x7 color dances across the cyclorama for Hong Kong Ballet’s 35th anniversary

In celebration of its 35th anniversary in October, Hong Kong Ballet presented three dance showcases, titled A Celebration of Dance , in the Grand Theater of the Hong Kong Cultural Center. Lighting designer and director of C'est Bon Projects, Kwok Fai Mak, employed numerous ETC Source Four® LED CYC and Selador® Desire® luminaires to light up this ballet trio.

The showcases included George Balanchine's masterpiece Serenade , Nacho Duato's provocative contemporary ballet Castrati, and Natalia Conus' staging of Swan Lake 's third act, which is based on Marius Petipa's 1895 original. 

Mak sought to maintain the original lighting mood of Serenade and Castrati , with a touch of his own interpretation, and he took a new approach for Swan Lake . When he discovered that the venue's new LED cyc lights didn't fit his initial lighting proposal for the project, he replaced them with 12 ETC Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr® luminaires outfitted with Source Four LED CYC adapters. 

He was very impressed with the Source Four LED CYC units: "This was the first time I used the Source Four LED CYC units on stage. They just do their job, with good color capabilities and even coverage. In fact, it surprised me a bit that the vertical coverage is so good."

Says Mak: "The venue's original RGBA cyc lights made it impossible to create the L200 (Double C.T. Blue) that I needed for Castrati." And in Serenade , an expansive range of blue was necessary to portray the beauty and mystery of the ballet . Mak was able to bring various blues to the stage, thanks to the flexibility of the x7 Color System™ in the Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr array. "The whole piece is about blue, based on the vision of the choreographer," describes Mak. "The x7 Color System really helps deliver the widest range of color available from LED fixtures." 

To add drama to the show, Mak lit up the performances with Selador Desire D40 Lustr+ luminaires positioned on sidelight towers and Selador Desire D60 Lustr+ units on ladders. "They are just lovely, giving me the right color and intensity for all three pieces: different blues for Serenade, cool white for Castrati and warm amber for Swan Lake. The Selador Desire fixtures are just great!" applauds Mak.

Photos © Cheung Wai Lok and Conrad Dy-Liocco, courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet