Applied Lighting and Production for Dance
Documentation by Julianne Cerreta
Jasmine’s Thesis: Figments
Jasmine and I had a great working relationship with clear expectations from one another since the very beginning. We both knew we had some highly specific design choices for our own choreographic work, while also having sections we were open to the designer’s perspective and vision. We constantly said both shows felt like both of our designs because of how heavily involved we were with our own theses. Overall, I would say I learned more about design through making my own choreographic thesis, but more about collaboration, listening, and interpreting another artist’s vision through lighting Jasmine’s thesis. Though I cannot speak for Jasmine, in both of our tech rehearsals I felt our designs were guided by what the choreographer wanted and the designer taking a step back and asking “what does it need?” or (sometimes more importantly) “what does it not need?”
My thesis was heavily grounded in reality and real life dance historical references, while Jasmine’s research was on dreams and “theatrical unrealities”. Loud, vibrant, colors were in line with her vision. Anything less crept too closely to the audience’s reality, so drawing a hard line by way of lighting design was key to achieving Jasmine’s desired impact. For a piece filled with whimsy, I considered disco or circus lighting for certain sections. In other instances when she requested more simple designs, I was more focused on details like ensuring everyone had light on them if they were standing in a straight line, or making the sizes of specials large enough for the given phrase work.
There was a moment in the piece that I watched jasmine fiddle with in rehearsal for a few weeks. She played with syncopation, dynamic shifts, and speed. I could tell she wanted that moment to disrupt, draw a lot of attention, and almost freeze time. While designing, I threw in a really stark change and created a UV light effect that faded when the moment was over. Just before the light change the dancers were all doing different phrase work in small groups around the stage. My goal was for the audience’s focus to snap back to the collective if they were previously only watching one of the groups. Most importantly, Jasmine said it was exactly what she wanted.
During another section of Jasmine’s work there was total (intentional) chaos on stage. As a viewer you had no idea where to look and that was the point. To assist in the chaos, I matched the lights to the choreography by adding lots of color and movement. Each of Jasmine’s dancers had their own character for the piece that really came to the surface during this section, so I felt it appropriate the lights take on a character of their own as well. As an audience member you could look anywhere on the stage and be entertained. I ensured in addition to the playfulness of the design, that everything was exposed as well. When you can see everything on stage it can become visually overstimulating, so allowing every prop and dancer to be seen platformed Jasmine’s chaos choreography montage.
Anecdotes from live performances
Royal Opera House
In the Autumn term I attended a new works concert at the Royal Opera House by the Royal Ballet. I immediately noticed in one of the pieces the cyc went from what I initially presumed was a black curtain, to blue. As someone who does not enjoy having a constant color on the cyc I was fascinated by this and wanted to know how I could achieve the same effect in my work. Mike later explained it was a very thin black mesh that only appears black when there is no light projecting onto the cyc behind it. I look for this in every performance now and I am now determined to work with a theater that has access to one of those scrims because that option would come in very handy for most of my choreographic work.
Shaftesbury Theatre
While I was inside the Shaftesbury Theatre, I could see almost all of the rigged stage lights from the house. I found myself noticing what types of lights were hung and telling the people I was with which lights were going to move during the show and what types of light the others would provide. Thankfully I was not with other artists or they likely would not have found my little fun facts nearly as entertaining.
Moulin Rouge
This Spring I went to the Moulin Rouge in Paris and noticed before the show began that the closed stage curtains were glittered and red. I was certain they were red because I was sitting directly up against the stage. It was to my surprise when they changed multiple times throughout the show from red, to blue, and then at the end to black. Eventually I could tell they were using LED lights to change the color of the curtain, which later made me consider how much I could change the color of my thesis costumes by incorporating the LEDs more than I initially planned.
Discoveries about Rigging
An aspect of rigging I was not anticipating was that focusing would be the most difficult step. I found setting up the actual lights very straightforward and feel particularly confident in hanging profile spots at this point. Although the LED lights provide a different set of options, I really prefer the traditional stage lights. Being able to manually shift angles, adjust barn doors, and change the size of the light for specials is extremely useful, especially for a perfectionist like myself. Swapping out gels for the cyc in Michaelis allowed me to realize that in other theaters the lights for the cyc are sometimes at the bottom instead of hung from a beam, changing which part of the cyc receives the most pigmentation.
Personal Reflection
Prior to this year, whenever I worked with a lighting designer I always gave the specifics of what I wanted in my piece, never a mood or feeling. Our in class lecture where we gave descriptive words to a partner to light the stage was helpful and allowed me to consider a new approach. As a person who sometimes struggles to put things into words (the reason I am a choreographer and not a novelist) I was initially concerned about my ability to communicate with my lighting designer when it was not something I already figured out all of the technical elements for. This proved not to be an issue at all by the time we arrived at tech rehearsal, but I believe Jasmine and I attending multiple in-studio run-throughs of each other's works aided our comprehension while designing. I believe our shared knowledge of what was possible in Michaelis Theatre as a designer combined with a deep understanding of our own choreographic research provided an ideal communication style.
