PY1 — Guy Laliberté & Lune Rouge Entertainment
Context
PY1 was created by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté through his new company Lune Rouge Entertainment. Conceived as a traveling entertainment venue, PY1 was a striking pyramid-shaped structure dedicated to multi-sensory, transformative experiences. Inside, audiences stood or reclined in the center of a vast, high-tech environment where projection, music, kinetic staging, and lasers blended into one immersive journey.
The Venue and Goals
The eight-story pyramid was designed as both theater and nightlife space. By day, it hosted large-scale multimedia shows; by night, it became a themed electronic music venue. Lune Rouge’s goal was to create a new kind of entertainment architecture — a “musical cathedral” where art and technology merged into communal, emotional experiences. The traveling design meant PY1 could be assembled in cities around the world, delivering its blend of spectacle and innovation to new audiences.
Laser Design
Lasers were central to PY1’s identity. We designed and programmed the laser system, ensuring it was powerful, flexible, and safe in every location. Effects ranged from high-powered beam shows to audience scanning, Lumia textures, video-tracing graphics, and object-tracking lasers. In flagship productions like Through the Echoes and Stella, lasers surrounded audiences with tunnels of light, traced across projection imagery, and animated abstract patterns that matched the score. For PY1 Nights, lasers shifted into full concert mode — sweeping beams and kinetic effects that turned the pyramid into a futuristic dance floor. Every effect was programmed to operate legally and safely, while delivering the bold, transformative atmosphere the project demanded.
The Shows
Through the Echoes — PY1’s signature production, an odyssey through space and time. Audiences lay back on cushions under 360° projections, moving sound, and an evolving ballet of laser beams.
Stella — A family-friendly time-travel adventure, remixing PY1’s visual language into an interactive, playful format for children and parents.
PY1 Nights — After dark, the pyramid hosted themed DJ events. Lasers drove the energy of each night, adapting to costumes, music, and immersive atmospheres.
Reception
Audiences described the shows as “unlike anything you have ever experienced.” Critics highlighted the flawless synchronization of sound, images, and laser light, and in the U.S. run the public response was strong enough to extend performances. Social media clips captured sweeping beams over crowds and luminous pyramids of light — images that became emblematic of the PY1 experience. While the project’s tour was paused after 2020, PY1 proved the power of combining large-scale architecture with cutting-edge multimedia and lasers to create a truly unforgettable spectacle.
Outcome
As PY1’s laser show designer and safety advisor, we developed and programmed the system that made the pyramid’s vision possible. From narrative journeys to nightlife events, lasers became the connective tissue of the PY1 experience — surrounding audiences, amplifying music, and giving shape to the “musical cathedral” Guy Laliberté imagined.
SEE IT LIVE
Book a studio visit to explore ideas in person, or request a quote today. We look forward to delivering signature laser moments for your next project.