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To Dai For, Part OnelivedesignonlineEllen Lampert-GreauxMon, 2016-01-04 13:04

Scenic designer Alicia Tkacz, architect and production designer at the London, UK-based StufishEntertainment Architects, brought the exterior design into the interior of the Wanda Group’s Dai ShowTheatre in Xishuangbanna, China, when she created the sets for The Dai Show, as directed by FrancoDragone. Tkacz reports that, for the first stage of the project, approximately one year, the Stufish team wasmeeting regularly with the client Wanda, Dragone, and theatre consultants from Auerbach PollockFriedlander in Beijing, initially for architecture-focused meetings. Be sure to read about the Dai ShowTheatre in Chinese Dragone.

“Once construction started on site, I then started going to Belgium to Dragone’s offices to work more on theset design,” she recalls. “As we had been developing the building for over a year, we were in a great position,as we could translate the theatre for the show people, and having the exact 3D model for the building meantwe could be extremely precise in specifying everything. Combining our roles of architect and set designerallowed us to utilize our in-depth knowledge of the theatre space and ensure the design of the sceneryblended coherently into the architectural concept.”

One example of this is how the exterior roof structure covers the auditorium, giving the impression that theaudience is seated beneath a canopy of palm trees. This natural setting carries through the scenic design. AsTkacz notes, “We were involved in early concept discussions with Dragone and knew it was a water show,but smaller and more intimate than the first one he did in China.”

The result is a 1,183-seat theatre, three-quarters in the round, with a keyhole, or gateway, leading to a huge,mysterious space behind the pool. As Tkacz explains, “The vast, dry upstage area at the back edge of thekeyhole is the main entrance point for the scenery and serves as the only access to the stage. An early designconcept was to create a portal framing the upstage area that we called the ‘dragon roots,’ a permanent setpiece that segues from the theatre to the auditorium, like roots breaking through the stage and taking overthe building.” The roots are a natural brown, with orange tones to make them look like they have a rustymetal finish.

Most of the scenery for this show was built in China at the Yang Liping workshop in Beijing, which built TheHan Show for Dragone as well. “They understood what kind of treatment the scenery needed to besubmerged in water and worked on corrosion issues,” notes Tkacz.

Because of the low grid height, just 18m above the seats, and the ceiling that peaks in the center, there wasnot a lot of space to hang scenery above the stage or the pool. Stufish integrated ten acrobatic gates with anelaborate 3D flying system into the design of the roof structure, allowing performers to fly from nine-meter-high platforms and soar above both stage and audience. As Tkacz observes, “With the acrobatic gates aroundthe nine-meter-high railing, winches, projectors, and the roof structure all exposed, it feels almost like youare in a circus tent.”

The stage itself measures 1,400sq-m and is divided into three sections: a central stage with a 14m-wideperformance basin containing an eight-meter-wide pool plug that lowers down 5.5m to allow for a dramatic15m-high dive off the catwalk above; the forestage that can be either wet or dry, like the main or centralstage; and a dry upstage section used symbolically to convey a vast infinity and for such practical purposesas storing and transporting scenery. Each area can be filled with water separately, or the entire performancebasin can be filled in 45 seconds and then drained in just 20 seconds, thanks to four 200-HP pumps.Theatre consultants Auerbach Pollock Friedlander designed the system.

Various scenic elements are designed around the performance requirements of acts in the show, such as aflower that hangs from the center grid and comes down early in the show for a number by the lead femaleperformer. “It is then struck and taken out,” explains Tkacz, “so other things can happen in the grid.” The

flower itself is quite complicated—automated, computer controlled—like a pink lotus flower that descendsupside down and opens, evoking a Buddhist influence.

On the dry upstage area, flat panels printed with a dragon root pattern were laser-cut into shapes placed ona net backing. These are manually pulled into place by stagehands and used to close down the space to drawattention to the center of the stage. Platforms for acrobatic balancing acts are raised above the floor andmolded to look like the dragon root world.

