Air Dance Bernasconi in Holiday Flight

Tackling the challenging task of lighting modern aerial dance, Kel Millionie, Production Designer and Technical Director of Baltimore Theatre Project turned to Martin for a dependable dynamic solution. Kel chose 6 MAC 250 Entours, 6 MAC 300 Wash, 3 Wizard effect lights and Martin LightJockey with Visualizer to provide a fully customizable pallet of creative looks, easily tailored to the sky with dancers on trapeze, hoops, aerial silk and Spanish web.

Aerial Dance choreographer Jayne Bernasconi put together a series of modern dance vignettes and aerial work with trapeze, hoops, Spanish Web and silk, all to the tune of the holiday season. Theatre Project, a non-profit 501 (c)3 presenting theatre, selected Air Dance Bernasconi (the troupe named after its founder in 2000) as part of their Subscription Series. Theatre Project is an intimate sized venue at 36’ x 36’ x 19’.  A converted lecture hall once belonging to the Greek Heptosoph Society, Theatre Project is now a black box theatre with original full sized acoustical domed stage and 160 stadium style seats.

Production and lighting designer Kel Millionie used Martin luminaires, provided by MainLight Industries, for their versatility, affordability and sheer power. Struggling with the task of lighting performers not only on the stage floor but suspended from 5 to 19 feet in the air, Kel chose the intelligent fixtures because of cost and flexibility verses tripling the current theatre’s conventional fixture and dimmer inventory.

MAC 250 Entour
The selection of six MAC 250 Entours was used primarily for accent, aerials and back lighting of the moving performers, Kel explains. Two luminaires were placed both upstage left and upstage right about a foot off the floor. These were used to uplight and backlight the trapeze and aerial hoops with texture and color. They also provided two upstage leg curtains with morphing texture and color during set changes.

Two luminaires were placed on 10-foot vertical pipe, at the upper most part of the stage, corresponding to the performers upstage entrances. The two fixtures were used to project gobo patterns and texture on the performance floor. They also acted as backlighting and provided a sharp, consistent edge of hi-light for background separation, a very integral part of lighting a black box theatre. A hi-intensity luminaire with even color and light distribution is important to pull the performers away from the blackness of the surrounding walls and curtains.

The final two luminaires were placed in the grid at 20ft, stage right and stage left, at almost mid-down stage. The height of these fixtures provided an ideal key light for the pieces to be performed at center stage.

“With the MAC 250 Entour luminaires, I knew that the speed of the fixture was the most crucial aspect of its performance,” Kel comments. “With almost 270 individual lighting cues, about ½ of them prep cues (a gobo, color, pan, tilt. etc.. while in black just before a fade up / bump) the speed of the fixture leads to perfect timing cue to cue.  No longer did I have to sacrifice a great moment in the music, just to wait for a pan / gobo change before a fade up. I personally love the ability to overlay multiple gobos, rotate one, than integrate a rotating prism for some beautiful morphing effects. Audience members always ask, “How do you make light do that?”

LightJockey ease
“All of the Entour luminaires were used for audience blowout timed with music and for moving aerial patterns (rays through house and stage, etc.),” Kel states. “This is where LightJockey became so crucial. Timing a lighting performance to music is quite difficult with conventional light desks. I found that using LightJockey’s ability to cue DMX signals to music with playback triggered by WinAmp a savior. The software made programming the show at home a breeze using the Visualizer, then bringing my laptop to the control booth and plugging in my USB dongle, playback and editing of cues on the fly was as easy as a ‘go’ button or the spacebar. LightJockey’s ability to generate intricate yet smooth pan and tilt chases meant creating elaborate audience blowouts or troublesome easing ellipses was a MACro or preset away.”

MAC 300 Wash
The MAC 300 Wash luminaires were used to create color blending at dual heights. Kel explains, “I used 6 fixtures total. These fixtures were used as side lighting at stage right flown on dual pipe at 12 and 15 feet respectively. Their saturated colors and wonderful CMY mixing system allowed me to develop a color pattern that complimented the fixed colors of the MAC 250 Entour profiles.

“Another wonderful feature is the many shades of ‘white’ light that were easily developed. Using MAC 300s along with conventional Lekos and Fresnels allowed me to accurately reproduce the color temperature and saturation of incandescent and halogen fixtures. The intelligent fixtures did not stick out when used along with conventional theatrical lighting. One of the aerial dance pieces is done in extreme slow motion and utilized a soundtrack with whale, dolphin and ocean / beach sounds. With the MAC 300s and LightJockey I developed an intriguing fading and easing pan and color chase that simulated the entire stage floor was under a vast ocean.

Kel concludes, “All of the MAC fixtures over-performed my expectations. Never having worked with MAC fixtures before, I was not sure what to expect. I was pleasantly appalled with their silence, speed and consistent accuracy. I found the ¼ turn fasteners to be the most convenient little inventions while positioning the fixtures in the grid and on the vertical pipe.

“Lighting dance is a taxing process. The MAC 250s, 300s and Wizards with LightJockey made it simple to create the looks I wanted. I spent less valuable tech rehearsal time programming cues then ever before.”

Additional Credits:
Choreographer: Jayne Bernasconi
Aerial Rigger: Johnathan Deull
Production Design / Lighting Design: Kel Millionie
Board Op / Programmer: Kel Millionie
Stage Tech: Rebecca Bare
Aerialists: Mari Acosta, Ann Behrends, Jayne Bernasconi, Tony Byrd, Sara Deull, Garrett Warnes