Hello to every Tron Dance fan! In this second part of the article, we will continue with our journey with our successful event in Pakistan. This time you can read everything from our first site visit in Karachi, will our final event!

First trip to Karachi

Because this event was such a big project, my boss Michal (who did all lasers programming, installation etc.) and I went to Pakistan to assess the site. We didn’t have much of an idea about how things are around there.

The idea of Pakistan, from the news and such, is not the best. You know that there’s war somewhere in this country and some part of you is afraid of bombs or terrorist. But we soon, found out the opposite was true. Pakistani people are very nice, humble, and helpful. Before the first meeting with our client, after hours of speaking on the WhatsApp, I have to admit I was a little bit nervous; but when we actually met him I liked him immediately. He was really polite, and such a nice person.

Michal, Ahmer (our client) and Richie standing arm in arm indoors, in front of a large photo of a Japanese garden
Picture 1. From left side Michal, in the middle Ahmer (the client), right side Richie

However, when we got to the site of the stadium, it didn’t look good. It hadn’t been used for 8 years, lights on the pillars weren’t working, there were some holes around the place, problems with electricity… However, security for the players and us was pretty good, since it was built in the middle of the military base.

Empty hockey stadium in Karachi by day – a blue pitch with pink edges, floodlight towers and stands, with city buildings and palm trees behind it
Picture 2. Karachi hockey stadium in the middle of military base

After setting up all the requests for the electricity fixes, lasers positions, positions of the net and other small details, we were quite happy; coming back home with a good feeling about this event.

When I asked Michal what was the biggest ‘moment’ for him in Pakistan, he told me: I really loved the approach of the main sponsor, Nokia, towards the entire exhibition. He said: “I don’t do it for Nokia, I do it for Pakistan and the people.” (Rehan, general director of Nokia for Pakistan, 2017)

The Nokia logo drawn by blue laser beams across the dark stadium pitch at night
Picture 3. Nokia logo created by laser

The trip to London

As a part of my day to day communication with the client concerning all the event details, I needed to go to London for a special meeting. There, I met up with lots of different people involved in the event organization, like DJ, TV crew, PR crew, technician crew, and the client himself. I spent half a day there, and it was pretty good to meet all the main people in charge, before our crew flew to Pakistan. The communication with the rest of the people involved was done mostly on the phone or via online calls.

Final preparation

When I come back from the London to Bratislava we had one week left to the event. The laser show was already done, visas have been done, fly ticket bought, dancers were finished with choreography, we just need to finish programming in our LED Strip Studio Software (LSS). The biggest issue was with LED opening ceremony video, because we weren’t definitely sure what exactly want main organizers in there. I have to say many thanks to Nokia sponsors, whose help us a lot with Pakistani source materials. Without them, the video would be not as good as a final version.

If you are excited how everything finished, wait for our 3rd part of the article next week!

Check out, our final show

Tron Dance Show for Ronaldinho opening ceremony – plays from YouTube or Vimeo once you press play

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