What bubble shows exist

Having taken into account this fact, I started to divide my programs into different types and subtypes. So that it would be easier for the audience to understand which program suites more.

To make bubble shows more interesting, you need to plan your performances in advance, take into account age particularities of the audience, the place, where performance would be, weather conditions and lots of other factors. Today I will tell you about the main programs and their features.

I have divided my programs into the following categories: children's, adult, family, an activity program with bubbles, a concert performance, an one hour program for big stages, a street program for children, a street performance, a performance based on a bubble show (it's in development and has not yet been presented in my repertoire).

The most popular are 3 of them: adult, children's and family. I consider this categories to be the main ones. All other programs are based on these main features. We take into account age particularities of the viewer. Yes, adults also have their own age particularities.

It's the classic program which was the basis for other programs, such as children's and family. Adult program is more likely to remind circus or variety turn, but it's diluted with an interactive (or rather, we added interactive there). Initially, the soap bubble show in our country and in many other countries in the world appeared as a circus act. It was based on tricks with soap bubbles and often the apogee was the trick with getting a person inside a soap bubble. Now the trick is dome in two variants: as a part of a show (when we get one person inside the bubble and that's it) or as an interactive attraction at the end of the program (when anyone can get inside).

It's the classic program which was the basis for other programs, such as children's and family. Adult program is more likely to remind circus or variety turn, but it's diluted with an interactive (or rather, we added interactive there). Initially, the soap bubble show in our country and in many other countries in the world appeared as a circus act. It was based on tricks with soap bubbles and often the apogee was the trick with getting a person inside a soap bubble. Now the trick is dome in two variants: as a part of a show (when we get one person inside the bubble and that's it) or as an interactive attraction at the end of the program (when anyone can get inside).

Let's look at my example.

The length of the performance itself is 10-12 minutes. It's the program that consists of from 5 to 6 blocks which differ in the specifics of using an equipment, the size of the bubbles and the features of the tricks.

Interactive part takes from 3 to 5 minutes. Heros of the occasion inflate bubbles and everyone can get inside.

As you have already understood, the program of the bubble show consists of the performance itself and interactive part. The main thing in the adult interactive part is to put the right emphasis. It should be an interactive that would attract adults and children.

Surely you have seen the interactive in the circus or in the other shows. It's done that way to attract viewers and to make them want to watch it. In the circus the plant is usually used. This person sits among the viewers on purpose and then participates in a dog-and-pony show. At wedding, birthdays, anniversaries, corporate parties it's certainly strange to use the plant. That's why it's important to add tricks and elements in the interactive part that would attract the guests. For instance, the bride and the groom kiss in a soap bubble. The trick called "glass with fire" will also look interesting. The fire always attracts, so it makes show look interesting. A trick with a bubble, bouncing on the fabric, can be attractive. You can prepare a heart-shaped frame, a ping pong racket with hearts to perform a trick. It's difficult to manipulate the bubble on the racket and the newlyweds will look interesting. Think about making it fun. Of course, if you also know how to attract the audience with speech or pantomime, then it wouldn't be superfluous to talk with the viewers.

What does the structure of adult program look like.

We have a set of tricks that can be used while developing a program for a dog-and-pony show. You rehears and put "+" and "-", where "+" means the cool trick that you perform without mistakes. If we have this mark on the trick, we take it in our program, and if we have "-", we still need to work on the trick. It's ok if you have minuses. It takes time to get used to perform the program and you will start to perform many tricks faster soon. In this case you need additional elements.

For the technical content of the performance you choose the tricks that you like and that your audience will like in your opinion.

When choosing, follow the following criteria:

1. Divide all of the tricks into blocks: hand block, block with medium rackets, block with glowing table, block with a vertical frame, block with giant bubbles, block with helium bubbles.

2. You may have two hand blocks, if you have a lot of hand bubble tricks. And it's justified. We remind you that your performance takes from 11 to 12 minutes and you need to add tricks that will fit this time frame. If one block takes 3 minutes, you can take only four blocks and fill them with tricks. But you should take into account the time frame.

3. It's necessary to choose from what we can perform better. And the time that takes to perform this tricks should be 3 minutes. We start to do these tricks and record the time. If it takes 5 minutes, we remove some tricks and e.t.c. But we should remember that the block, especially the first one, must start with an interesting, engaging and intriguing trick. You have only 5-10 seconds to intrigue the viewer. It may not be a trick, but your unusual appearance on the stage or other manipulations.

In this case the instagram thinking works for the viewers. If nothing happens in the first three seconds, we flip through the story. The same things work at the banquet shows. The person looks up from the plate, if nothing happens, he returns to the plate again. This means that you have lost the viewer for a few minutes untill the emphasis appears at the end of the block. At the very beginning, you perform a spectacular trick with fire, smoke, a serpentine streamer, flashing

lights, sound effects and e.t.c. Then you follow the plan, but already can be creative. If the trick didn't work out and you still have time, you should always have a spare trick to replace. Another important point is that the last trick of a block should be spectacular and fit the musical emphasis.

