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
Supplied by Martin Professional and Christie Lites (
8 x MAC Quantum Wash
16 X Rush MH3
Supplied by Electric Aura:
15 x MAC Aura Wash
4 x Rush MH1
Creative Team
Conceived and Created by: Robert Sondergaard (
www.electricaura.net)
Producer: Julie-anne Saroyan, MovEnt (
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