The performance comprised over 50 dance segments (photo: Rik Uyttersprot)
Belgium - Lighting designer Rik Uyttersprot from GRAViTY Design injected an edgy and raw lighting aesthetic to help showcase the stark bare stage production values of WOW at the Kortrijk Xpo in Belgium.
The performance comprised over 50 dance segments which were presented as the end of year work by classic and contemporary students from the Pirouette Dans School, one of the most famous dance and choreographic academies in Belgium.
Woven into the intense action and drama were 20 x Robe Spiider LED wash beams and 48 little LEDBeam 150 moving lights. These are part of a new purchase by Roeselare based lighting rental company La Strada Fashion which was delivered by Robe’s Benelux distributor, Controllux.
Rik has lit the annual Pirouette Dans show for over a decade and has worked with La Strada Fashion, which is owned by Roland D’Hondt, for around 18 years. La Strada will frequently hire Rik to work on the design elements of their lighting and visual projects.
The Hall has plenty of weight loading, so a series of raked trusses were flown in the roof above the stage. There is also the benefit of plenty of space around the stage area which accommodated five high powered projectors positioned behind an upstage screen, adding images and moving footage to the action.
The Spiiders and LEDBeam 150s were dotted all over these and used for the top lighting – from creating beautiful intricate scenes to blunt single beams illuminating dancers, these units gave Rik all the dynamics he needed to light the diverse performance which plays three sold-out shows over a weekend every year.
He also used 12 of La Strada Fashion’s old Robe ColorSpot 700E AT fixtures in the show. While these are getting old now, they are still good for quite a few projects, and more importantly, underline the reliability and sheer build quality of the kit, as they were purchased at least a decade ago now.
“Every design for a show like this needs gobo break-up effects and they are still brilliant for this,” explains Rik.
(Jim Evans)

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