Another set piece is called the Bodhi Tree, and performers bring out baskets with ropes and create amaypole around the tree. “Franco was keen to make this a low-tech show in some senses,” says Tkacz.“Other than the flying, most of the scenery has to be easily moved around by the actors. We wanted to createa fantastical kind of world in which nature and transformation were the key inspirations.”

Ripples Of Sound“The Dai ShowTheatre is influenced by both local culture and local nature, fusing them to create an iconiccultural symbol for the Wanda development in Xishuangbanna, China, near the border with Burma,” saysMark Holden of Jaffe Holden, acoustics consultant for The Dai Show Theatre. “Housing a water acrobaticsshow, the theatre is a highly sophisticated venue that sets a new level of artistic and technical achievement toexcite audiences from all over the world.Everyone involved was sensitive to both the budget and aggressiveschedule, and worked together toward a common goal of successfully opening the theatre.”

Holden explains that the theatre is located adjacent to a noisy main highway that was eventually baffled andattenuated with acoustic berms. The theatre was also “acoustically challenging,” he says. “Round walls witha conical roof might have caused disastrous acoustics. The metal roof might have been a giant ‘drum head’ inthe torrential downpours in this part of the tropics.”

To avoid this eventuality, Holden reports that his team “performed an acoustic 3D modeling analysis of thecurvilinear geometry to determine optimum locations of acoustic treatment.” To reduce destructivefocusingof sound at the curves’ center, “the roof was folded and articulated with deep ridges and valleys.Roof materials were interwoven with sound dampening and resilient mats to eliminate rain noise andadjacent highway noise,” adds Holden. “Natural timber slats on the walls were shaped and spaced to absorband control negative reflections between custom-painted silk acoustic panels,strategically located foroptimal acoustics on perimeter walls and partitions. No detail was too small. We control the noise of333,000 gallons of water from perimeter drains with acoustically designedperforated attenuators.”

The consultants at Auerbach Pollock Friedlander designed the audio system. “Placement of the loudspeakerswas driven by a combination of architectural and artistic needs, as well as coordination to ensure that thesound system is never in the way of any of the acrobatic or special effects systems,” says Paul Garrity,principal AV consultant for Auerbach Pollock Friedlander. “The goal was to achieve a fully envelopingsurround sound environment in what was a difficult acoustic environment, due to reflections from the roundshape of the space, the water, and other special effects systems in the room. It was a challenge to findlocations for the systems that were not in the way of the 3D-performer flying and other stage effects systems.The use of traditional large line arrays was not possible, so smaller systems were discreetly placed within thearchitecture to achieve the necessary coverage.”

Sound designer Corrado Campanelli notes that the main PA is entirely from Meyer Sound and consists often UPA-1P loudspeakers in a ring to cover almost the entire auditorium, except the last three rows of seats,which are covered by 23 UP4-XPs installed under the soffit. For the subs, there are three LFC-1100s up onthe grid in the middle of the UPA-1P ring. “We installed an additional source point at the band platform withtwo UPQ-1Ps and three UPJs,” says Campanelli. “This gave us the possibility to shift the image down fromthe UPA and provided us more options for mixing. In a 270ºconfiguration like The Dai Show Theatre, thesurround is very important. Here we have two rings of speakers, the main one being made of 19 UPJunior-XPs installed on the edge of the soffit to cover up until the fifth row. For the last five rows, we have anotherring of 40 MM4-XPs installed on the rear wall of the auditorium.”

In terms of the quality of the sound, Campanelli adds, “We tried to get the best out of the system duringtuning. In a configuration like that, with many different speakers, it can get tricky to make them all cometogether, but I think, together with Chris Moore from Meyer Sound, we managed to find the best settings.The sound is very intelligible, a typical feature of Meyer’s speakers. The warmness of the UPQ and the punchof the 1100 LFCs complete the picture.”

