So as the name may imply, you may think I am talking about "How to light a ballet". Actually I am trying to explain how amazing our lighting technician, Gala Kugatova, was at the Opera and Ballet Theater in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. She took "running lights" to a new level, performing her own ballet behind the scenes, which took me back in time when the light board operator was as much an artist as the designer. Technicians like her are required to be as "in tune" to the show as the performers. Let me try to explain.
When I walked into the theatre, I had to quickly assess what was possible and where we could hang and focus lights to achieve all the looks needed for the show. The first thing I noticed was how old the lighting equipment was, but how cool some of it was. Some of the equipment was older than the majority of the people who worked in the theatre, literally.
While very little of the equipment worked, you could tell that when it was installed in the 50's this opera house was extremely state of the art! My favorite piece of equipment was this old-school moving light. It consisted of motors and gears that could refocus the light while it was in the air. It was the first modern "moving light," a lighting term that describe the modern-day automated lighting equipment we now use.
The lighting equipment was built in the 1950's which required the board operator to truly be a part of the show. The lighting control console was very interesting! There were 4 panels on it each containing 180 switches. This allowed the operator to preset the next few cues ahead of time.
Then there was the center of the panel that had master knobs that would fade from one preset panel to the next (what we call a crossfade.)
Watching Gala work was as interesting as what was going on the stage. I was amazed at how well she had memorized what each switch controlled.
All this older equipment required Gala to really understand the systems in the theatre. Even before the house lights faded, Gala started her magic. Basically, I had to simplify the show to 4 major looks and then Gala could preset the looks into each scene. Then I woud tell her which cue to crossfade into and how quickly we would transition. This simply became Fast (2 seconds), Medium (5 Seconds), and Slow (15 seconds). She only had 1 rehearsal to learn the show and because of the translation issues some mistakes were made during that rehearsal. What amazed me most was how she was able to understand the corrections of the mistakes and adjust to the needs of the show, feeling the energy and flow of the production. During the actual performance all the cues were operated with perfection. She would sense the rhythm of the show and execute the cues with sensitivity to each piece. A few of the cues were difficult and required some adjustments to the base cues, but Gala would immediately make the adjustments in the preset with her memorization of what each and every switch did. She was a choreographed artist executing a live show in the booth! Amazing! Technicians like her are as integral to the show as the performers.
Brava, Gala, and thanks for making my design look so great in your opera house!
When I walked into the theatre, I had to quickly assess what was possible and where we could hang and focus lights to achieve all the looks needed for the show. The first thing I noticed was how old the lighting equipment was, but how cool some of it was. Some of the equipment was older than the majority of the people who worked in the theatre, literally.
While very little of the equipment worked, you could tell that when it was installed in the 50's this opera house was extremely state of the art! My favorite piece of equipment was this old-school moving light. It consisted of motors and gears that could refocus the light while it was in the air. It was the first modern "moving light," a lighting term that describe the modern-day automated lighting equipment we now use.
The lighting equipment was built in the 1950's which required the board operator to truly be a part of the show. The lighting control console was very interesting! There were 4 panels on it each containing 180 switches. This allowed the operator to preset the next few cues ahead of time.
Then there was the center of the panel that had master knobs that would fade from one preset panel to the next (what we call a crossfade.)
Watching Gala work was as interesting as what was going on the stage. I was amazed at how well she had memorized what each switch controlled.
All this older equipment required Gala to really understand the systems in the theatre. Even before the house lights faded, Gala started her magic. Basically, I had to simplify the show to 4 major looks and then Gala could preset the looks into each scene. Then I woud tell her which cue to crossfade into and how quickly we would transition. This simply became Fast (2 seconds), Medium (5 Seconds), and Slow (15 seconds). She only had 1 rehearsal to learn the show and because of the translation issues some mistakes were made during that rehearsal. What amazed me most was how she was able to understand the corrections of the mistakes and adjust to the needs of the show, feeling the energy and flow of the production. During the actual performance all the cues were operated with perfection. She would sense the rhythm of the show and execute the cues with sensitivity to each piece. A few of the cues were difficult and required some adjustments to the base cues, but Gala would immediately make the adjustments in the preset with her memorization of what each and every switch did. She was a choreographed artist executing a live show in the booth! Amazing! Technicians like her are as integral to the show as the performers.
Brava, Gala, and thanks for making my design look so great in your opera house!
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