“Whatever we have to do, it has to be the best, and this theatre [La Perle] is the best.”
Vice Chairman and CEO of Al Habtoor Group, Mohammed Khalaf Al Habtoor, was elated as he finally got to introduce the future of live entertainment in Dubai – La Perle by Dragone.
“It will be a destination and a landmark for Dubai,” he added in a press conference today where Emirates Woman got to see, for the first time, the first stages of the theatre, the impressive arena being built and meet some of the gymnasts who will be bringing the stage alight.
Al Habtoor explained his passion for the project which he admits has some of the most complicated construction Dubai has seen – and as the city with some of the most unique, and tallest buildings in the world, that’s certainly saying something.
The aquatic show will use 2.7 million litres of water
A show like La Perle has never been done before in Dubai
La Perle by Dragone is located in Al Habtoor City the new thriving city within a city that took over the space once owned by the Metropolitan Hotel (the hotel was one of the oldest in Dubai, built in 1978). However, while a new project the region’s history has not been forgotten.
Founder and Artistic Director Franco Dragone – the man behind the creative shows – made it clear that Dubai’s past is essential to its future.
“We build the future with respect for the past,” he said hinting that the live shows will pay homage to the region. “This is country where history is still being written.”
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What You Need To Know: The Basics
La Perle by Dragone will launch in mid 2017 and will be the region’s first permanent show. There will be two shows a day (7pm and 9.30pm with a run time of 1.5 hours), five days a week.
Each show will be exactly the same and prices for tickets will start from Dhs399. There will be no dialogue, but as Franco Dragone says it will “have a universal language, understood by everyone.”
Kids over five can watch the show, which will have no intermission. Good news there though its that you can take food and drink into the theatre, which will be WiFi enabled – just imagine the awesome Insta Stories you can film.
There will be 1,300 seats in the purpose built theatre
The Show
La Perle will be a one-of-a-kind aquatic theatre experience. There will be 450 performances a year. In the show, the cast will be performing breathtaking aqua and aerial feats in the tailor-made, state of the art, intimate 1,300 seat theatre.
The theatre itself will feature an ‘aqua-stage’ filled with 2.7 million litres of water and will have the ability to change from a dry platform to aquatic stage and vice versa.
Daredevil performers will dive from a height of 35 metres and fly around the auditorium on high-powered winches at a speed 15km per hour.
As a water show there will be splash back so those in front row will be provided protective ponchos.
The show will run twice a day, five times a week
The performers train five times a week, 10 hours a time
The Performers
Currently 65 performers from across the globe are being trained to perform at La Perle, and the training is rigorous – five to six times a week for 10 hours at a time.
We got sneak peek at a training session, here’s the video:
Behind the scenes. Gymnasts for new theatre @laperledxb in training 👏💪 #LaPerleDXB
A video posted by Emirates Woman (@emirateswoman) on
La Perle by Dragone is set to open in mid 2017. For more information, visit laperle.com
