As we mentioned a few issues back, at Fascination! we like to clue our readers in to interesting articles about Cirque du Soleil and its shows that appear in various printed, video, and online media. Back in March we summarized one such article discussing the stage technology of Michael Jackson ONE. Just a short three months later they published another one, this time focusing on Light nightclub at Mandalay Bay, where Cirque is pioneering in-club acrobatic performance. As with the other article, it requires the potential reader to subscribe to the online edition (though that is free) in order to view the archived article. And it’s just too much audio-visual technobabble for us to recommend going to the trouble. Instead, we take the most interesting bits and quote them here!
The article appeared in the February, 2014 issue of Lighting and Sound America magazine (start5ing on Page 54). You can find the entire original article, including a breakdown of the equipment in the club by subscribing (and accessing the electronic copies of back issues) at www.lightingandsoundamerica.com.
The article, entitled, ” The Speed of Light: A New Vegas Club Mixes Lighting, Sound, Projections, and Performance Into a Non-stop Parade of Effects” by Louis M. Brill goes into great detail about the audio, video, lighting and projection content involved in Cirque’s first nightclub partnership. We found some interesting quotes and facts among the highly-detailed listing of equipment within. To whit: (the remainder of this article are direct quotes from that article)
# # #
The presence of Light at Mandalay Bay [on the south end of the Las Vegas, Nevada strip, the same casino/resort that houses Cirque’s latest resident show, Michael Jackson ONE] is the convergence of several premier entertainment organizations, including the Light Group, a leading hospitality, development, and management company; Moment Factory, of Montréal, Canada, which provides the extravagant background visual effects throughout the club; Cirque du Soleil, also of Montréal, which presents the nightly aerial acrobatics over the dance floor; and John Lyons Systems, of Hollywood, California, which provides the audio-visual entertainment that beams out every night during showtime.
Light is operated by Light Group and is described by Guy Laliberté, Cirque du Soleil’s founder as, “the ultimate theatrical night club experience that will serve as a laboratory of artistic possibilities.”
While all of the entertainment aspects of Light are important, its audio-visual infrastructure is the spine on which everything else hangs. John Lyons Systems installed the infrastructure. Its founder, John Lyons, currently owns and operates five nightclubs around the US including the renowned Avalon Hollywood. John Lyons Systems designs and installs audio-visual entertainment systems for all his nightclubs and other nightclubs.
[A Club Description]
Light is 38,000 square feet of drinking, dance, and DJ entertainment. Its front-of-house space is composed of huge (almost floor-to-ceiling) LED screens located left and right of the DJ booth. A smaller LED screen is found in front of the DJ booth. Below the latter, a speaker chamber is filled with compact front-of-house speakers. Facing the speakers is a large dance floor surrounded by table booths; overhead is a mezzanine with more table booths. Effects gear includes two Artistry In Motion Mini Blaster confetti cannons, eight Antari SD200 snow machines, six Antari Z1000iii and four Z-1020 fog machines, 18 Martin Professional Jem Hydra fog systems, two Look Solutions Unique2 hazers, and 24 Elation AF-5 fans.
[The “Acro Wall”]
One especially unique visual/theatrical effect is the front-of-house LED/rear projection screen, which hides a small stage behind the rear projection screen. Set next to the LED displays is a second special set of screens made of a translucent polycarbonate material that serves as a front and rear projection screen, a vertical stage, and the theatrical space all in the same location. With Cirque performers climbing on and bouncing off the polycarbonate wall, it’s known as the Acro Wall. Because of its translucency, it also acts as a theatrical scrim. The Acro Wall is placed on either side of the DJ station. Each wall is 20 feet tall by 30 feet wide and fitted with tiled Lexan polycarbonate panels covered with a white translucent 3M Scotchcal perforated window graphic film (IJ65) with a 50% transparency projection surface.
More than just a projection space, the Acro Wall also serves as a staging area for immersive visual effects with Cirque performers. The Acro Wall is actually a set of walls that act as a hollow chamber; behind them is an enclosed performance space. The space also features winches in the ceiling to lower and lift backdrops and props. On the back wall, Lyons says, “we have two large roller scrims that are rear-lit by 2,000 RGB nodes. When in the down position, this creates a rear backdrop that presents a glowing depth behind the performance space. When rolled up, it reveals a high-output matrix of pattern and color, creating a fourth dimension with the Acro Wall.” Lit from the back, the Acro Wall becomes a theatrical scrim and a window into the magical manipulations of vignettes by Cirque du Soleil performers.
[The Visual Effects]
Sakchin Bessette, partner and creative director at Moment Factory, says one challenge is matching video and LED brightness levels across two disparate display formats. “When our content is going through video projectors, sometimes we have to boost up the contrast and brightness to get brighter images. In this case, our video presentation, with its translucent screens, competes with the LED screens, so we have to adjust each display platform accordingly. We also have to be aware of the performers and their lighting needs, the overall ambient house lighting, and other lighting situations as they come up. So we work with the house lighting designers in setting up the overall visual presence for each evening.”
Bessette adds, “Nightclubs are dynamic environments, as each night is different, as are the DJs, the projected images, the performers, and the audience. However, despite these differences, we still need to have a visual presentation that somehow syncs up with the DJ and the surrounding club environment. To make our visual presentations really work, we integrate the architecture, the lighting, the amazing Cirque du Soleil performers, and their Acro entrances as they appear. Ultimately, it’s about pacing, which starts slow with a house warm-up, and, as the DJs begin their shows, builds up the club’s energy as the visuals follow along with a more upbeat and dynamic presence, the VJs work very closely with the artistic directors from Cirque in preparing a program for each night and adapting it to the flow of the nightclub.”
He adds, “To build this visual library, so far we’ve done almost 20 video shoots, which has given us more than 1,000 video clips that have been edited into a large array of concepts and storylines, and each nights visual presentation is drawn from all that material.”
[Breaking the Fourth Wall]
What separates Light from other nightclubs is the injection of live theater into a pre-existing nightclub environment as a new kind of clubbing ambience. Given the various performance vignettes, the venue becomes a 360° stage.
Leu Strope, managing director of Light, says that Cirque du Soleil is very cognizant of the fourth wall, “and we always strive to bust it as much as we can. At Light, we perform in and around the club all the time. When you enter, you’re greeted by some of our character performers. When you’re on the dance floor, there are aerial performances going on over your head and across and behind the Acro Wall. We have parades in the club aisles, and our various Cirque characters are wandering around the club. With the visual effects, the Acro Wall, and the proximity to the audience, it’s as much of the sensory and visual experience as we can sustain to bring our Cirque presence as close to the audience as possible.”
Lyons adds, “With everything at Light put into motion, it is presenting a seismic shift in defining what a nightclub should be.” Bessette says, “Does this all work? We know it does because of how the audience reacts. What we see every night we’re open is a big party with people getting sweaty, dancing, hands in the air, and they’re all smiling and jumping around and letting go. When we see that, we know we’ve succeeded.”
