Chauvet shines on Daddy Yankee farewell
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This was the directive that production designer Rodrigo Proal of Darmah Studios received when he was asked to work on the Puerto Rican born superstar’s 84-date official retirement tour of North and South America, which concluded with a January show in San Juan.
Proal, joined by a gifted and inspired creative team, didn’t disappoint either; the production they collaborated on, with its bold, vibrant colours, intense aerial effects, beautiful scenic elements, and evocative video content created by screens director Bianca Moncada, did justice to the career of the singer who is credited with coining the term ‘reggaeton’ and whose 2004 party favourite Gasolnina introduced modern Latin music to a wider audience.
“This was a special experience for all of us, one we’ll never forget,” said Felix Peralta, the tour’s lighting designer. “We all wanted to make this show fit for a king to honour an artist who ruled so brilliantly for so long.”
For Peralta, the concept behind La Ultima Vuelta (The Final Turn) began three years before the tour, when he joined the Darmah team and lighting designer John Daniels, a life-long friend and mentor, as the lighting director/programmer for Daddy Yankee’s 14-show residency in San Juan.
“As production designer, Rodrigo created a sleek and clean architectural structure for that residency,” said Peralta. “That would be the canvas for the production and, after being reimagined as a tourable rig, set the tone for La Ultima Vuelta.
Peralta and lighting director/programmer, Chris Fernandez accentuated the clean lines of the production design, and set the mood for a magical journey through the storied career of Daddy Yankee, with a lighting rig that featured 240 Chauvet Professional fixtures, supplied on the USA leg by 4Wall Entertainment.
“Chris and I approached this tour like a two-headed monster, programming the show together,” said Peralta. “Chris understands my design aesthetics. I have been mentoring Chris for many years and was really excited to collaborate on this. Inspired by what Rodrigo had presented, we took an architectural approach to lighting the shows. Our goal was to create something that was simple in concept, but certainly not simple to execute. We wanted it to serve almost as a ‘palette cleanser,’ so we could move from song to song and tell a story with Bianca Moncada’s video and our lighting.”
Many of the rig’s 175 high-output Color STRIKE M motorised strobes were positioned behind the blow-through video screens. Projecting white and coloured light through the screens, the light helped create a more embracive environment on stage by weaving the transformative video images into the entire productions.
“The blow-through interaction between lighting and video really helped integrate everything into one story,” said Peralta. “I think the colour and energy from the lights helped bring the video imagery more to life.”
The 45 COLORado PXL Bar 16 fixtures in the rig were used to create curtains of light throughout the show, while the other 20 Maverick MK3 washes served as “side shin buster” lights for the dancers, on both the main and B stages.
