Staff sought to make a splash

Massive talent search underway for those with unusual skills

Macau is truly becoming a city of entertainment with the arrival of internationally acclaimed performance troupes such as Cirque du Soleil staging spectacular shows, but this also brings with it the challenge of recruiting local gymnasts, acrobats, aerialists, trapeze artists, contortionists and high divers.

Belgium-based performance company Dragone Group has started recruiting for its Macau aquatic show that is scheduled to open at the City of Dreams mega-resort late next year. The company has set up an office in Macau and is looking for about 280 staff for the new show.

Dragone human resources co-ordinator Justin Mabardi said it was extremely difficult to find the right people due to the highly specialised skills required.

Speaking from Dragone headquarters in Belgium, Mr Mabardi said the company had no choice but to search internationally for many of the performers and technical staff.

'We will be recruiting from all corners of the world,' he said. 'This is a very specific type of show and it is a small world you can recruit from without having to train people from scratch.'

Dragone was founded in 2000 by Franco Dragone and Louis Parenteau and has produced and performed shows around the world including an aquatic show, Le Reve, at Wynn Las Vegas, which has been running since 2005.

Of the 280 people needed to staff the Macau show, about one-third will be performers. Positions being advertised range from head coach to scuba diving technicians. The remaining positions are technical, management and administrative.

Mr Mabardi said the goal was to find as many people as possible locally. He expected office staff and some management positions would be filled by applicants from Macau, Hong Kong and mainland China.

'We know from our research that we will obviously not find all of the technical and performance staff we need in this region, but we will employ as many locals as we can and train them up,' he said. 'We really have to approach the whole thing creatively for the local applicants.'

Technical jobs include everything from head of lighting to operations manager and head of automations. Mr Mabardi said safety was a major concern with such a large production involving water.

'You can bring in divers and train them, but once you add the performance element it can be tough,' he said. 'There is a huge element of safety involved in shows like this so we will be looking for some staff with experience in other shows from Las Vegas or Europe. It is a big challenge but we know how to do it and it requires very specific qualities.'

The bulk of the technicians, about 80 people, are expected to arrive in Macau early next year and begin work on fitting out the 2,000-seat purpose-built theatre in the City of Dreams, a Melco PBL Entertainment project including a 420,000 sqft casino and 825,000 sqft of retail space set to open in the first quarter of 2009.

All performers for the show will arrive in Belgium at the same time and begin work at Dragone headquarters. The performers will move to Macau around May, and start training in the City of Dreams theatre until the show opens in September. The 'central elements' of the underwater spectacular have already been decided, but Mr Mabardi said it would not be until the staff arrived in Macau that the 'creation process' would take place.

'The theatre has been designed for this show, but we need to get in there to determine what is artistically right and technically possible,' he said. 'It is fair to say that the physical items have been determined but the storyline is still a work in progress.'

Most of the training for performance staff will be conducted in-house using staff members from other Dragone shows. 'We will start in Belgium, with coaches and acts working together getting ideas and images and working with the concept of the show,' he said. 'Specific acts for the Macau show have been determined but the information has not yet been released.'

Mr Mabardi said the show would have an indefinite run. 'The goal is to let it live as long as it possibly can,' he said. 'You can see from other shows around the world that they last a long time, 10 or 15 years is certainly not uncommon.'

City of Dreams, on the Cotai Strip, will feature four hotels including Hard Rock, Crown Towers and Grand Hyatt, an underwater-themed casino, fine dining restaurants, casual eateries and serviced apartments. The project will incorporate extensive water screening and landscape work including public access to the 'Bubble', an architectural showpiece and the project's main attraction.

'We are trying to source as many people as possible, including by advertising job vacancies on our website, and [trying to] figure out who has what background and where they might fit,' he said. 'This is not going to be an easy process, so we need to get moving now and see what skills we can find.'

Fact box

Dragone Group will employ 280 people to staff aquatic spectacular at City of Dreams in Macau

80 performers and 80 technicians will be needed

Storyline still a work in progress

Training will begin in the City of Dreams theatre in May 2009

Show is expected to open in September 2009 and will be performed at a 2,000-seat purpose-built theatre