Oh what fun it’s been to work with the Philadelphia Ballet on a cool effect for their current production of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker.
In the final scene of the ballet, the children fly away from the Land of Sweets in a walnut boat, waving to their new friends as curtain falls. The boat itself weighs nearly 600 pounds, plus the weight of two young performers. Our standard ZipLift hoist that we use for performer flying has a weight limit of 400 pounds, but we love a unique challenge. With a little engineering know-how, the Flyhouse crew developed something that could handle the weight—and be mobile enough to play at multiple venues. That’s how we fly!
The Philadelphia Ballet’s The Nutcracker just finished a week-long run at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The current one-month residency at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia goes through December 29.
