|
|
Let There Be Light!: Creating Stage Sets for the Dance
| Article
# : |
13539 |
|
|
Section : |
THE ARTS
|
| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1988 |
2,371 Words |
| Author
: |
Don McDonagh
|
A hot, golden light pours down from above on a cluster of men and women at the start of Alvin Ailey's masterly Revelations. This is the first of ten sequences danced to Negro spirituals, each of which reveals different facets of the black religious experience. Lighting designer Nicola Cernovitch created an atmosphere of light for each sequence that enhances the figures onstage and the ambient mood.
The first three sequences suggest a plea for help; the opening glow suggests a positive response even as it beautifully silhouettes the outstretched arms of the supplements. The middle sections, which are generally brightly lit, celebrate the living of a consciously moral existence in the midday of life.
The final sections show judgment being meted out to the just and the unjust. In Sinner Man, projections of flames torment a frantically running trio of men who have been found wanting. A deep orange and red sphere representing the setting sun welcomes the saved, who settle down on stools for a final rest. In the last dance, Rock My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham, a brilliant yellowish light brightens the stage, suggesting the warmth embracing the redeemed, as the dancers move exuberantly.
Noble Emotions
Ironically, the average member of the audience might know the names of the choreographer and some of the principal dancers, but knows nothing about the artist who created the lighting that heightened his enjoyment of what he witnessed onstage. Lighting designers have long resigned themselves to this situation; their satisfaction comes from the success of the production itself. This feeling was touchingly expressed by the celebrated designer Robert Edmond Jones: "The designer creates an environment in which all the noble emotions are possible. Then he retires. The actor has taken the stage; and the designer's only reward lies in the praise bestowed on the actor." Substitute "dancer" for "actor" and you have the situation today, exactly as described by Jones.
Light has always been considered crucial to the theater: Witness the Greek amphitheaters, built to face the rising or setting sun. In the Middle Ages, churches were lit by candles for the performance of miracle plays. With the development of structures specifically designed for theatrical performances, increasing attention was given to the problem of lighting the action onstage.
Early lighting was crude and often dangerous. The possibility of fire was always present. Torches and oil lamps smoked; tallow and wax candles did not smoke as much but had to be trimmed during the performance, sometimes by the actors themselves. Today's sophisticated lighting techniques have made the work of the lighting designer, like the score, an integral part of the production.
Two great nineteenth-century stage designers, Edward Gordon Craig and Adolphe François Appia, actually were responsible for the modern tradition of lighting design. Both men emphasized the three-dimensionality of stage sets. Rather than present actors and singers performing before large, painted flat scenery, they placed them in abstract constructions subtly suggesting naturalistic objects. These forms were then lit to create a total stage ambience essentially sculptural in conception.
...
Read Full Article
|
|
