The Samis (performers) danced and sang in the middle of the crowd holding and juggling a long light pole, designed by interactive experience's designers Rafael Mizrahi and Mickey Martin - the object was made of telescopic aluminium poles and 3D printed plastic parts, making it lightweight for the performers. "Wireless Solutions provided the most reliable wireless technology, and the fastest to communicate with the lighting in such a crowded radio environment," says Mizrahi.
Inside each staff there was a Nano RX OEM module of 5 volts with an internal antenna. "We used Madrid's Arena, a venue of 100m x 60m - wireless range. We also took into consideration the thousands spectators within the area with mobile phones. We deployed a single Blackbox F-1 with a standard 3dBi antenna, placed at the centre of the venue to transmit the signal - this covered the area seamlessly," adds Rafael.
Sama-Sama takes the audience on a 360-degree immersive journey to a parallel universe. A dozen large-scale interactive installations urge the audience to unleash their creativity, become performers, to play and have fun.
Each pole had two rings of 25 RGBW addressable LEDs. There was only one universe of DMX transmitted through the F-1, which was connected to a grandMA2. "We assigned eight DMX channels for each pole and controlled the RGBW colours of each ring - each DMX channel was a colour for the ring, per pole. In addition to the eight channels per 12 sticks, we added 200 more to control the same pixel in all the sticks, making a total of 296 channels. We were able to play the same light chase together and different chases individually."
As for the power consumption, each pole contained a 5200mAh LiPo battery that lasted for over three hours, of which 80mAh were used by the Nano RX card.
The individual installations were created exclusively by the Sama-Sama team and featured user-friendly interfaces and intuitive instructions designed to fully engage the audience. The Sama-Sama journey culminated in a grand finale where all audience members became part of the Sami community.
Recognized for its innovative approach and high quality artistic entertainment, Cirque du Soleil provided guidance in the development of this live experience as well as acting as a business partner in the venture. "We see great potential in Sama-Sama's new immersive concept and have decided to come on board. This innovative approach is unique and we believe it will touch audiences in a brand new way" says Charles Joron of Cirque.
(Jim Evans)