The show features live music, with a five-piece band performing every night, comprising drums/percussion,electric bass/up right/cello, keyboards, violin, and vocals. “They also use a sequencer, running on AbletonLive, but the musicians play live in every song,” says Campanelli. “There is a lot of sound design in this show,and all the sound effects have been purposely created for the scenes. We use Wildtrax from the Meyer SoundD-Mitri as the playback system. The front-of-house sound operator triggers some of the cues manually, andsome are triggered directly by the Photon video system via UDP.”

For sound in a wet environment, Campanelli admits, “The water is certainly an element to take into accountwhen mixing. It’s important to be in the correct state with the lifts and with the special effects—fountainsand waterfalls—when mixing, as the impact on the sound is massive. Luckily, having worked on a few otherDragone water shows, it was a known element. The difference is actually amazing. If you listen to a song youmixed for an act with a lot of water effects and then again without any effects, the mix will sound completelywrong.”

Another challenge was certainly the location of the theatre. “Very beautiful, but quite remote, so if you justrealize during the process that you need a new piece of equipment, be prepared to wait a long time as it isnot that easy to get items over there,” notes Campanelli.

For more, download theDecemberissue ofLive Designfor free onto youriPad or iPhone fromthe Apple App Store, and onto yourAndroid smartphone and tablet from Google Play.

Source URL: http://livedesignonline.com/dai-show-theatre/dai-part-one

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To Dai For, Part TwolivedesignonlineEllen Lampert-GreauxFri, 2016-01-08 13:04

Scenic designer Alicia Tkacz, architect and production designer at the London, UK-based StufishEntertainment Architects, brought the exterior design into the interior of the Wanda Group’s Dai ShowTheatre in Xishuangbanna, China, when she created the sets for The Dai Show, as directed by FrancoDragone. Tkacz reports that, for the first stage of the project, approximately one year, the Stufish team wasmeeting regularly with the client Wanda, Dragone, and theatre consultants from Auerbach PollockFriedlander in Beijing, initially for architecture-focused meetings.The result is a 1,183-seat theatre, three-quarters in the round, with a keyhole, or gateway, leading to a huge, mysterious space behind the pool. Besure to read To Dai For, Part One and more about the Dai Show Theatre inChinese Dragone.

Technical Challenges

For Kjell Peersman, production technical director of The Dai Show, logistics in China were also a challenge.“The biggest advantage we had in building the theatre and the show at the same time is that the designers ofthe theatre and the scenic designers were the same: Stufish,” he explains. “So any set that was invented andbuilt fit immediately in the space, both physically and aesthetically.However, putting up a show this size insuch a remote part of China is a logistic nightmare. Transport, interventions, and spare parts take a lot oftime to get on site and also quite simple stuff—bolts or wood filler—cannot be purchased locally and has tobe flown in.”

Many local suppliers had little idea what the team was doing and delivered low-quality material and thenwere amazed how fast it was broken. “Dragone’s TSE/THD department had a lot of input in the choice ofgear, although local brands were sometimes chosen to fit in the limited budget we had to put up a show ofthis size,” Peersman adds. “During the two years before the opening of the show, regular creative sessionswere held involving the complete group of designers and creative staff. In that way, we were able to have abig impact on the positions of all technical systems in the space.”

And once again the water plays a role. “Dragone has built a vast reputation of creating water-based showsand has developed an enormous know-how for all the challenges related to having water on stage,” notesPeersman. “First of all, it is not only getting the water on and off stage at the required moments, but also thequality and temperature of the water is of the highest importance, since the artists are in it for almost half ofthe show. A nice, hot pool for the artists means that there are a lot of other consequences, such as moisturein the auditorium—the temperature on stage has to be higher than that in the audience—and unexpectedairflow that influences the atmospherics used in the show. Also, the choice of materials, paint, and fabricsfor sets and costumes is determined by the wet environment.”

A large crew is required to run this show with its more than 60 performers. “In the run up to opening night,there was a great cooperation between the production department and their dedicated crew and theoperations crew, which runs the show now on a daily basis,” explains Peersman, who lists the running crewas comprising four automation, eight rigging, four sound, four special effects, ten lighting and projection,nine carpenters, 15 wardrobe, and four stage management. “Together with maintenance, ushers, catering,and administration, The Dai Show Theatre is the daily workplace for more than 200 people,” he adds.

