When a movie is shown at The El Capitan Theatre, Disney usually creates a unique show to coincide with with its release. When Big Hero 6 came out, for example, Disney created an exclusive Laser Show that featured an appearance of Baymax onstage.
Inside Out was no exception. Preceding the showing of Lava and Inside Out in Dolby Vision™ and Dolby Atmos™ is an all-new exclusive show called “Music Of The Light”, an immersive stage show featuring breathtaking illuminations created by 3D Live intertwined with live dancers choreographed by Dave Scott(resident choreographer of “So You Think You Can Dance”).
The five dancers are all dressed in the same colors as the five emotions from Inside Out: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust. Scott explains “For me, being able to interpret emotion through dance live on stage is a brilliant idea. When I started working on this, I was so exciting to think of dance styles that can be inspired by these emotions-hip hop, krump and breakdancing are all part of this this show. We even have a dancer who specializes in aerial work who can express an a static emotion.”
The result is not unlike a Cirque Du Soleil equipped with 3D effects. After an opening equipped with Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion”, the audience then gets to enter the world of Inside Out with dancers performing with songs that match the emotions. For instance, Anger’s dance is aggressively set to Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Going To Take It”.
“With ‘Inside Out’, we have an opportunity to now use a new technology from a company called 3D Live in which live dancers can dance among a 3D landscape from an LED-lit movie-sized backdrop” explains James Woods, who works operations and stage production for The El Capitan Theatre. This can be best experienced with Sadness’s dance, which is set to Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse To The Heart” where the dancer tries to escape an LED projected raincloud.
For my money though, the most memorable and fun dance, was easily Joy’s ballad, set to Katrina & The Wave’s “Walking On Sunshine”, if just for the fun way it incorporates 4D effects from confetti to yellow beach balls(as a warming you could get hit in the head with the balls).
CEO of 3D Live, Nathan Huber, explained it best when he stated, “The El Capitan management are always looking for innovative ways to add a live element to their presentation of new films, which led them to our company 3D Live. They immediately saw the thrilling potential of a state-of-the-art 3D immersive virtual environment, combined with live dancers and awesome choreography, for the El Capitan stage.
“Music Of a The Light” can be seen following every screening of “Inside Out” at The El Capitan Theatre now through August 19th.