Acrobatics for Robe

Robe Show Lighting's moving lights are being used as the key lighting element of the long-running Italian touring production of ‘Reverie’, performed by the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe of China.
This amazing show – a highly choreographed, magical mix of martial arts, dance, theatre and breathtaking acrobatics – celebrates over 3,600 years of Chinese acrobatic skills and tradition.
Part of Reverie’s success has been its energetic and entertaining presentation, in which lighting plays a vital role. The props and backdrops are simple but effective, and the costumes are colourful and complex. The whole visual aesthetic and creative texturing of the show is designed around colouration and illumination of the performers and what they are wearing. It’s also important for the performers to be able to see clearly what they are doing, as millimetre precision is needed to co-ordinate their gravity-defying moves.
Lighting equipment for the show’s extensive Italian tour – which takes in Milan, Genoa, Turin, Florence and Venice - is being supplied by Mixer Sound & Light. They are based just outside of Milan in Romanengo, Cremona, and are one of Italy’s leading rental companies.
After winning the contract to supply lighting, rigging and audio for the tour, via Milan promoters Gestione Manifestazioni, the Mixer production team first watched a video of the show, explains MD and company owner Walter Taietti.
LD Xie Yongming is also using a mixture of 1200W fresnels, cyc lights and two follow spots, all controlled by a Compulite Sabre console. The Robe fixtures are all rigged over stage apart from three ColorWash 575's on each side, placed on the floor for low level cross stage lighting. Yongming, having had a chance to see what Robe can bring in terms of energisation and life of the show, loves the fixtures, and says it would be difficult to now imagine doing the show without them.
Mixer is also supplying a JBL VerTec line array sound system, with a Yamaha 02R FOH console to the show. (CD)