Props, Scenery, Mechanics, Stages
Cirque du Soleil’s big top production Luzia is « a wondrous world that inspires you to explore your senses, enveloped in light and nurtured by rain » getting its inspiration from the nature, modernity, surrealism and mythology of Mexico. For Scène Éthique the Luzia project represented a major design and fabrication challenge since the scenography combined water elements with mechanical and hydraulic ones.
The Luzia stage is built with our patented OST system as is every big top stage for Cirque du Soleil. The particularity of this stage is that it integrates two turntables that revolve around a pool. Because of the water elements present in this show, the flooring and deck panels had to undergo special treatments.
Each time a production integrates water elements, it becomes a major technical challenge. Luzia integrates a programmable rain curtain which is active during acrobat numbers as well as other numbers during the show. We had to design and integrate a pool in the center of the stage to recuperate and reuse the water coming down from the rain curtain. Since the artists are in direct contact with this water, it must be heated and kept bacteria-free. We had to ensure that all components that came directly in contact with the water were corrosion resistant and could also sustain humid heat of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Farenheit).
A towering disk representing the sun dominates the stage of Luzia throughout the entire show. To give the illusion that this 6,000 pounds structure floats like the actual sun in our sky, we designed the “cobra” a huge crane that looks like the snake when it rises to attack its enemies or preys. The cobra can be dismantled for transport and reassembled at the next location.
