Cirque du Soleil goes China

A new theater was built in Hangzhou and the show was produced by Cirque du Soleil.
The focus is on acrobatic shows of artists and special effects by e.g. fire or water. Stage technology is a key part of the show.

We have supplied two 30 x 27 m large ‘seating wagons’. The spectators take a seat on these two carriages, which are movable and rotatable. The capacity per wagon is 721 people. The special thing is that the wagons are surrounded by stages and effects. The artists move around and the audience is integrated in the middle of the performance.

Unlike opera or theater houses, this form does not require a “telling” story. The story lives by the acrobats, special effects and audio-visual presentations.

Construction started on October 12, 2017. The acceptance by the customer took place in January 2019.

Because spectators sit on these wagons and also because of the size of the wagons, the greatest difficulty was to achieve smooth running (noises, vibrations) when driving and turning. Due to the number of installations (ventilation, motors, show effects, loudspeakers, …), a large number of supply and data lines from the mainland to the wagons are provided.

From the beginning of the project, I was there in my capacity as project manager, about once a month for meetings, technical and logistical inquiries, and later to monitor the progress of construction on the building site. From May 2018 I also took over the construction management. After that, I was on the construction site in China, about 80% of my working time, until the handing over.

Due to the intercultural differences, cooperation is more sophisticated than with European companies. For most Chinese companies, it is the first collaboration with a western company.

After getting to know each other and compromising on both sides, we created a cooperative basis and the work was characterized by the common will to implement a successful project for the customer.

Most meetings and all correspondence were held in two languages (English / Chinese). Since most translators remained the same throughout the entire project, a clear learning curve was noticed. As soon as everyone involved knew each other, the communication problems decreased considerably. Everyone knew about the peculiarities of the other.

Due to the complexity and the large number of contractors (audio/video, house technic, decoration, control, chair supplier, ..) who mounted on our wagon, there were countless coordination meetings. Tracking the progress of construction, delivery tracking and continuous quality controls were daily part of my work. With problems of whatever kind, solutions were quickly found and decisions made.

There is still a lot to be done by hand and on site, as working hours in China are significantly cheaper compared to material costs than in Europe.

There were always between 1 – 5 people on site.

The coordination was a big important factor in this project. The sooner all parties have the same understanding of the expiration, the easier and smoother it is later implemented. We became more and more aware of this in the course of the construction site and after the first stumbling blocks we were able to steer the project in a targeted manner and successfully complete it.