As an example, you can use live videos from the link.

For instance, there can be the thunder, and you ignite a fire bubble or release the smoke from it in the thunder background. The last trick should always work out. For this emphasis a fire bubble trick is very suitable. You inflate it and can stand with it for a few seconds, look at the audience and wait for the musical emphasis. It's very convenient. Such trick formats are ideal for interblock musical emphasises.

How to understand the forthcoming of a musical emphasis? Put a sound effect on this music. For example, it can be thunder, which will be a harbinger of the fact that the block will end in 15 seconds. It's the hint to inflate a smoke, fire bubble and start to perform another trick.

After creating 4-5 blocks and working out musical emphasises, it's necessary to analyze the music. It should be different in tempo, but emotional and from the same style. Rehearse the performance to work out the timing well. Over time, you will start to work faster and you will feel the lack of tricks. Therefore, you should have a well thought-out spare trick.

During the performance, beginners always start to hurry. Musical emphasises in this case help to come back to the reality and to pay attention to the audience and not to fuss around the stage. Over time, you can add more emphasises in the block, but at the beginning it's important to have them at least at the end.

I will share another life hack: in the pauses between the blocks, I added the applause sound to the music. This can be especially useful for the beginners. The audience often has a collective thinking. If they hear the applause, they automatically start applauding. And beginners often hesitate to show the audience that they can start applauding. Although the emphasis and the pause already clearly shows that the audience can applaud. It wouldn't be superfluous to add a bow here or the pose expressing that you are ready to receive the applause.

Often the viewers don't know when to applaud. The magician has done a trick and is waiting for the reaction of the audience. We have the same story. You inflated a smoky bubble and a person starts to applaud, but the trick continues, you join soap bubbles and he doesn't know if he is acting right. In order not to look like an idiot among the closely watching people, the person simply stops to applaud. But if a person was distracted and hears the applause in the background, that you have previously added to the music, he involuntarily begins to applaud. Also there is the herd instinct, and the client understands that people like it and he ordered the right show.

So, the adult performance consists of the blocks with musical emphasis and added applause.

Interactive part

Goes right after the main block and takes from 5 to 6 minutes. I don't recommend to prolong the adult program. Most events last certain amount of time and you can't spend it to a bubble show only. Another story when you perform in an anniversary when there is no show presenter. You are the only one performer in this case and can get people inside bubbles and perform as long as you get tired. Another case, when you have to deal with a three hour banquet. Every minute is important here.

Interactive in the adult program is focused on making everyone at the celebration pay attention and be interested in what happens in the stage. Just inflating bubbles is not interesting for a person watching fro, the side.

The interactive part almost always happens in the end of the performance. In extremely rare cases, we can invite viewers to participate in the trick, but it's better to do that "with the emphasises" as the part of the show. It would be more interesting to watch it for all the other viewers. Such interactive part should be similar to wow effect. Then it will be justified to use it.

The children's show program differs from the adult one, first and foremost in its interactive. It has another aim. The interactive should be interesting for the viewers to participate in it. In children's interactive part, there can be game moments, children can try to inflate bubbles with the rackets in turn and e.t.c. A children program can last up to 30-40 minutes. The interactive can be put in any part of the performance and can be very flexible. If children are interested in bursting bubbles at this moment, we can adapt our program for it. Although usually, the interactive part is at the end of the program.

As for the duration, you shouldn't prolong it!
It's better to stay a little bit hungry than overeat. It's a metaphor, of course. To say it easy, it's better to plan the shorter show so that the client would like to order and watch your performance again. It also works with food, movies and music. If you eat a small piece of an incredibly delicious cake, then tomorrow you will want another piece. If you eat the whole cake, then even in a month you wouldn't like to eat it one more time. This principle also works with the shows. One and the same program will not seem boring after a while if it is not prolonged.

We can consider the party as a children's one if 80-90% percent of the viewers are children. And there isn't a significant number of adults or they are absent. For instance, these conditions usually appear in children's rooms: children celebrate in one hall and adults in another, or they even left children for a couple of hours. The interactive in this program should take into account the age of the children and their abilities. The performance can be prolonged and there can appear interactive inserts. If you see, that the children are already tired of activity organizers or a busy official part of the celebration and they are not ready to sit and watch, then you should adapt your program. You can add interactive parts at the end of each block, or sometimes in the middle of it. The music that you have prepared for children's celebration should have emphasises. But you need to understand that they can be displaced.

You can make 12 blocks. Each would take 2 minutes. If you replace any block with an interactive part, it will be unnoticeable. You can involve tired children into the performance, attract their attention with the interactive. Having got rid of the excess energy, they will be able to watch the following tricks.

It's better to perform soap bubble shows before an activity show, children's disco and other very active and involving parts of a celebration. If children are overexcited, they will not want to be observers. And the main part of your program can fall apart.

