Life and Leisure

A wet and wild love story

By Zhang Kun (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-19 07:56

The House of Dancing Water splashes down in Macao, entertaining audiences with a visual extravaganza. Photos provided to China Daily

Franco Dragone, former creative director of the famed Cirque du Soleil, brings a romantic tale to life in a Macao spectacle on the water. Zhang Kun wades in.

Macao's ambition to provide fun for all the family, rather than being seen as just a center for gambling, has been given a high-profile boost with a spectacular new water show.

Newly premiered at the City of Dreams in Macao, the multi-discipline The House of Dancing Water tells a love story in a visual extravaganza that includes acrobatics, high-diving and motorcycle stunts.

The House of Dancing Water is the latest creation of Franco Dragone, former creative director of Cirque du Soleil and the only artist who has created such theatrical shows on water.

With an investment of $258 million, the show features acrobatics, high-diving and motorcycle stunts.

The show has been tailor-made for the City of Dreams, an integrated entertainment complex with casinos, hotels and shopping malls, in Macao.

A special theater was built specifically for the show by the Pei Partnership Architects, which was founded by two sons of the acclaimed Chinese architect I.M. Pei.

It took five years and $258 million to produce The House of Dancing Water, according to Lawrence Ho, chairman and CEO of Melco Crown Entertainment, developer of the City of Dreams.

More than 80 actors and artists have been recruited from more than 20 countries and regions. Faye Leung, a former principal dancer with Hong Kong Ballet, takes the heroine's role of an imprisoned princess; Jesko von den Steinen, an actor, choreographer and filmmaker from Germany, portrays the heroic stranger arriving in a sunken ship at the beautiful island, where the princess is the legitimate heir of throne.

It's a love story between East and West, and not taken from any specific folklore. "I took the characters from what's common to all cultures - be it Italy, India or China, we all have similar archetypical characters such as the evil stepmother, the funny clown, and so on," Dragone says.

"I have made my studies about the history of Macao, and the sinking boat at the beginning of the show is based on something real in the history," he says. "Imagine a Western young man hidden in a box took a long journey at sea, and comes to this lovely island, and sees this beautiful but encaged princess."

As the performance begins, a life-size sailboat rises out of the water to become a platform for diving displays and then submerges within seconds to give way to a dance floor for actors. Later, more complicated set changes accommodate the actors' swimming and acrobatic stunts, including a high dive from 24 meters, a feat achieved by only a dozen athletes around the world.

Audiences to the media preview in September gasped, marveled and screamed at the show that went on for only 70 minutes.

The 270-degree theater-in-the-round design accommodates 2,000 seats and a central stage with a diameter of 20 meters.

Underneath the stage is the world's largest commercial pool that holds about five times the water contained in a standard Olympic swimming pool.

"It's a site-specific show, tailor-made for Macao," says Ho. "The complication of the stage design makes it hard to go on tour anywhere else.

"We decided to make a water-based show when I first met with Franco, not only because Franco had already created two highly successful shows on water," Ho says. "But also because water is important to people in Macao, and we want to make a show that local people can take pride in, and think of as their own."

Macao, Asia's gambling capital, gives lots of emphasis to water. People in Macao tend to have faith in Chinese feng shui ideas, and believe water helps to gather wealth.

The huge investment in this show reflects Ho's determination to follow the Macao government's call to bring diverse entertainment to the city. "Macao has a lot to give besides gambling. We can provide colorful activities for families on vacation."

As to the returns on the big investment, Ho doesn't seem worried. "We believe we can recover most of the investment in a few years," he says. Besides, "we're already enjoying some intangible benefits from the show - as we go abroad to promote The House of Dancing Water, people also got to know about our City of Dreams".

Dragone is from Belgium and a founding member of the acclaimed Cirque du Soleil. From 1985 to 1998 Dragone directed nearly all of Cirque du Soleil's shows and was a key developer of the Canadian entertainment company's unique style, which combines acrobatics and theater.

His first water show, and the first water-based show in the world, O, was premiered by Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, and in 2003 he formed his own company. One of his first creations under the Dragone brand was A New Day starring Celine Dion. In 2005, he created a second water show, Le Reve. So far, more than 70 million people have seen his creations all over the world.

"Performing in water brings a kind of spirituality. Water is the element symbolic of life. You can't control water, you need to have dialogue with it," Dragone says about his creating experience.

At first it was difficult to work with water - the production of O taught him that costumes could only last two shows and shoes would be totally destroyed in water.

"I decided to do this show not only because I want to use what I learned about water from my two previous shows, but also because Cirque du Soleil has a show going on at the Venetian next door (another casino-hotel-shopping-mall complex) and I wanted to do something different."

As water is an important natural resource, Dragone found a way to avoid wasting water. "We built one pool on top of another, so that we can recycle the water. It's a big-budget production, but it's our responsibility not to waste a penny," he says.

The House of Dancing Water tells of an Asian princess harassed by her evil stepmother, who wants her peace-loving son to take the crown. A Western stranger arriving in a sinking ship falls in love with the princess, and tries all means to save her from imprisonment.

Dragone was familiar with Chinese acrobatics and martial arts but decided to be careful not to make a clich kungfu show. "That would be like asking a Chinese chef to make spaghetti," says Dragone, who was born in Italy.