Flying Robots Join Cirque Du Soleil

 Ten years ago I saw Cirque du Soleil at the Albert Hall.  At the end of the first act of Alegria, the whole theatre was turned magically into a snow-storm while a single forlorn clown staggered across the stage.   Wonderfully done and only surpassed this month when Kate Bush did something similar during her residency at the Apollo theatre in London [a performance I should eulogise about another time].  With that in mind, I came across this short film this week which is rather lovely and sort of mind-boggling at the same time.  Cirque du Soleil have partnered with a Swiss technology firm to develop a short film featuring 10 quad-copters in a flying dance performance. The collaboration resulted in a unique, interactive choreography where humans and drones move in sync. Precise computer control allows for a large performance and movement vocabulary of the quad-copters and opens the door to many more applications in the future.

At the theatre again, I remember being hugely impressed when the producers of Chitty Chitty Bang managed to get a car to seemingly fly over the audience (well the first few stall seats at least) at The Palladium.  The mechanics and engineering behind that 'show-stopper' was massively complex and expensive.  Suddenly, with Cirque and partners' innovation, special effects opportunities may well explode: props that fly, furniture and scenery that moves itself and interiors on stage that interact with actors.  The dynamic and value of objects suddenly takes on a whole new dimension.  Whether there will ever be a production of Noises Off that can made any funnier by such marvels I am less sure, but certainly any play where "things go bump in the night" might.  This movement could be terrifying, and remarkable, even beyond the boundary of the first few rows.    

 You can see the film here: