Ballet Showcase 2020 (Virtual Group A)

Virtual Ballet 2020 Group A
Summary Location New Athenaeum Theatre Production Team Stage Supervisor Darren Wilson Lighting Designer Christoph Wagner PLX Nicholas Ruebenacker

Overview

Ballet Showcase 2020 became a virtual project due to the closure of the univeristy building because of the Covid 19 pandemic. The second year TSD & LX students that were allocated to the show were split into 2 groups A & B.

Technical Stage Department

Design

The design for this ballet consisted of black masking legs in the first half and white masking legs in the second, along with an aperture type background that masks the BP screen.

The black/ white masking legs were achieved by hanging black soft legs and then flying hard maskers (covered in white material) in front of the soft legs. The white hard maskers would be flown in during the interval and weighted/ set in place. By using dog leg frames on the first 2 sets of soft legs they also acted as side masking to prevent too much of the wings being seen throughout both black and white parts of the show.

The aperture was achieved using a similar approach to the one that had been designed on Opera 2 (Dialogue Des Carmelites). A 16.5m span of Unibeam track with hard maskers as leading edges and half tabs to cover the remainder of the track. The track was operated USL by one of the stage technicians. To change the height of the aperture a full black is flown in front of the track and can be set at the required heights. To prevent the track bowing it will be rigged on a 16.5m truss span and hung on 4 chain motors. The truss span will also be strapped off to fly floors to prevent it swinging.

Renders

1st Half Aperture Renders

The aperture had 4 different positions- closed, fully open, tall and wide.

2nd Half White Masking & Deck Render

During the 2nd half of the performance there was a scene change with 3 bits of 8 x 4 deck and 3 sets of treads set up mid stage. This was done behind a full black.

Masking Plan

Dimensions provided on the plan so that an accurate representation of the masking drawn in Vectorworks can be achieved in the venue.

Aperture Plans

The aperture had 4 different positions- closed, fully open, tall and wide.

Show Running

Checks

Scene Change Plan

Flys & Automation

Flys & Hemp Plot

Due to the large amount of LX bars overhead a hemp bar needed to be rigged between DP12 & 13 to fit a border in.

Automation Plot

Due to the large amount of hemp points used on the show it was decided that the LX ladders would rigged onto trusses that would be flown on automation. The ladders didn't have much on them so the Big Tow 200 Winches could be used (if the ladders were heavier the trusses could have been rigged on Kinesys chain hoists but due to the placement of them grid panels would have needed to be removed). The trusses were trimmed at 13m as the first 2 sets of soft dog legs were 12m drops.

Points Plans

Due to the placement of LX Ladders and the height of dog legs (12m), LX cable tripe needed to be picked up by hemp points downstage of the LX bars (this can be seen in the Pick Ups Points Plan)

The 2 downstage LX Booms were 5m high and to prevent them from swaying when dancers passed them hemp points were dropped directly above them so they could be tied off. (this can be seen in the LX Ladders Points Plan)

Points Plans

Points Master

Overview

The virtual Ballet 2020 design called for the white hard masking to be lit up during the second half of the show. This was done by taping 5m LED tape to the back of the hard maskers using little plastic clips. The LED drivers and power supplies were mounted on the back of the maskers so that they could be easily accessible during the changeover. The Design also included Booms, ladders and a mirror ball.