Robert Juliat in The House of Dancing Water
- Details
The House of Dancing Water has been seen by over 5m people since its premiere in 2010. It is probably the largest and most spectacular water-based show in the world and, after more than 3000 performances, the longest running show on the Cotai Strip.
The show takes place in the purpose-built, 2000-seat, 270° in-the-round, House of Dancing Water Theatre and is directed by Franco Dragone. The story is focused around a huge 50m x 7m deep pool containing 3.7m gallons of water and involves 90 performers and over 200 international technicians who work their magic to create a show that dances with colour and light.
The show’s lighting designer, award-winning Luc Lafortune, originally specified Robert Juliat Victor followspots and 14 RJ D’Artagnan profiles, all of which have worked hard for eight years, playing 10 shows a week in a highly unusual, moisture-filled environment, and been maintained by the lighting team led by head of lighting, projections and special effects, Karl Jenkins.
Jenkins comments, “Robert Juliat provides some of the most optically accurate luminaires in the world, and for this reason and their amazing longevity, they were chosen for the original build. There was no question that the replacement for the Victor followspots, after eight years of excellent service, would be anything other than another RJ fixture. With the large push towards sustainable shows and LED technology across the board, the RJ Oz is the best fixture on the market by far for our needs and, with its release aligning precisely with a major upgrade of the show, it was a perfect candidate for the replacement.”
Retaining the initial design intention of the show was important to the lighting team when considering the replacement, so a demo unit was provided by Pacific Lighting (HK) Ltd to allow them to make an accurate assessment: “The performance of the Oz when seen side by side the Victor exceeded our expectations and the light output was more than suitable for our needs,” confirmed Jenkins.
Like their predecessors, the six RJ 600W LED Oz followspots are rigged evenly around 270° of the circular grid above the audience, and used to highlight the show’s main protagonists. We are extremely happy with the new LED replacements and I would specify Robert Juliat again, especially the new LED range, without a doubt.”
The RJ Oz 600W LED followspots – and all the show’s RJ equipment - were supplied by White Light Ltd via Robert Juliat’s local distributor, Pacific Lighting (HK) Ltd, which has sold over 160 Robert Juliat followspots to the region since becoming part of the RJ family.
(Jim Evans)
