Light Choreographed Ballet
This ballet tutu was choreographed to play light animation synchronously with live music from Nutcracker ballet
Imagine you’re an audience member seated in the Ruth Finley Person Theater at Wells Fargo Center for the Arts. This is the largest fixed seat venue in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, and you’ve come here to watch The Nutcracker. You see a soloist in a white and sequin-flecked tutu take the stage. She leans forward to begin her piece, and the tutu fabric illuminates. The lights roll back and forth in harmony with musical cues as the dancer moves in time to the music. You’re witnessing a convention being turned on its head.
Here is a re-imagining of a traditional ballet tutu with the added infusion of high intensity LED lighting. The lights are woven throughout several layers of fabric in the skirt, concealing the accompanying electronics. By contrast, the bodice is nude-colored with sequins—the sequins which in turn, catch the light cues from the skirt and sparkle. The dancer moves with ease through the choreography, as the tutu is lightweight and sturdy, yet flexible during the performance.
Notice how the choreography initially works to accentuate the lighting cues in the skirt, as the dancer tilts, presents the skirt to the audience, and rocks back and forth as the lighting slides back and forth with her in time to the music. The lights remain visible even on the underside of the tutu when the dancer turns upstage. As the piece progresses, the lights do as well, moving from softer colors to bright green, then culminating in red at the end.
Choreographer Nikolay Kabaniaev worked closely with designer Marina Polakoff to create movements which complemented the lighting effects. This was Kabaniaev’s initial exposure to this form of lighting technology, and it afforded him the opportunity to work with a new form of media. The collaboration resulted in a pioneering form of visual art: a fusion of movement and lighting which operated in harmony with the music. Innovation produced an unconventional, performance-worthy piece. The facile software allowed the artists to utilize existing patterns as well as create new ones.