LONDON – Contemporary circus troupe, No Fit State, recently welcomed the latest performing member to its troupe: The Avolites Tiger Touch. The design, originally conceived by LD Adam Cobley, is taken care of on tour by lighting director and programmer Leif Le Page, who says that fast, on the fly access to the lighting is crucial for this latest production of “Bianco.”
More details from Avolites (www.avolites.com):
The show, inspired by José Saramago’s novel The Elephant’s Journey, is primarily a production staged in the air. Performers make use of all dimensions using everything from trapeze, ropes and tight wires to trampolines. Not only that – the show is crewed and rigged, in front of the audience, by the very contortionists and acrobats that star in it so Le Page must be ready for all eventualities.
“The Tiger Touch has become an invaluable member of the team,” says Le Page. “The tour kicked off with a month at the Roundhouse and then moved into the company’s own Big Top before taking off for Brighton Festival, Bristol, Narberth, Bangor and The Edinburgh Festivals.
“I tend to program the shows before we go on the road and then re-work my cue’s live on the night in response to what is going on onstage. When it comes to circus lighting it’s essential that the performers can clearly see what they’re doing at all times. We make huge efforts not to dazzle them. In a live situation being able to react quickly to what is happening while keeping your eye on the stage is absolutely crucial.”
The touch-screen makes this possible as it enables the programmer to access all the information they regularly require quickly and logically.
Le Page adds, “The touch-screen is ideal for live performances. Being able to label playbacks and dimmers easily via the screen is great, as well as being able to modify them live. For me the touch-screen has made me more aware of the extensive software capabilities of Titan V7. Palettes are much easier to create and use and I do this by accessing everything via the attribute editor and Color Mix control.”
The Visualizer is particularly useful for touring shows, LePage says. “Simply by in-putting in the dimensions of the stage and fixtures into the software the operator is able to set and review light movement, facilitating faster and more accurate refocusing.”
