BURNABY, British Columbia — Unlike any dance show ever
produced, Robert Sondergaard’s Reverse Collaboration project is a reversal of
the typical production and creative processes—developing the lighting and
environment design first and then adding in choreography as the final piece.
The Reverse Collaboration concept is the culmination of MovEnt’s annual project
called “Today in the Theatre” that brought choreographers and lighting
designers together to explore lighting without the pressure of crafting a show.
However, as Sondergaard, Owner of production design house Electric Aura, sought
new ways to improve the collaboration process between lighting designers and
dance choreographers, he felt the project needed to take the next step. In
support of this year’s event, which featured the first ever dance show created
entirely via Reverse Collaboration, HARMAN’s Martin Professional teamed up with
Christie Lites to provide Sondergaard with a multitude of moving head lighting
fixtures, including the MAC Quantum Wash and RUSH MH3 Beam.
Dance professionals typically start with the choreography
and add layers of lighting, sound, costumes and set pieces to enhance the
production. However, these additional design elements are often forced to play
catch up with the choreography to become a bigger part of the show and in many
cases, the lack of time or monetary resources lead to designs that are not
fully realized. By developing a show through reverse collaboration,
Sondergaard, as the lighting and production designer, took the lead creative
role. His process began by choosing a piece of music and then designed a
lighting environment, with equipment provided by Martin Professional, Christie
Lites, and Electric Aura’s own fixtures, that accentuated the sound.
“From a lighting standpoint, I spent three months creating
the show to ensure it was fully programmed and time coded before the
collaboration with the choreographers and dancers began,” said Sondergaard.
“The chance to refine a lighting design to that degree was very challenging,
yet refreshing at the same time. With one four-minute section of the design
featuring over 220 cue calls, it was one of the most fine-tuned designs I’ve ever
accomplished.”
After months of developing the lighting design, Sondergaard
then teamed up with two choreographers and four dancers at The Shadbolt Centre
for the Arts in Burnaby, British Columbia to finalize the show over the course
of six days. The first day consisted of load-in while the choreography was
developed from days two through four. On day five the production team refined
the performance and on day six the show was live. “It was truly an impressive
feat by the choreographers to develop the routine in such a short period of
time. While I had months to refine and fully program the lighting design, the
choreography was only developed over three days,” said Sondergaard.
Sondergaard deployed eight of Martin’s MAC Quantum Wash
lights, with six on booms upstage and two additional fixtures hung in the air
for top wash. “The intensity and quality of the light the Quantum produces is
unlike any other wash light available,” said Sondergaard. “It has a unique
lense effect where the front lense rotates and creates an organic movement to
the light like I’ve never seen in any fixture before.”
Additionally, he used 16 Martin RUSH MH3 Beam fixtures
positioned on the floor on either side of the stage and four MH1 Profile
fixtures hung in a cluster over center stage. Sondergaard also suspended 15 of
Martin’s MAC Aura Wash lights over the stage on truss ladders. “We were very
happy with the capabilities of the RUSH MH 3 fixtures,” said Sondergaard. “The
strong output and colors paired with the rotating gobos really made the MH3s a
fantastic fixture to work with. They really outperformed our expectations!”
From creating cutting edge and integrated lighting designs
to attracting larger audiences with bigger production elements, Sondergaard’s
Reverse Collaboration project hopes to create and reinforce a new creative
process that showcases the importance a more refined lighting design to dance
productions.
“I have always had a strong passion for dance production,”
said Sondergaard. “I am proud to help bring new creative processes and
production elements to the dance world and I could not have imagined our
success without the support of Martin Professional.”
Equipment
8 x MAC Quantum Wash
16 X Rush MH3
Supplied by Electric Aura:
15 x MAC Aura Wash
4 x Rush MH1
Creative
Team
Choreographers : Karissa Barry & Thoenn Glover
Dancers: Jessica Wilkie, Elya Grant, Sophia Wolfe, Alex Tam
For an inside look at Robert Sondergaard’s “Reverse Collaboration”
project, please visit: http://youtu.be/3gKxyK6-amI
For more information on Martin’s stage lighting solutions,
please visit: www.martin.com
As a world leader in the creation of dynamic lighting
solutions for the entertainment, architectural, and commercial sectors, Martin
lighting and video systems are renowned the world over. Martin also offers a
range of advanced lighting controllers and media servers, as well as a complete
line of smoke machines as a complement to intelligent lighting. Martin operates
the industry’s most complete and capable distributor network with local
partners in nearly 100 countries. Founded in 1987 and based in Aarhus, Denmark,
Martin is the lighting division of global infotainment and audio company HARMAN
International Industries. For more information please visit:
http://www.martin.com.
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