The tech inside Cirque’s big tent

From TechRepublic:

It’s six hours before a performance of the new Cirque du Soleil show, “Corteo,” and backstage, computers are controlling a series of dollies hanging from two giant arched tracks bridging the stage.

Hanging from the dollies are three massive chandeliers from which acrobats are practicing gyrations and twists.

The dollies are the kind of rigging gear seen in just about any circus or theater with acts that require people or props to be elevated far above the ground. But the system running the dollies’ deployment–a crucial element of the show, since nearly every act involves one or more performers flying or leaping high into the air–is entirely automated, something that would have been unheard of to Cirque du Soleil’s progenitors and that is rare even in some of the Cirque’s other shows.

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