If the same person acts as the activity organizer and the performer, it will be even more difficult to attract children's attention after the activity program. If you come to the children's celebrations in a cartoon character costume, arrange work with the children the way so that they will trust you and be on the same level with you. It means that they can touch you and play with you as you're equal to them. After the distance between you and children has decreased, it will be difficult to seat them and create this distance again. In other words, it's easier to perform the show after the first meeting, because they get acquainted with you and don't know you yet. If you have already been playing with them for a couple of hours and have become their friend, it will be difficult to seat them for a long time.

It's also important to remember about age peculiarities. If the birthday child is 7 years old and the guests are of mixed age, you should work out the tricks and focus on the birthday child. If the child is under 3 years old, he or she doesn't perceive this celebrations well. That's why if you have a birthday child under 3 years old, you should focus on the guests.

The beginning performers usually worry that children are distracted during the show. There is no need to worry. If the child was paying attention to the show and then got distracted, it's normal. Do not worry, you're doing everything right. Children just have different temperaments and characters. They get interested in the show in different ways.

The structure of a children's bubble show is technically the same as for adults. The main difference is that interactive parts may appear during the show, and we don't know what the children's program will be like in fact.

The tricks in a children's program are often about to be the same as in adult one. But you should remember that the older people become, the better they can understand your tricks from the point of view of physics. The younger they are, the more dynamics should be in your show. A long performance on the glowing table is less interesting for children, but adults will appreciate it more. Flying, smoky, fire bubbles and others are more suitable for a children's show

It is a symbiosis of adult and children's programs. We take the tricks from the adult program and the interactive part from children's one, that will be at the end of the performance. The content of the performance should be the same as in an adult program and we join the interactive children's program here. It means that the performance itself should be as a single part, without any interactive parts. And the interactive part should be focused on the all children participation.

Family program is performed for mixed audience during the celebrations of birthdays, anniversaries, family celebrations. For instance, you was invited to perform at the restaurant where there will be adults and children. You should specify how many children and how many adults will be there. It often happens that 30 adults and 5 children are invited to the child's 5th anniversary. And, of course, you should make a bubble show for adults and an interactive part for children. But remember that children love when their parents and other important adults for them take part in the interactive. Don't forget to invite them to participate too.

Such family programs are the advertising card for any performer that will be invited to adult events after the celebration. If you show children's program in this event, the audience will not invite you to perform at adult events.

The interactive part can be long. It's important to create the right queue so that every child can participate in the trick. The duration of such program can be up to 30 minutes. The performance itself will take about 10 minutes and the rest of time can be spend on the interactive part. But you should also take into account the duration of the banquet itself and the presence of other performers, so as not to overload the celebration program.

When planning soap bubble shows on the street you need to take into account many factors, because not all of the tricks will work out. A lot depends on the wind, temperature and humidity. Children's parties are often held on the street. Accordingly, a soap bubble shows are ordered. It's necessary to immediately tell the client that getting a person inside a soap bubble, most likely, will not work out because of the wind or other adverse weather conditions. Try not to promise anything special, hoping for good weather. Say the client honestly that it's more likely that a full-fledged performance will not work out. But children always can inflate bubbles and all available tricks will be done, so that it will be fun.

If you arrive at the stage and find out that everything is not that bad, you can perform tricks, get the child inside the a soap bubble. You can try to perform the full-fledged show. Do more than you promised, and the client will be happy and satisfied and will definitely recommend you to others.

To be short, your best friends at the street performances are: sectional rackets of different diameters, street props, bubble makers, smoke.

This is an activity program in which we include the elements of a soap bubble show. I really don't like the title "small soap bubble show", because this name confuses the clients. As the result, the activity organizer digs a grave for his performances, calling them a full-fledged shows. It's really important to distinguish this concepts. The show is what the viewer will watch, the activity program is where the audience will participate in. Basically, the activity program with bubbles is a children's interactive program.

The character for this performance can be of any kind and the character is not required to perform tricks professionally. During the activity program with bubbles, ideally, we show what children can perform by their own. During the show we perform tricks that can't be done by them.

Also we can show whole performances and shows based on the soap bubble shows. Such programs live their own lives. It's a separate staged show, that has its own structure and is worked out by the performer individually, according to performer's concept and task. Therefore, we will not go into details of this show direction.

Separate performances of soap bubble shows can be included in a concert program. It means that they can be the part of the event as well as other performances. For instance, during the New Year's performances, the organizers decided to make a mix of different genre performances, following the principle of circus performances. Or on the City Day, a soap bubble show can be the part of the concert program, along with danging and singing groups. To prepare for such events, I recommend you to read the book of I.A. Bogdanov "Staging a variety turn" (И.А. Богданов "Постанвока эстрадного номера"). You can find very useful information here. And I will give you a couple of tips: the duration should be from 4 to 5 minutes; do not overload the program with the tricks. It's better to have a small amount, but performed professionally, than a lot of tricks, but which are done in a hurry.