Arena Runway Tenerife 2016 — Arena

Arena

Arena Runway Tenerife 2016

Product Launch · Cala de Mar, Tenerife · 2016

Launch of the Arena collection ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics at Hotel Cala de Mar, Tenerife. A fashion runway built over a natural seawater pool; a tide surge during assembly required professional divers to complete the structural anchoring. Performances by a dance company, acrobats, Olympic athletes, and models.

  • Arena catwalk over natural seawater pool in Tenerife — Bacus Events production
  • Catwalk structure over the natural pool — Arena Tenerife 2016
  • Acrobat performance at the Arena Tenerife event — Bacus Events production
  • Dance company at the Arena Tenerife 2016 catwalk — Bacus Events production
  • Models and athletes on the Arena catwalk over the Atlantic — Bacus Events production
  • Arena Rio 2016 collection pass over the natural pool — Bacus Events production
  • Scene from the Arena Tenerife 2016 launch — Bacus Events production
  • Arena catwalk with Atlantic backdrop, Cala de Mar Tenerife — Bacus Events production
  • Arena 2016 launch event in Tenerife — Bacus Events production

The challenge

Building a catwalk over the sea in a location the sea has not confirmed it will respect.

The concept is a fashion catwalk built on the surface of the natural seawater pool. The image is powerful: the swimming collections presented literally over the water, with the Atlantic as backdrop. The production, however, depends on a variable that no spreadsheet controls: the sea level and state at the moment of assembly.

The location has direct communication with the ocean. During the assembly of the structure over the water, a high tide flooded the work area. The production response had to be immediate. Standard catwalk models, designed for dry and controlled surfaces, were not prepared to operate under those conditions. The sea had turned the work space into a partially submerged environment, and the event schedule allowed no further margin.

Bacus's response

Professional divers finish the assembly the sea had left half done.

Bacus contracted professional divers to complete the catwalk assembly with the flood active. The event was not postponed or relocated. The structure was anchored to the bed with the natural pool partially flooded by the tide, the emerging sections were finished from the edge and from the water, and the catwalk timing was adjusted to coincide with the water level that the space allows models to traverse safely.

The programme of acts combined three registers. A dance company with choreography designed specifically for the space and the water level. Aerial acrobats working above the catwalk and the surrounding perimeter. High-level competitive swimmers alongside the models during the collection passes, closing the connection between the product and its real sporting context. The result is a show that no fashion venue could have replicated.

The experience

The swimming show the Atlantic decided to co-produce with Bacus.

The one hundred guests attended an act that has no equivalent in the standard product presentation calendar. The catwalk over the water, the sound of the Atlantic as backdrop, the afternoon light on the Tenerife coast, and the aerial performances over the perimeter of the natural pool built a setting that is difficult to manufacture in a closed space.

The high-level competitive swimmers who shared the catwalk with the models closed the product's narrative. The Arena competition suits were not presented with a campaign copy or a brand video. They were presented in the environment where they make sense: over the water, worn by people who compete in them. The sea that had complicated the assembly became the set that made the act work.

The result

The Rio 2016 collection presented over the Atlantic.

The catwalk took place at the planned location and with the full programme of acts. The diver anchoring allowed the structure to be completed despite the tidal flooding, and the event timing was adjusted to the water cycle without affecting the rest of the programme. One hundred guests attended the presentation of the Arena collection ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Client
Arena
Attendees
100
Venue
Cala de Mar, Tenerife

Frequently asked questions · Arena Runway Tenerife 2016

What readers ask after this case.

  • Yes, provided the structure is anchored to the bed with a system designed to tolerate level variations. In the case of Arena Tenerife 2016, the natural seawater pool with direct communication to the Atlantic required anchoring the catwalk with the assistance of professional divers during an active incoming tide. Anchoring to the pool bed guaranteed the structure's stability while the water level varied during assembly. The show timing was fixed based on the tidal cycle that left the appropriate level for the catwalk to be safely traversable.

  • It depends on the production team's response capacity and the available time margin. In the case of Arena Tenerife 2016, the tide rise during assembly flooded the catwalk work area. The solution was to contract professional divers on site to complete the structure anchoring with the flood active. The event schedule was not modified. The act took place at the planned location and with the full programme. The key was not attempting to move the event to an alternative space and resolving the technical contingency within the same original concept.

  • In the case of Arena Tenerife 2016, the one hundred guests represented a mixed profile of specialist sports channel buyers, textile and sports sector press, high-performance swimming athletes with contractual ties to the brand, and distributors from key European and Latin American markets. The mix of profiles is deliberate. A launch event that only convenes press or only distributors limits the cross-impact. The presence of real athletes using the product at the same act closes the narrative between the object and its context of use.

  • The requirement is that each element has its own temporal space without overlapping with the pace of the catwalk. In Arena Tenerife 2016, the dance company with choreography specific to the aquatic environment opened the act and set the tone. The aerial acrobats working over the pool perimeter functioned as transition between the catwalk blocks and the live music moments. The model passes with the swimming athletes took place in the central blocks with the light focused on the catwalk. The total sequence was choreographed so that no element competed with another in the same minute.

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