Mechanical bird flight | Le Massif launches a “night carousel”

The Massif de Charlevoix team unveiled the details of an immersive sound and visual journey on Tuesday. Inaugurated in June 2023, Mechanical bird flight will allow spectators to fly over the mountain aboard its chairlifts. A project that its designers call a “night carousel”.

John Siag
The Press

The idea of ​​a nocturnal family summer activity in Charlevoix was “latent”, but it was necessary, says Daniel Gauthier. The owner of Le Massif for 20 years — also co-founder of Cirque du Soleil — has been toying with the idea of ​​an entertainment project on the mountain for some time. It was enough to find the right vein…

“With the inauguration of Club Med and the transformation of the Massif into a four-season destination, it became clear to us that we had to focus on the entertainment aspect,” he confides in an interview. Zoom. I left the Circus in 2001, but the circus never got out of the guy. I’ve always said I’d go back to show business. »

With Daniel Gélinas, former general manager of the Festival d’été de Québec and head honcho of the 400^e anniversary of Quebec, Daniel Gauthier has come up with some ideas for shows. But it was ultimately a group of former circus comrades who offered him, two years ago, to set up a “night carousel”, an immersive six-kilometre course in the mountains requiring no transformation of the site. no cutting of trees. Simply on board the chairlifts.

The team of designers grouped under the name Atelier Occhio brings together big names. Starting with the lighting designers Yves Aucoin (founder of 4U2C, designer of Lovefrom Cirque du Soleil, collaborator of Céline Dion) and Martin Labrecque (corteo, Kooza, Kyrios, Luzia, Drawn to LifeCircus, and numerous theater projects).

Other key contributors to Occhio include producer Stéphane Mongeau (Cirque du Soleil, Lune Rouge), veteran sound engineer Jacques Boucher and composer Philippe Brault.

A great feeding toy

The dramaturgy deployed throughout the course – lasting about an hour – was developed by the author, director and artistic director of Quat’Sous, Olivier Kemeid, also a member of Occhio. Its concept: to fly over the mountain like a bird that dives into the river to take its prey and goes back to its nest.

Olivier Kemeid, who also works on the Riopelle Project (presented next year at Duceppe), recalls the genesis of Mechanical bird flight. “In fact, it was Martin Labrecque’s son who took a chairlift in the Lanaudière region, during the fall, and who told his father: it’s really like a merry-go-round… Martin told us: imagine if we use existing installations and magnify the forest with lights? It all started from there and from the impression of being between sky and sea, like a bird. »

Those arriving from the top of the mountain will take the chairlift down to the base of the mountain. Once there, they will take a small walking path, lit by lanterns, then they will go back to the top by taking another chairlift. Those arriving from the bottom of the mountain will make the journey in the opposite direction; the trail will be replicated up the mountain.

“We didn’t want to annihilate the mechanical side of the chairlift, so we worked on the concept of the mechanical bird, like a big toy that needs to be powered to work, like a steam train with coal, explains Olivier Kemeid. So in the path, people will take the lanterns, which will contain water, and they have to pour the water into a conveyor to feed the mechanical bird. »

No voiceover, no convoluted story, Olivier Kemeid wanted to keep it simple. Diving in the dark will immerse us in the magnified nocturnal nature; the one that takes us back to the nest will be brighter, with more melodic music.

The project is 20% funded by the Ministry of Tourism (including Tourisme Charlevoix), the remaining 80% will be assumed by Le Massif. Mechanical bird flight will be presented from June to September, at dusk. But it could be extended until Thanksgiving weekend, says producer Daniel Gélinas.

In 2017, Mont-Tremblant created an immersive night course with Moment Factory (Tonga Lumina), in the mountain trails. “But this is the first time in Quebec that a multimedia course has been created for spectators on the chairlift”, congratulate the two Daniels.