The show is recorded live from the PKO Culture & Leisure Studios in Bratislava, produced by Oreo and broadcast live each week by the Markiza TV channel. It's Slovakia's first series of Let's Dance, which sees 10 celebrities from Slovakia and the Czech Republic pair up with dance professionals and demonstrate their skills on the dance-floor, with one couple voted off each week by the public.
Kubanka landed the lighting design role after his work on the Slovakian Superstar show for the same production company. On Let's Dance he is working with director Peter Nunes, DOP Jaroslav Zaman and set designer Daniel Sichman.
Q-99 first had to install 12 new rigging points in the PKO Studios - which were not set up for large productions - in order to rig a box truss over the dance-floor area, onto which many of the lighting fixtures are hung .
Robe fixtures are also dotted around the floor and on a raised ledge at the back of the orchestra area at the far end of the hall. Kubanka chose 18 Robe's ColorSpot and ColorWash 250 AT fixtures for the perimeter of the dance-floor. At the rear of the orchestra stand are six ColorWash 575 ATs. These are the only fixtures that are seen on camera, all the other light-sources are overhead and therefore concealed.
It is a challenging show to light with its ever-changing pace and dynamics. Each week there's a different dance theme, e.g. tango, samba, disco, Latin, etc., and for each programme, Kubanka has to make each pair's performance look and feel different on camera and for the live audience. "Using a variety of Robe fixtures gives me plenty of options," he says, "I never run out of features or combinations of effects, colours or beam angles."
The rig includes 10 Robe ColorSpot 1200, eight ColorWash 1200 ATs and 10 Robe Scan 575 XTs. There are also 12 PARs with Rainbow Scrollers, focussed on the orchestra, providing a contrast to the Robe's 575s that shoot through from the back. The lighting picture is completed with four follow spots.
Q-99 is additionally supplying an MDG IceFog-Q system and hazers, MA dimmers and a GrandMA console, which is operated by Peter Cernak. The show is broadcast live every Sunday night.
(Chris Henry)
