Week 10: Chanel Kostich: Passion and Possibilities

It is interesting to see the infinite possibilities that lighting can create. From Tech Rehearsal to Show week, the lighting process developed as Savannah made changes to help make my vision come to life on stage. Savannah had such passion and drive to make this piece shine in the New Slate Show. I was also very passionate to create something spectacular. Without her, my vision would have never come to life. I had my first Tech rehearsal with her on Friday but the lighting was much dimmer and there was only the city landscape, no cyc with pops of color so we had to alter these changes to make the lighting brighter on the dancers and to add color to the cyc. Since we had lots of changes to make, we had an extra Tech rehearsal for my piece on Sunday to include all the alterations. On Sunday, we spent 9 hours together and my dancers performed the piece at least 10 times. We were the first ones to get there at 1:30 pm and the last ones to leave at 10:30 pm. The piece dramatically changed from Friday to Sunday and I was very happy with the alterations. In this blog, I featured a few pictures that I took throughout the show week. For the intro, I wanted there to be a city landscape as you can see pictured in the backdrop with a chandelier that hung over the piano to create the Jazz Club atmosphere. At Tech rehearsal, the lighting was quite dim on the dancers for the intro but I wanted everyone to be seen in the club so Savannah helped to make the lighting brighter. I also had specials on the Pianist and Saxaphone player in my piece to show that they were featured.

The lighting for my piece was quite intricate. In the intro, it sets up the Jazz Club vibe but then the city landscape fades and the cyc comes up with different pops of color as seen in the second picture. When the dancers go into the actual dancing of the piece, they each have their own special with moving gobos of roses on the floor that change from white to red to blue colors throughout the piece.

Towards the end of the piece, the cyc changed to an ombre of purple, blue and red to match the dress color of each female dancer in my piece. I really loved this effect Savannah added into the piece. I think it highlighted each couple nicely to show they each had a solo part in the piece. There are also specials on the cyc to highlight them individually as well.

 I brought the intro of the Jazz Club atmosphere back into the end. In the beginning, I had 2 couples enter the Jazz Club and as it ends, I have them leave the Jazz club. In the very end of my piece, my main couple Ari and Wren are in the Center special as it closes on them ending up together and then fades into a blackout. I think this ending had a huge effect on the closing of my piece because it allows the viewer to focus in on the solo couple and then they fade out at the end. If it weren't for the terminology and lighting cues I learned in this class, it would have been difficult for me to communicate all my ideas to Savannah. I learned so much in Lighting class and I want to thank Lonnie and Avery for being a great team of experts. Overall, I really enjoyed working with Savannah on my Bla Bla Bla Cha Cha Cha piece. Savannah had a great vision for my piece from the very start. With our passion and drive, we were able to collaborate efficiently together and create the Broadway look we were both going for!