UM Bridges

THE HOUSE OF DANCING WATER

By Abbi Mitchell-Morley

Famous for being the worlds largest water-based show The House of Dancing Water combines the arts of acrobatics and dance with water to bring to their audience a truly unique experience.

Performer, and Belgium native, Jessica Peeters arrived in Macao in 2011 for simply one reason, to be apart of The House of Dancing Water. Having completed her unique two-year training in Belgium alongside an estimated 80 other performers and cast members from all over the world. “It was an exciting experience, but it was very hard because we are all trained dancers and all of a sudden we were being taught how to high dive and perform in such a unique way,” she says of her time in the required training course. Peeters continues to speak of the continued ups and downs of her profession, “What we do everyday, sometimes twice a day, is actually dangerous so we train and practice many times a day, a week, to make sure nothing can go wrong. We may have been trained for this but accidents do happen and with all the pressure from the audience and our directors, we all just have to trust in one another and our ability and training.” She ends the interview with one statement that truly conveys the combined hardship and wonder of this profession; “We are a team, a family”.

The story tells of a young Macanese fisherman who is pulled into a whirlpool and ends up in strange and magical land. The fisherman meets a stranger and together they embark on the journey of a lifetime to save the princess from the Dark Queen. The House of Dancing Water will have you a fit of emotions as you watch the stranger and the princess fall in love, cast move as a human chandelier, divers leap from platforms of up to 24.5 meters, motorcycle stuntmen perform tricks up to 15 meters in the air and 20 meter jumps.