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Let There Be Light!: Creating Stage Sets for the Dance
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13539 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1988 |
2,371 Words |
| Author
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Don McDonagh
Don McDonagh is a dance writer and critic based in
New York. |
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
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