11/12/06
Winter Clubbing! PKG
Imagine ice-skating outdoors in sunny Singapore.
This month of December you can, as clubs here put on their wintry best for the
festive season.
Wu Shang Yuan sneaks into one for a closer look.
If you see an outdoor ice-skating rink at the Esplanade, don't be alarmed - you're
not seeing things.
As part of their Christmas celebrations, dance club DXO has custom-made an
artificial ice turf at their entrance for a whopping 160,000 dollars.
Despite it being artificial - there's no need to keep it from melting - it's easy to
mistake it for the real McCoy.
The surface is slippery and looks exactly like ice.
The club's even hired professional ice skaters to work their magic on it.
Members of the public can also take part in a Winter Olympics sport on the ice,
called curling.
They have to slide a puck on the five feet long arena to the centre of a marked
target.
The club's Senior Marketing Manager Rudy V on the idea of going wintry.
We've been experiencing a lot of hot weather recently, it's been a crazy time in
climate change. In the heat of sunny Singapore, it's something unusual, we
wanted to create an oasis amidst the heat.
So how different would this be from other clubs or attractions in Singapore that
also feature snow and ice cold temperatures?
Rudy explains.
The other places have real ice - everything is ice as it is, you got to go into the
club to experience and put on the gear so you can have a comfortable time in
the bar. This is different because this whole oasis will look icy in an open area
which is actually sunny. Even uniforms of the staff may look thick and you've
the perception that it's ice clothes but it's very thin.
The club's goal, Rudy says, is to create the illusion of an icy environment but
without the chilliness and the need to don winter clothes.
A move he's confident will attract the attention of club-goers and complement
the club's live band and festive atmosphere.
ends/...