Urban theatre spectacle, including mechanical dragon, spider, draws thousands
Ottawa is a city used to fire-breathing politicians wandering the streets.
But tens of thousands of people in the nation’s capital were treated Friday to the awakening of a beast of a different sort.
Long Ma, a giant smoke-billowing, fire-breathing mechanical dragon from France, gracefully wandered the city’s streets after being “awoken” in a ceremony at Ottawa city hall.
The dragon was part of an elaborate street theatre performance by French production company La Machine, brought to Ottawa for the city’s celebrations of Canada’s 150th birthday, along with a 5.7-metre-high mechanical spider called Kumo.