A fusion of architecture, storytelling and technology recreates courtship in the world’s largest animatronics show.
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When the sun goes down at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, there’s an unusual ceremony. Two cranes rise above Sentosa Island and romance each other locked in a beautiful courtship ritual dance. But, these are no ordinary cranes. They are giant mechanical forms, the equivalent of 10 stories high at full stretch, creating the world’s largest dancing animatronics show.
The Crane Dance is a visually-stunning waterfront performance at the resort featuring digital art, LED displays, astounding light and water effects, and pyrotechnics as well as an original score that beautifully narrates the crane’s graceful courtship ritual.
The designer of the Crane Dance, Jeremy Railton, recognized the importance of storytelling and worked with Electrosonic to create a beautiful example of the fusion of architecture, storytelling and technology.
Electrosonic Design Consulting specified the audio, video and show control systems as part of the technical design team. The solution met the show designer’s specific requirements — the movement of the cranes and their visual displays had to be very traditional and very iconic to the people of that region.
Electrosonic’s solution uses advanced audio techniques to give the music and the sound effects a left to right directionality, creating the impression that the cranes are talking to each other.
Electrosonic’s visual and audio storytelling complements the cranes’ extraordinary mechanical features. LED screens in the cranes’ bodies are driven by media servers to display layered content that combines groundbreaking audio and visual technologies with astonishing lighting and water effects and dazzling pyrotechnics.
The LED screens display emotive imagery that is synchronized to change with the cranes’ sounds and movements throughout the ritual dance, with lighting and pyrotechnics that bring the ritual to a crescendo.
Electrosonic collaborated with the other partners on the project to integrate the audiovisual elements with the complex mechanical operations of the cranes and synchronize the separate control systems. The result is a magical, harmonious experience.
The original concept for the show was to have two giant sculptures floating on an island. The owner wanted something that had heart — he wanted visitors to respond to it. That meant the solution had to focus on storytelling, not just scale. The challenge was to recreate the cranes’ changing emotions during the ritual dance through audio and visual effects within a giant moving mechanical structure. The solution had to be easily controlled by an onshore team and delivered within a tight timeframe.
The Crane Dance is a multi-million dollar moving art installation that combines groundbreaking audio and visual technologies with astonishing lighting and water effects.
Two hydraulically powered cranes weighing 80 tons each extend and move in six axes through the use of computer and motion controls. LED screens recreate the effect of changing emotions through stunning audio and visual effects driven by an onshore audio and show control system, as well as local controllers on the cranes’ island home.
The Crane Dance is one of the world’s largest dancing animatronics shows. It received a coveted THEA Award for Best Attraction and was considered the ‘World’s Largest Animatronics Robot’ by Guinness World Records.
The award-winning show has given an iconic identity to Resorts World Sentosa, attracting large crowds to the destination and helping it retain the title of ‘Best Integrated Resort’ for nine consecutive years at the TTG Travel Awards.
