As part of the festivities the city produced a spectacular opening ceremony, Path of Pearls, which was packed with magical imagery and effects. Responsible for the stage and lighting concept was Belgian Lighting designer from Painting with Light, Luc Peumans, who employed 170 Clay Paky fixtures to light the vast tiered stage, full sized orchestra, aerialists and dancers.
Long-term Clay Paky stockist, Eclipse Staging Services supplied local Bahrain Company, AVL Concepts, with Clay Paky Alpha HPE 1500, Beam 1500, Wash 1500 and Profile 1500 along with a large number of Sharpy fixtures.
Darren, general manager for Eclipse, comments, "One of the fields in which Luc Peumans and his company Painting with Light excels is in utilising the latest technologies in the process of designing, while at the same time increasing efficiency and output. This made the Clay Paky Alpha range ideal for this project as they pack a lot of punch for relatively low power draw. In addition the Clay Paky Sharpy effortlessly cuts into the action to pick out individual performers or to create architectural scenic effects."
Lighting had to be strong and defined to complement the performances and ensure the performers were not lost to the audience on the immense stage. Peumans used the Clay Paky Alpha range to evoke a variety of moods and environments. These varied between underwater worlds to storm sequences and sunny seashores. The show's performers, which included over 100 dancers and aerialists, plus a full sized orchestra, used all areas of the expansive, three-dimensional multi-level stage, which presented Peumans with quite a challenge.
"Luc used a large number of our Alpha 1500 stock, including the Wash, Profile, Beam and HPE models," explains Darren. "The high build quality and the fact that they're reliable and robust, even outside in a rainstorm made them a great choice for this project."
(Jim Evans)
