Show provides insights on ancient civilization
IAN STALKER
Cancun’s new Maya Cosmica show went the futuristic route to help people understand the region’s past. The downtown Cancun show, which launched in August, goes the high-tech route to inform visitors about the ancient Maya, using dramatic and sophisticated videos and music as well to give its guests insights into a civilization that reached throughout what are now southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and parts of Honduras and El Salvador.
Reminders of the Maya are a large tourist draw for Cancun-area visitors, with day trips available from that city to different archeological sites, including hugely popular Chichen Itza.
“We make people enjoy the immersion on a high-tech level by combining ancestral sounds, dancers, a soprano voice, as well as continue preserving the Mayan culture,” Maya Cosmica’s Lourdes Patino says of the show, which features images of the likes of nighttime skies and Maya archeological sites on screens that ring the walls of a large, darkened showroom.
Show promoters add that Maya Cosmica “narrates five transcendental moments of our Mayan civilization.” Ancestral sounds, Butoh dance; and a gastronomic experience with a 4-course menu are part of the evening. The high-tech side of the show is underscored by its use of an AI-immersion ballroom, 2 and 3D animation and augmented reality with 4K transmission and more than 30 millions pixels connected to cameras and movement sensors in real time.
Visitors will have a “sensorial experience through a marvellous singer and dancers of Butoh technique, all merged into a unique masterpiece of art with the live ancestral sounds of flutes, Mayan trumpets and drums,” the attraction states.
“We start with the immersive cosmic experience through a talented cast that will guide us to live the offering, the representation of the war, the ball game, the human sacrifice and the journey to the Maya underworld Xibalbá. Subsequently we will have a menu to enjoy secret flavours and aromas of our ancestors,” the attraction continues. Among dramatic images of displayed Maya are temples in Tikal, Guatemala, and Palenque in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
“Maya Cosmica: the latest sensation in live entertainment, is a mesmerizing blend of music, dance and theatrical performances that will transport you to a world of enchantment and wonder. With its dynamic choreography, stunning visual effects, and a talented cast of performers, this show is designed to captivate audiences of all ages,” the attraction adds.
Those taking in the show will see staff play types of musical instruments that date back to pre-Columbian Mexico, with those instruments made by Maya Cosmica’s master musician Mr. Gopar, who’s from the state of Oaxaca, and has long been fascinated by music that predates the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
“The full immersion, music, dancers, wonderful voice and astonishing top of the line visuals makes this show feel it, vibrate it, delight it and be a unique experience,” the attractions website says. Meanwhile, Maya Cosmica’s Saul Reyna says that Maya culture is still very visible in the surrounding region and the Maya Cosmica show will help ensure that it remains so.
“Certainly the Mayan culture continues in the zone, with the language, the food and the archaeological zone preservation,” Reyna says. “This is another representation of the Mayan Culture. And it indeed helps to preserve it.”
More information can be found at mimcun.com.
