A large complement of Claypaky’s Sharpy Plus hybrid beam lights and spotlights were something to cheer about when Richmond-based Lite-Tek Entertainment deployed them March 25 on the “Spirit Sports Ultimate Battle” cheerleading competition.
The Myrtle Beach (SC) Convention Center hosted “Ultimate Battle,” a one-night event showcasing the talented teams that have reached the pinnacle of cheerleading excellence and are headed to the 2022 Cheerleading World Championships in Orlando. Lite-Tek, which offers lighting design, production, rentals and logistics, spends most of the winter months working on cheerleading events throughout the Southeast; the rest of the year the company acts as a tour vendor and local lighting vendor for numerous music venues. Lite-Tek was the first company in the U.S. to take delivery of Claypaky’s Sharpy Plus, and the fixtures have been busy ever since.
Lite-Tek Founder Darren Lewis designed the rig, acted as production manager and served as co-designer with programmer John Adamo for “Ultimate Battle.” Their goal was to make the event “look massive, like an arena show,” Lewis says, with Sharpy Plus dominating the dynamic show open and creating big ballyhoos to generate excitement as each competing team was introduced.
“The show open was done to the AC/DC song, ‘Thunderstruck,’ so we decided to pay homage to the original music video, which was all white light,” Lewis explains. “We stuck with white light throughout the show adding green lasers to the mix. The most fun was that the lights were the star of the show open – spectators couldn’t see anything but lights. We had free range to build the open with the lights as the performers – it was purely lighting for lighting’s sake.”
Lewis points out that Sharpy Plus acted as the rig’s primary spot and beam fixtures with eight of them mounted on each of four 40′ truss fingers over the stage. “Sharpy Plus is one of the best hybrids I’ve ever worked with: They do a good job as a spot and can come down small to be a really good beam,” he notes.
Since Lite-Tek acquired Sharpy Plus, they have turned out to be “workhorse fixtures that are very comparable to other high-end spot hybrids but at a price point that can’t be matched for value,” Lewis reports. “We originally bought 12 Sharpy Plus fixtures then added 22 more and we’re running out. We’re looking to up our inventory with an additional 22 fixtures.”
After using Sharpy Plus on the “Ultimate Battle,” Lite-Tek deployed the fixtures on the “Spirit Sports Myrtle Beach Nationals,” a weekend cheerleading competition held at the convention center.
