Open Integral

Just saw a documentary on the production of the Cirque du Soleil’s new show in Las Vegas called Ka! I was astounded. If there is an integral art form it is one that combines multiple disciplines. Ka! is a fine example. It incorporates all the usual cirque material, acrobatics, costume, music, etc but goes even further to incorporate martial artists. But what truly astounded me was the technical design and innovation. To begin with they built an entirely new type of stage which features a platform on a massive hydraulic system. This stage is able to both tilt and rotate in three dimensions. It begins as a normal horizontal stage by then lifts, rotates and tilts to become a wall over an abyss. The acrobats suspension systems are motorised and hand-controlled. The concept was to defy gravity and this has been accomplished with technical savvy. The staging also involved writing a new computer program for some very sophisticated projection effects. True to its integral nature technicians from several disciplines were employed, including rock concert staging. The computer program maps the rotating stage exactly and has a real-time camera feed back system. This allows an effect of the acrobats appearing to walk on water and causing ripples. The camera reads where the actor is and how they move so that as they touch the platform circular waves are projected. The stage lighting incorporated film and theatre lighting. The sound design was also startling. There were thousands of speakers, including stereo speakers in each seat. This meant that the sound designer could move sound throughout the 360 degree space of the specially designed theatre.

Wow!

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 31st, 2006 at 5:34 pm and is filed under Art, Ray's Integral Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.