A dance company redefines customer experiences
Last week I went to experience arts from a whole new perspective. I was so impressed that I thought I would blog about it, and share with the world. Para-Active is a small dance/arts company based in London. They perform various works of art with a focus on Brazilian & African dances. While I’ve seen different performances across the globe, what made this one different was the fact that the audience does not sit and watch the show as an observer. Instead, the audience becomes a part of the the show itself, and hence taking us to a whole new level of experience (from observational to active participation).
As a marketing consultant with the company, I was invited to experience a dress rehearsal for “Hotel Medea” a performance that the company is currently doing at the LIFT festival in London (http://www.liftfestival.com/events/lift-2010/introduction). The show itself has an interesting format, where it starts on the banks of the O2 arena. Participants are taken via boat to the performance area, and from there the show begins. As soon as the participants land actors start engaging with the audience, by asking questions about their expectations, etc. As the show begins, performers come out in creative costumes, depicting a marketplace setting. At this point the audience is encouraged to walk through and interact with the ‘sellers’ in this marketplace. The evening progresses with the marriage of Jason and Medea. During this time again visitors are encouraged to join in the dancing and the singing in the various parts of the show.
At the end of the first part of the show, I interacted with some of the other participants. Like me, they were all in an awe, and amazed at what they had just experienced. The only thing one person could say was, “WOW,” and that really sums up the experience. If you are a fan of the arts, or are in charge of customer experience at your firm, then I would recommend that you must go and see this performance. What this little firm has done is simply amazing. There are many lessons for CE Managers to be learned from this.
This firm has been able to take experience to the next level. They did not just go up a notch, instead they shifted the whole ball game. From a CE perspective, we also need to search for that next level. Settling for good enough will not create that wow effect!
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By Patrick O'Keefe, July 26, 2020 @ 1:18 pm
I read an article about this that one of my writers wrote for a client of ours. Certainly a compelling way of finding a way of breaking that “fourth” wall in the arts and inviting the audience to “experience” the magic that arts provides. In fact a CE Manager could take alot from this, I think the first lesson is that the “experience” is not about us but instead its about them.
By M. Atif, July 29, 2020 @ 6:44 am
Hello Dr. OK,
While going through the text, I found out that it was so compelling that I could feel it being there. I can well understand how intersting and lively the experience would have been there…
Cheers for sharing Your experience!
By emt training, July 30, 2020 @ 7:44 pm
What a great resource!