STAGE LIGHTING FOR DANCE PERFORMANCES – PART ONE

If you have the budget to be able to hire a lighting designer then you will find that the experience will be a rewarding one especially when you see the way it will enhance your performance.  However, for the rest of us the lighting design is left up to individual teachers or the principal of the dance school.  This then has to be conveyed to the lighting operator who usually sits in a control room or technical area.  There are a few other alternatives such as approaching students or graduates from the colleges/institutions that run technical courses or through networking (a parent perhaps who has experience in this area or a professional recommended by other teachers).  Either way you’re going to have to convey your ideas and requirements in a clear and concise manner.

If you are having a designer work for you then you will need to communicate the mood, concepts and themes for each dance piece to the person.  Usually this is accompanied by a breakdown of the show and sometimes a video of the dancers in rehearsal.  The lighting designer would normally be expected to attend at least one rehearsal before the technical rehearsal.  You will need to share important information about each dance including the type of movements, where the dancers move in the performance space and information about music cues that you would like to coincide with lighting cues.  The lighting designer will also need technical information (lighting inventory and specs) about the theatre you will be hiring (if they are not already familiar with it).  But the most important information they will need is your budget.  If you are dreaming of special effects and advanced lighting, chances are you will have to hire these things into the theatre or at least pay an extra fee for the use of them if the theatre has them already on hand.  The person who operates the lights during the actual performance is not usually the designer but a lighting operator.  It’s a good idea to keep this in mind.

If you are designing the lighting yourself then the system I usually use is to write your lighting states onto a running sheet of your concert. Everyone works a little differently but usually the lights are then plotted in during the rehearsal in the theatre.  You can either number each cue as they are plotted or do it later.  Having worked as a stage manager and a dance teacher I have found writing the cues in as you go either during the rehearsal or even before (if you’re feeling confident) will save time.  Once your cues are all recorded it is usually up to the stage manager to call them during the show.  If your budget doesn’t extend to include a stage manager, a friend or teacher will call the cues over the comms (headphones) or sometimes even the lighting operator himself will have to read the cues himself as he goes.

I hope this has been helpful.  In the next post I will discuss lighting further. 

Until then,

Bye

TDT