Lighting designer Olivier Legendre, who previously designed Taboo, a show directed by Dragone in Macau,is not a stranger to working with water. “You do not light the water, which is transparent, but use thereflections created by it,” he says. “This is no more complicated than any other reflective material, but youdo have to find the proper direction for the light.”

Reflections Of Light And Video

Legendre points out that the show utilizes a lot of video-projected décor on the floor, and as a result, “wetried as much as possible to work with the video team, to match colors, levels, and the mix of gobos andimages,” he notes. With Tkacz’s large “dragon roots” as a permanent presence on the set, Legendre designedthe show around them, “to make them look mysterious and a little magical at times and, at other times,simply natural. I also often light the fabric cut in the shape of roots to project shadows on the ground nearthe entrance to the stage with the wash lights,” he notes.

The acrobatic numbers are linked by transitions during which the décor for the next number is installed,with the show broken down into four acts and an introduction. “The Dai Show Theatre is like a superb circustent that houses an enchanted forest in which a young man meets a beautiful princess acrobat,” explainsLegendre, who programmed the show himself on an MA Lighting grandMA2 console, knowing that the showwould be run by someone else later. “Several Chinese board operators take turns behind the console, afterbeing trained by Xavier, the head of lighting for the Wanda Group, and by me for the show. It works out verywell. The entire show is programmed with a sequence of about 150 cues. Certain parts use timecode,although most of it is manual, but the most complicated thing in China is not speaking Chinese.”

The video content design for The Dai Show is by Patrick Neys, who has also worked with Dragone in thepast. The technical side of things was handled by VYV from Montreal, whose team included videoprogrammers Alexis Rivestand Tommy St-Yves, as well as VYV co-founder Emric Epstein. The video systemcomprises nine Christie DS+14K-M projectors, each on a moving platform, and as Epstein explains, “eachprojector has a camera, responsible for the calibration of the projector.” This is a process invented by VYV,used for the first time at Dragone’s Han Show last year.

The cameras are Natural Point Prime 13 auto-calibration cameras. “Each projector is automatically alignedby software in the camera,” says Epstein. “The projector can be pointed in any direction and stay alignedwith realtime calibrations. This is only the second show in the world to use this technique.” There are alsonine Prime 41 motion-capture cameras, installed permanently to track infrared tags that the actors wear viathe Albion tracking system, also developed by VYV.

Neys’ content creation team had six artists on site during rehearsals, with a system to create the 3D motiongraphics that serve as a canvas for the entire show. “They sent a secondary video output from this system tothe Photon media servers, which capture it as a live video feed and can assign it to any projection surface,”explains Epstein. “The advantage is that they can create content and see the result in realtime on the realsurfaces, without the hassle of rendering files, copying to the NAS, and importing the content in the mediaservers. Even though these steps are optimized, and this is what we do for final delivery, creating content inrealtime without any latency or manual extra process is a huge time saver and provides an incomparablefreedom in creativity. Also the Photon media server offers very advanced realtime image processing,compositing, editing, and color correction tools, so on a normal creation day, you would have Patrick Neysdesigning content from [Adobe] Photoshop or [Autodesk] Combustion directly on one surface, with thePhoton programmer working simultaneously on other projection surfaces or elements.”

The video programmers had numerous roles during the rehearsals, as well. “They are in charge ofintegrating the projection system and aligning cameras and projectors, when something has moved or lampsare changed,” notes Epstein. “They program the timeline, import media, and prepare all cues to automatethe show as much as possible, and finally train the local crew for operation and long-term system support.They work under direct supervision of the content designer and are the link between the technical andartistic aspects for the video.”

For more, download theDecemberissue ofLive Designfor free onto youriPad or iPhone fromthe Apple App Store, and onto yourAndroid smartphone and tablet from Google Play.

Source URL: http://livedesignonline.com/dai-show-theatre/dai-part-two