the fit-out at the City of Dreams.
‘The beauty of this collaboration was that there was no need to look outside for other specialist subcontractors. The Stage Technologies engineers have a strong understanding of creative performance art, so in addition to the main systems engineering we were able to work closely with the design team at STL to develop two specially-crafted pieces using dedicated and custom designed winches based on our creative needs for the show. Because all of our drives, controls, desks and consoles are common between the two venues, we are able to start pre-programming and to pre-visualise the more complex sequences in 3D with new software. This is one of the keys to managing the scale of our operation and has maximized time management for the teams in Belgium and Macau. The liaison between our two camps has been incredibly productive.’
