When Americans want a high-energy, entertainment-packed spectacle, they head to Las Vegas. For a tropical getaway in Mexico, it’s usually Tulum or Cancún. But Ivan Chávez, executive vice president of Grupo Vidanta, is charting a different course — one lit by torches and traveled by gondola.

The son of legendary Mexican entrepreneur Daniel Chávez Morán, who founded luxury resort developer Grupo Vidanta more than 50 years ago, Chávez is helping reimagine what a world-class resort experience in Mexico can look like.

“Our ultimate goal for a long time has been to make sure that Mexico can compete on the global stage — at the very top of anything we do,” he says.

Chávez oversees VidantaWorld, an enormous resort complex in Nuevo Vallarta. Think Disneyland with more class — and without the characters. Tourism is one of Mexico’s most powerful industries, he notes, but it’s also fiercely competitive.

“You’re not just competing locally,” Chávez says. “You’re competing with Las Vegas, Orlando, even Asia. So whenever we build something here, we’re building it for the global market.”

For Chávez, VidantaWorld is about consolidating the best elements of a great vacation — gourmet dining, luxury accommodations and pristine beaches — into a single immersive destination. Hence the term “world.”

That vision is reflected in everything from high-end hotels and sprawling pools to unconventional offerings like BON Luxury Theme Park, an amusement park designed to eliminate the long wait times that frustrate visitors at traditional parks, a la Cartmanland from South Park.

But the most ambitious addition to VidantaWorld’s entertainment lineup is LUDŌ by Cirque du Soleil, a first-of-its-kind, resident show created exclusively for the resort.

“We believe combining the best of Mexico with the best of global entertainment is critical to delivering that vision,” Chávez says. “That’s why we partnered with Cirque du Soleil.”

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From high wire to deep water

LUDŌ draws loose inspiration from Cirque du Soleil’s iconic aquatic O show in Las Vegas — but legendary director Michel Laprise had no interest in repeating what had already been done.

“I said no three times to this show, even after they had started building the theater,” Laprise says. “The original idea included a small amount of water onstage, but I told them that wasn’t enough.”

Instead, Laprise pushed for a production built around underwater performances that many considered impossible. It quickly became clear that LUDŌ would be as much an engineering and construction challenge as it was a theatrical one.

“When you’re performing below the surface, it’s a different game,” Laprise says. “You get to invent new ways to design props that stay underwater.” Costumes, makeup, and lighting all behave differently in water, requiring the creative team to rethink every detail.

To make it work, the production was built with a hidden backstage above the aquariums, complete with overhead lighting and access points invisible to the audience. Even the stage itself evolved: what began as a concrete floor was replaced with plexiglass, allowing light to shine up through the performers and heightening the immersive effect. The theater’s circular design was intentional.

“There are no corners for the energy to stop,” Laprise says. “It’s the most enjoyable creation I’ve done.”

Talking the tightrope

Chávez had Cirque du Soleil in mind long before LUDŌ existed, which made selling the idea of a massive, purpose-built theater easier than it might otherwise have been. He recalls an early meeting with his father about plans to create a village within VidantaWorld, anchored by a signature theater.

“One of the junior architects had written Cirque du Soleil — misspelled — on the floor plan,” Chávez says. “I was like, ‘You guys are talking to Cirque? This is amazing. How did you pull that off?”

They hadn’t. Cirque du Soleil was simply a placeholder, and no conversations had begun. So Chávez decided to start them himself. He cold-emailed the company, which led to a phone call, and then another.

“This was before people were really used to being spammed,” he says. “So I was very direct, probably a bit of a spammer. Every time I didn’t hear back, my emails got more exciting. I’d follow up and say, ‘You HAVE to hear this idea.'”

Chávez now knows the person he first reached wasn’t anywhere near decision-making level. Still, persistence paid off. He secured a meeting at Cirque du Soleil’s headquarters in Montreal.

“They shut us down at first,” he says. “They told us, ‘We can build shows anywhere in the world — why would we come to Mexico?’ So we had to make the case. We proposed something truly unique and asked to do a feasibility study to prove it.”

The results weren’t encouraging. A joint study of the Cancún market came back negative.

“They said there wasn’t enough demand in that tourist destination for a Vegas-style show,” Chávez recalls. “On top of that, visitors to Mexico want to be by the pool or on the beach— they’re not going to sacrifice dinner plans to see a show.”

Undeterred, Chávez and his father kept pushing, suggesting a dinner show with half the seats at twice the price.

“We ran a big experiment in Riviera Maya, and it taught us a lot,” he says. “The audience satisfaction for that show ended up being among the highest of any Cirque production.”

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Sticking the landing

Suffice it to say, a lot had occurred before the idea of building a human aquarium was ever floated to Chávez. But once it was, he was already in too deep to say no.

“I get excited with entrepreneurs because there’s always a gap between where they are and where their idea could go,” he says. “Steve Wynn used to say the job is figuring out how to build the bridge between the two. That’s where you bring people in, and sometimes destiny steps in as well. I felt the planets were aligned for this show to happen.”