Objective
Our discerning client had high hopes for this evening and wanted an authentic BC, culturally rich experience for their dessert reception. They represented a food company, so the dessert items had to be branded, tie into the theme and be creatively presented.
Challenges
- Produce a luxe, intimate environment for 150 people in a venue that can easily accommodate 500 people.
- Operate around strict boundaries for set-up and strike access in a working train station, with a tiny window of time to accomplish a LOT of work.
- Originally designed as a networking event with short performance vignettes, guests were instantly transfixed and wanted to sit down to enjoy a full show. This limited the flow of the event and challenged our talent and production crew to adjust “on the fly”.
Strategy
- Infuse distinct, multi-cultural elements to anchor the event theme.
- Merge two uniquely Canadian elements to design a custom Cirque du Soleil style performance with traditional First Nations culture.
- Inspired by the eagle, a powerful emblem in First Nations’ cultures, it also appealed to our American guests. “Spakwus” means Bald Eagle in the Squamish First Nations language.
- We built a functioning, robotic art installation of an eagle with a wingspan of 65’ to ‘fly’ over guests while incorporating aboriginal symbolism with projected graphics and traditional music .
- Immersive, impactful moments were delivered via a 110’ wide LED wall featuring coordinated First Nations quotes, ancestral teachings and graphics.
- Musical performances were featured alongside acrobatics and visual content.
- Once we saw the crowd’s delighted reaction, we pivoted in real time to change the show from vignettes to a running 35-minute performance.
The Result
Guests were curious, delighted, engaged, and our client was thrilled. It was this company’s first time hosting a program in Canada and it ticked all the boxes our client had outlined: an authentic, culturally rich BC experience. At the time, this was one of the biggest technical shows that had been installed in the venue. We dropped the most rigging points into the building that the station had ever seen – in just a day and half. The event was truly a showstopper!
