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At the Tech Table Time to pack up the Tech Table until the next show. Put away my notes and my cheat sheet. Store my head set and my pencils and try to shift back to normal life. Yesterday I was home watching television at looked up at the clock at it was 7pm. I just laughed out loud, it's been literally weeks since I've been home so early. Time to switch from being Exhausted Artist back to dk-is-lighting-dance. It's rewarding but I can imagine how the Incredible Hulk must feel shifting back into Bruce Banner. I look around the world with new eyes and new perspective, now shaded and jaded by my new perspective - my eyes see differently now.

At the Tech Table Up and on with the latest show. Once again I note the difficulty a lighting designer has over the other designers. While the costume designer and the set designer has the luxury of seeing their work prior to revealing it to others, the lighting designer can only focus and hope it comes together. It seems I always am showing my risky new idea on the dancers in a room full of observers. Everyone wants to know what it will be and I have a choreographer to please. It's a tough situation trying to make the dance look interesting and still tie the elements together such has honoring the costume designers ideas. People huddle around the tech table, like moths drawn to my little light. I'm always crowded with choreographers, the video director, the costume designer, the producer and any one else who likes to know "what is happening." It feels like my process is compeletely transparent and I find myself covering for the crews mistakes on headset - filtering their difficulties to all these people who surround me. I have to keep everyone confident that everyone can do their job, it's just the learning curve of putting together a new show. It feels I am made to feel accountable for the entire crew and production is because I am the guy on the headset next to the choreographer(s). One final note: I think when it comes to dance design, the lighting designer can not just sit in his department. I feel comfortable questioning if the volume of the music is loud enough, for example. A few years ago, I designed for a soloist. It was just me and her traveling to these different venues and festivals. I lit and called the show. But I was invested to the level of dealing with almost any element of the show. I think I'm pretty good at it. It's hard to do and it's also fun.

Here's a quick snap from last night's rehearsal. Obviously the video images need resizing etc, but it give you an idea of what we are trying to achieve.

I knew my Blog Life would suffer when I began designing shows and doing the core work of my craft, it simply becomes a lifestyle that is very demanding. I am currently designing the lighting for a modern dance show that has.... Multi-level platforms Three video screens Three separate video feeds One live video feed Five choreographers Plays this coming Friday and Saturday at the Walt  Disney Modular Theater Plays the week after that in downtown Los Angeles at the RedCat Theater It's all "new work", meaning the choreography is brand new.  The range of talent is broad, for example one of my choreographers is from Taiwan, my fellow faculty members; Tina Yuan, Colin Conner and Laurence Blake, and yet another is just starting his career. This is all produced by my school: so we have faculty, staff, alumni and students involved at every level -- it's very hard work birthing new pieces.  The challenges can seem over-whelming at the start but eventually settles into it's life. Our projections are from chinese water color paintings. We spent a day in the studio video-taping (High Def) slow crawls over the paintings so the close up detail is what is projected.  We also had the artist in the studio. We put the rice paper on glass and shot from below as the artist put the paint strokes down, this way we only see the strokes appear and nothing else.  We did this a month ago, it's been edited to time with the music. We see the video projected in the theater for the first time on Monday. I've been lighting hoping to not wash out the screens with my light bouncing off the stage or flare from my diffuse focus -- if anything will need to change, it will fall on me to do it. My pallette is: Very saturated blue in the Backlight (Royal Blue -- Rosco 385) Very saturated red in the Backlight (Medium Red -- Rosco 27) Medium Amber in the High Sides (Gallo Gold -- Rosco 316) Medium Lavender in the High Sides (Lavender -- Rosco 57) Clear Heads and Shinbusters to sculpt the body and cut through the color. If you are curious about these colors, I found a listing on the web -- just remember I am not working with flat colors,  these are filters for light. Try clicking here. Because it's a multi-level set with screens (made out of muslin, un-framed ... they look like banners) -- my backlight is used to define the space and create the atmosphere.  My intent is not so much to light the performers as to establish the mood and shape the space that the set lives in. The High Sides define each individual platform and light the dancers.  Amber and Lavender are not quite opposites  (green is the complimentary color to lavender) -- they are close enough that I can accent each color but use both to sort of add up to a very "energetic" white.  The key to making lighting design seem "lively", for lack of better word is to mix colors in the air and on the performer. Way back in September and early October I took some pictures of the Set Designer's model and some pictures of what will eventually be the textures from the chinese-style paintings ... I posted them on the web for our choreographers who at the time were scattered all about the world it seemed -- though in reality they were either here in Los Angeles or in Taiwan or Texas. You can view the Model and Textures by clicking here.