STAGE LIGHTING FOR DANCE PERFORMANCES - PART TWO

Some useful vocabulary for you to use is:

Boom: a vertical pipe used to hang lighting instruments, often at the side of the stage in the middle of heavily-travelled wings

Borders:  overhead masking piece of fabric above the stage that hides the lighting rig and flown scenery
Cyc:  a curved or straight (usually) white backdrop at the rear of the stage
Followspot:  these are moveable lights that are usually used to highlight a soloist or important performer
Fresnel lights:  to wash light over an area of the stage.  The resulting beam of light is wide and soft-edged, creating soft shadows, and is commonly used for back light, top light, and side light.
Gel:  a sheet of plastic or glass used to colour stage lights
Gobo:  a cutout pattern inserted into the light beam to create a lit pattern on the stage or backdrop
Intelligent lights (or Moving lights):  as the name implies these are lights that are not fixed in their illumination.  They give quite a modern look to the lighting design and can have chases and other functions programmed
LEDS:  LED lights are used in stage lighting and they have been revolutionary in that they use less power and they can change colour without climbing up a ladder to change the gel
Legs:  long, narrow curtains hung at the sides of the stage to mask the offstage space and frame the audience’s view
Par Can lights:  are used when a substantial amount of flat lighting is required for a scene
Performance Space:  space in which the dancing happens (ie the stage area)
State (Lighting state):  one configuration of lights to be used during a section of a production.  So a show is made up of many lighting states and each one is assigned a cue.
Wing Space:  amount of offstage room needed for exits and entrances (and for holding props and performers)

Some things to keep in mind:

·         Do not illuminate your dancers in the same colour light as their costumes as they tend to ‘disappear’ into the background
·         The use of a hazer or smoke machine greatly enhances the look of the lighting design
·         Some pieces of equipment that are useful for making dance concerts look interesting are strobe machines, UV lights, molefays (blinders), moving lights with their ability to change position, colour, gobos, aperture and focus, mirror balls, ripple machines, lasers, projected images, pyrotechnics (pyrotechnics require a certified operator)
·         Don’t forget about lighting the cyc.  There’s nothing worse than a cyc that is only lit with ugly ‘bounce off’ light from the stage surface.
·         Don’t forget to use your front of house lights that are located on the lighting bars in front of the proscenium.  These will give some light to your dancer’s faces.
·         I always use a higher intensity of light on younger dance students as some of them are afraid of low light and their parents are less interested in how great the lighting is and more interested in just being able to see their son or daughter. 
·         Actually I would say you have to be highly creative to make your lighting stand out at a dance concert for this reason.  When it comes to concerts all parents are just interested in seeing their child.

This is, by no means, a complete guide to lighting but just a quick start to concert lighting.  If you have any tips in this area feel free to comment. Have fun with your next concert and don’t be afraid to experiment.

Until next time,
TDT

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