My Thesis: This is Ballet
I remember in our first year Mike advising us to choreograph with the lights in mind, not as an afterthought. Since then, I’ve thought about that every time I go to start a new piece. My thesis in particular was deeply informed by what I envisioned for the lighting. As for my personal taste as a choreographer, I don’t love a light show. I’m extremely particular about complex phrases not being “hidden” by the design, so I usually will opt for something more basic. However, for the first time as a designer and choreographer, I felt my work (and phrase work in particular) was not just supported, but enhanced by the lights. Learning about what was possible in terms of color, intensity, shadows, and angles was akin to the first time I ever set a piece of choreography on a group of dancers; after years of picturing things in my head I finally saw my imagination come to life. That feeling is so validating and exciting, it truly affirms my practice.
This is Ballet
Photos by Zoe Knowles
As I stated previously, I historically opted for simpler designs. I typically stayed far away from any bright colors and veered heavily towards a warm white light. Because of my research on power structures in classical ballet, I became fascinated by “Balanchine Blue” and what color could represent. I not only changed the blue gel in the cyc to #363, but had the idea to use a specific blue in the moving LEDs anytime I made a choreographic reference to Balanchine’s Serenade. The blue in the moving lights was different to the cyc, as this blue sat somewhere between a cerulean “Balanchine Blue” and the baby blue costumes of the dancers in the original Serenade. I realized that world-building in a choreographic context was made infinitely more possible through making the audience associate a specific color or design choice with certain motifs.
This is Ballet
Photos by Zoe Knowles
The day in class we experimented with shadows using Par Cans set up on floor stands was a very exciting day for me. For a few months prior I was thinking about ways I could achieve shadows like that for a specific section of my thesis, so discovering it would be a possibility was invaluable. I walked around the stage trying to determine where a dancer needed to be in the cross zone of the lights to have their shadow projected on the center of the cyc. Once I figured that piece out, I placed my soloist on a middle panel of stage right and everything else worked itself out.
This is Ballet
Photo by Zoe Knowles
Jerome Robbins Glass Pieces
Photo by Cheryl Mann
I began my thesis choreography with a few basic design concepts. One in particular was using a silhouette whenever Will (the only man in my piece) entered the stage. I wanted to conceal his identity, allowing the audience to apply any face onto his body. Additionally, I aimed to “erase” the ballet dancers’ identities by eliminating their faces and only being able to see them as bodies through their silhouettes. This idea made it into the work, but was expanded when I was reviewing Jerome Robbins’ Glass Pieces and began asking myself what was possible during lab time. In Ronald Bates’ design of the Facades section of Glass Pieces, the corps de ballet moves along the most upstage panel just near the cyc, in near total silhouette. As they dance, a pas de deux performs slightly further downstage in the light. I’ve used basic silhouettes in previous designs but had yet to tackle a silhouette in conjunction with another design choice. While in class I experimented with turning on just a few wings at a time of side lights starting with the most downstage wing and noting where on the stage the dancer would become a silhouette. Figuring this element out allowed me to determine where I’d place soloist dancers at certain times to achieve a half-in/half-out effect. The half being, half in our present reality and half “inside” the ballet.
This is Ballet
Photo by Zoe Knowles
This is Ballet
Photo by Zoe Knowles
George Balanchine Serenade
Photo by Erin Baiano
I chose a hot pink for the cyc in this section being aware of potential audience interpretations of red. I did not want it to feel romantic, sultry, or overtly “angry” (even though as a cast we referred to this as the “rage” section). With a predominantly female cast and a research subject that looked critically at gender in relation to classical ballet power structures, hot pink fit the bill. It felt in line with traditional associations of femininity, while still being bold and packed a punch in the way red does, but without the slew of literal interpretations.
There’s a negotiation between the lighting design and the dancers’ comfort and safety. Seeing as a main part of my practice was ethical leadership and ensuring the dancers’ wellbeing was placed above everything else, I was especially concerned about this. There was a moment in the second half of act 1 where the dancers executed a turn sequence in a grid formation for the entire length of the stage. After dress rehearsal, the dancers communicated that they could not see due to the side lights being too bright (and subsequently fumbled the sequence). After speaking with Jasmine, we decided to lower the intensity for this section and take out the heads, which was a worthwhile compromise.
Video by Samuel Sierra
As you can see in this video, the close up shot is from dress rehearsal with the side lights turned to a higher intensity and the zoomed out shot is from the performance after we adjusted the intensity and removed the heads.
In the second half of act 2 we did the opposite and made a decision more in favor of the lighting. As the choreographer, I knew this section did not have particularly intricate phrase work and there were no turns that would disorient the dancers. We opted for a single cue in the first piece of music, which employed only stage right side lights. The effect was perfect, though the dancers did say they couldn’t see anything.
Photos by Zoe Knowles
Final Thoughts
Further developing my technical theater education this year has allowed me to feel confident with design, programming, rigging, and probably most importantly, unlocked a new creative avenue for me as a choreographer. I don’t think I can ever approach composition in the same way again. My in depth knowledge of the expansive possibilities in the theater provide me with an all encompassing creative palette that I will continue to use on my journey as an artist. I’m looking forward to learning even more throughout my career and seeing the many ways this skillset informs my choreography. Thank you, Mike.