Montreal’s 22nd Bal en Blanc, Canada’s oldest electronic music festival and one of the first EDM festivals in the world, featured an exclusive attraction by 45DEGREES, Cirque du Soleil’s events and special projects company. Five Cirque acts performing during the Sultan+Shepard set were lit by an array of Clay Paky fixtures provided by 4U2C.
Held on Easter weekend at the Palais du congres, the Bal en Blanc was produced by Produkt with One Drop as its official cause partner. One Drop is a Montreal-based non-profit, created by Cirque founder Guy Laliberte, whose mission is to provide safe water to communities worldwide. 45DEGREES staged its “One Drop Moment” to showcase this collaboration and provide a taste of what’s to come as the partnership continues with Bal en Blanc 2017.
“The challenge was to create a unique Cirque moment during a big EDM show with a live VJ and video artist keying,” says 4U2C’s Karl Gaudreau who served as lighting designer for the attraction. “We made a special design with six Clay Paky Scenius spots and eight Mythos on a 16×16-foot riser in the middle of the space. The dance floor was covered with 90 Sharpys.”
The event marked the first time 4U2C deployed the new Scenius fixtures. “With Scenius we have finally found the best light!” Gaudreau declares. “The color mix and optics are perfect. It’s the best unit for rock ’n roll and theater combinations.”
45DEGREES’ Frank Helpin directed “One Drop Moment.” Barry Russell was the video director and Remi Dubois the VJ.
A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive North American distributor for Clay Paky.
Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky Area Manager for North and Latin America, added, “4U2C has been using our lights quite a bit and we’re thrilled about all the great productions they have created with them.”