Do you remember seeing your first live circus performance? Or maybe it wasn’t even a circus —it could have been a concert, comedy show or stage play. Nothing can replace the immersive experience of attending a live show in person.
Over the past 20 years, technology has transformed entertainment and changed our expectations of what live shows can offer. This evolving fusion of streaming technology and live performance is the future of entertainment.
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It is odd to think that live entertainment is associated with the circus. This is a fact but one thing I will argue is that it isn’t the first form of live entertainment most have seen. They make the circus analogous to a concert, but live entertainment started in Greece with theatre and it is likely that you will have seen some sort of school play or puppetry before you go to a concert. Besides this fact, the article seems to be making a valid point. Automation is now part of that set of things we use to produce live entertainment and its evolving more and more. Automation is seen all the time and we love it because it adds another option or feature that makes a thing or set of things more possible. However, it is also closer to the spectacle side of live entertainment and should be used to enhance something rather than be the root of it. It should enhance the root and as long as we don’t get caught up in the cool factor that is automation, it will be used for some very incredible things.
What caught me most in this article was that in trying to understand the audience’s enjoyment in order to continue to grow their creative shows, Cirque du Soleil asked “how do we connect with you?” I think the answer is that they do not and that is what makes it so amazing. The next sentence describes awe as the moment where you just cannot comprehend in your current mind state how something is happening. It is the point where you stop thinking about it and just take it all in. It is this lack of personal connection that allows you to expand and enjoy the complete experience of the show and lose yourself in it. It is different, in my opinion, than say a play where you connect to a character or story line. In losing yourself in that story, you also lose a part of the story or a set of the details because you have been drawn into one specific connection. It is in moments where I have to shake my understanding of the presented reality that I am able to take the whole picture. I think it is that which Cirque audiences love, they are lost in the entire world because it is a world they have never been in before.
Cirque du Soleil is one of those names that one thinks of when talking about the tippy top of the entertainment industry. What interests me about Cirque du Soleil is its commitment to "youth, energy, and strength." When somebody looks at a mission statement for, say, a Broadway theatre or Hollywood studio, one typically would not expect to see these terms. That sense of self, in my opinion, is what sets Cirque du Soleil apart from the competition. They are constantly on the forefront of innovation with new technologies and performance formats, pushing the envelope of what is possible with every show. In doing this, they inspire an all-encompassing sense of awe that cannot truly be described. As such, it seems peculiar to me that the organization always tries to connect with their audience, asking questions like "How do you feel? How do we connect with you?" Perhaps in trying to connect with the audience, they find a way to go above and beyond expectations in a way that inspires awe.
I always get really excited to read about how technology is influencing the life of Broadway and how it’s used and show cased in a completely unheard of fashion. Live performance is, in my opinion, the hardest because of all the inherent risk factors that come along with it and a present audience. So, when technology, which is already in its nature a risky concept, and broadway, yet again very risky, come together I initially get anxious. Two very uncertain and unreliable things coming together to show it to the world, in other worlds, a lot could go wrong. So it always makes me excited and relieved in a way when I hear the successes of technology and Broadway in concert together. Media is something that I feel like is considered new in the world of broadway, but I feel like media has always been there but we just don’t realize that we are using it because the way in which we utilize media then would be for practical and miniscule things. But now it’s used in a more extravagant fashion.
The first large project of interactive application combined with live performance I have ever heard and saw is on one E-sport's annual final. The lighting designer get to control all the cheer bar that were distributed to the audience before hand. There were several configurations to be play with, such as level, strobe speed and color. This really break the distance between the audience and the stage, deeply drew the crowd into the show itself. The whole performance looked like a giant, breathing mass consisted of lighting, sound and human in mass. I think the interactive performance would be the trend for the future concert industry. For the reason that the digital data has no longer limited distribution due to the pirate version and open sharing concept is more and more popular, the audience turns to seeking more of the experiences wise activity while going to a concert. The automation that can be interactive sound such a fantastic thing to be played and designed, I am really looking forward for such system is more and more common.
I’m honestly a little confused as to the point of this article. Is it an ad for Cirque? I agree with a lot of what they are saying, but just pointing out some random facts about a company with no real synthesis isn’t actually journalism. But I guess putting aside the lack of purpose in this article, I think it’s important to be having conversations about how cutting edge art and technology can be successfully married without overwhelming the artistic vision of the show. Cirque is one of the few ventures that gets it right in my opinion. Granted, since their artistic vision is based around spectacle, it’s a little easier to integrate technology. But the point remains that Cirque found a way to incorporate cutting edge technology without looking like all they’re showcasing is that technology. It’s an easy trap to fall into, but I think the more these industries intersect, the better we’ll all get.
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