For the second year in a row I collaborated with Deree's (The American College of Greece) dance department as a lighting designer for the annual dance performance event. The Festival took place at the university's Blackbox theatre on the 21st of March 2014.
This year, we had five dance pieces, three invited artists who were part of the professional development project in collaboration with Kinitiras Choreography Lab, one by the student company and one in collaboration with students from the music department.
I first saw the pieces on the 10th of March at the Deree's studio rehearsal room. There, we made our first draft plans and discussions, exchanged ideas with the choreographers about the lighting and presentation of the pieces.
Three days of preparation, planning and rehearsing on the theatre followed, with lots of people, dancers and lighting cues, until Friday, 21st of March when we had the final run through and the show. For once again the lighting was designed using Capture Polar visualization software and was controlled by Avolites' Titan One. I also used my new Sigma lenses 18-35mm/f1,8.
Below, you can see details for each piece separately.
Residi(u)um
This was the opening piece, choreographed by Ana Snachez-Colberg with material devised by the ensemble. It was like an installation, a promenade performance where the audience was invited to be in the space and not seated. I made three square spaces in where the three dancers with their chairs were performing. Also, there were three boxes with three monitors which had live video feed from three cameras, operated by students. Every time a dancer was performing, his square beam of light was on. At the second part we moved to the center of the space for three solos and at the end, we created the "pizza" light beam as we named for fun and it opened even more the space. This whole performance was like a living museum, where the bodies and movement where exhibited. It was very minimal, with sharp-edged light beams.
Choreography: Ana Snachez-Colberg with material devised by the ensemble
Scenic environment and costume: Ana Snachez-Colberg
Dancers: Yianna Beck, Maria Sermpou, Mari-Eleni Sitiropoulos
Camera operators: Eva Kyriakopoulou, Maria Papanidi, Maria Sklika
Lighting Design: Pavlos Mavridis
Sound and AV engineering: Dimitris Karalis
Producer: Ana Sanchez-Colberg
I Have A Body Or I Am A Body?
The second dance piece was held by two dancers, moving in counter clockwise rotation to four specific points. I did a very minimal approach regarding the lighting here. I only used four profile spots to create four square areas, each one for each position. My idea was to build a cuelist that was eventually building the space with the same rotation-direction. It was mathematically build so that at the middle of the performance we had everything on and then symmetrically I started taking off every area to reach at the beginning by having again only one profile on.
Choreography: Ismini Makaratzi
Dancers: Anna-Maria Kordogianopoulou, Ismini Makaratzi
Sound composition: Dimitris Palaiogiannis
Lighting Design: Pavlos Mavridis
Sound and AV engineering: Dimitris Karalis
Producer: Ana Sanchez-Colberg
Viento Perdido
My approach to the third dance piece was very different. I used a strong general back wash lighting rig so that everyone could see only the silhouettes of the dancers. Also this resulted in a very bright and glowing floor which resulted into a very nice effect.
Choreography: Maria Sermpou
Dancers: Maria Louiza Biri, Eva Kyriakopoulou, Maria Sermpou
Music: Various artists
Lighting Design: Pavlos Mavridis
Sound and AV engineering: Dimitris Karalis
Producer: Ana Sanchez-Colberg
ALL I'S
This piece, technically was the most complicated one. We had many dancers, a stage set by 10 wooden boxes as a backround from which the dancers would exit. At this piece the whole stage was transformed with the rest of the show so I used lots of specials spots. I had a big cyclorama surface which was washed in blue color and was behind the boxes looking like a blue sky. For the boxes which were supposed to be city buildings, I used four profiles and created four shadows using light, aiming to build a three dimensional perspective and have a strong image for the audience.
Choreography: Olga Spiraki
Dancers: Elena Papadopoulou, Anastasia Brouzioti, Chrisa Kaliafa, Elena Stavropoulou, Alexander Qejvanaj, Timos Zechas
Dramaturgy: Alexis Alatsis
Video: Constantinos Frangoulis
Musician: Panagiotis Pantazis
Set: Sofia Garbouni
Costumes and props: Vasiliki Sirma
Assistant choreography: Dimitra Mitropoulou and Elli Tampaki
Assistant producer: Teta Apostolaki
Lighting Design: Pavlos Mavridis
Sound and AV engineering: Dimitris Karalis
Producer: Ana Sanchez-Colberg
You can read about the total progress of this project by clicking here.
Crystal Dream
Crystal Dream was the final dance piece and was built on the music composition by Yiannis Kassetas. There was live music by four musicians. General wash lighting was used due to many people on stage.
Project leaders: Yiannis Kassetas (music), Ana Sanchez-Colberg (movement)
Dancers: Eleni-Alexia Gasparatou, Eirini Kopanou, Maria-Kristina Papanidi, Nelli Peristeropoulou, Nisa Kay Prior, Maria Sermpou, Mari-Eleni Sotiropoulos, Eva Kyriakopoulou
Musicians: Manto Chastouki (double bass), Sophia Diamantidis (vocals), Menanto Chamberlain (piano), Dimitris Sofronas (electric guitar)
Lighting design: Pavlos Mavridis
Sound and AV engineering: Dimitris Karalis
Producer: Ana Sanchez-Colberg
Yiannis Kassetas & Group
The night ended which a jazz music performance held by saxophonist Yiannis Kassetas and his group. For this concert, we decided to move the stage very close to the audience. I used amber gels in order to achieve a warmer atmosphere for the music.
Sax: Yiannis Kassetas
Piano: Costis Christodoulou
Bass: Manos Loutas
Drums: Vasilis Podaras
Lighting design: Pavlos Mavridis
Sound and AV engineering: Dimitris Karalis
Producer: Ana Sanchez-Colberg
I would like to thank all the dancers, choreographers for being so collaborative, Ana Sanchez-Colberg and the Deree college for producing and organizing this festival, Dimitris Karalis for his assistance and of course the Blackbox theatre crew, Mr. Ioannis Gerakellis and Mr. Babis Sofios for their patience and technical support.