In October Laura Deighton’s Dance Company (LDDC) had the need for sound and lighting for their show.

A relatively simple request was to play music for the dance numbers, a few microphones for a couple of songs and some fun lighting.
In addition to this we were asked for some effects – pyrotechnics.

When presented with the fact that the show was to be held at Charlton School where Phil used to be stage crew (albeit in the old building) he paid a visit to see the new space and get to grips with the new set up to see how our own systems would integrate with it.

Sound

Sound was simple – we used the school’s installed amplifiers and speakers, and having a very short time to get setup we decided to bring our own mixing desk as opposed to trying to use the unfamiliar desk there.
We used our X-Air mixer, it makes setup quick and simple and can be controlled via an app from anywhere in the room. From this we hooked in headmics that were provided by LDDC and their laptop for the music.

Lighting

Once the existing rig was programmed into our desk we could add in the more interesting elements that added to the visuals of the show.
We provided 12 moving head lights to add into the school’s lighting which was mostly conventional fixtures. This enabled the use of different colours and movement on the more energetic numbers.
Only a few of the numbers in the show had specific requests for lighting, the rest was ‘do whatever looks good’ – so most of the show was busking during the rehearsal and saving anything that fit well to reduce the busking for the actual show.

Pyrotechnics

We looked at what we were asked for and advised LDDC that there are better options for what they wanted to achieve, which was a finale ‘explosion’.
LDDC were advised that the best option for the show and for safety of the performers was confetti/streamer cannons. We sourced some professional handheld cannons that could be fired from the wings on the finale.
There was a matinée and an evening performance and the stagehands were a little unprepared for the power of these cannons on the matinée and mostly fired them into the lighting rig!

This was the first time that PYROmaster Studios has worked with Laura Deighton’s Dance Company and it was great to see that we added so much to their show.

We are already looking at booking in LDDC’s next October show into our calendar! And look forward to making it even better!