Argentina is a country passionate about
dancing, and \”Bailando por un Sueño \” (Dancing
For a Dream), a segment inside the wider ‘Showmatch’ programme on El Trece
(Channel 13), is one of the most popular reality / talent series’ on
Argentinian TV.
For the latest series, Lighting Designers
Pablo
Leguizamon AKA \’La Nutria\’ and Esteban Leguizamon specified Robe ROBIN
Pointes to help capture the action.
The series ran its ninth season in
2014, produced by Ideas del Sur, it was recorded in Romina Yan Studio in
downtown Buenos Aires in front of a very enthusiastic live audience of 500. Non
celebrity amateur dance ‘dreamers’ are paired with celebrities and have to
demonstrate their talents in various dances, which have included K-POP and
Aquadance. In addition to their dancefloor skills they also have a chance to interest
viewers and the cameras with various extra-curricular activities of their
choice. This is a random twist away from other dancing contests … But it
certainly keeps the ratings up!
Lighting for the series was supplied
by PRG Argentina. The total number of Pointes peaked at 48 and was modified
week-to-week according to the needs of other programmes being recorded in the
same studio.
The Pointes were chosen for the
dynamics they brought to the dancefloor! One of the challenges was to keep the
lighting looking fresh and different for each couple and each section of the
show, as well as for the myriad of styles and genres of dance … With up to
four screenings per week at the peak of the series.
Series’ Lighting Director Ruben
Abeldano has worked for Ideas for 13 years, and first used Pointes on Showmatch’s
‘Cantando por un Sueño’ (Singing
For a Dream) in 2013, shortly after the product had launched.
It was after that very positive experience
that they decided to specify Pointes again for Bailando.
\”The Pointes are now the most
important part of the rig,\” he declares.
He likes them for their power. With
multiple LED screens on the set, they needed bright fixtures, and making this
requirement even more crucial was being limited in the amount of smoke used due
to the small size of the studio, but the Pointes are so bright that they ‘held
their own’ with no problems.
For Ruben, the speed of the lights
is really important – on dancing programmes everything moves very quickly! He
also likes the colours and the gobo selection> \”All these features are
great for TV lighting,\” he says.
He has also been impressed with how
the Pointes handled the intense work schedule, running constantly for around 8
hours during the shoot days … often without air conditioning. They have had
no problems at all with the fixtures over the 9 month period during which
Bailando was enthralling viewers.
The fixtures took the humidity and
condensation of one water-themed episode in their stride – a full pool was
installed in the studio, complete with rain effect showers overhead, so the
dancers could perform in these when wet!
It\’s the first time that co-LD
Esteban Leguizamon has used Pointes, but he is very pleased with the results.
He appreciates the frost effects and, like Abeldano, the speed. One of his
favourite looks is using them in wash mode facing right into the camera.
He comes from a touring background
but really enjoys the crossovers in lighting bands and this style of fast-paced
TV with the high energy buzz of Bailando.
While they know the main dance
routines that will be performed ahead of time, the shows are all run completely
live, so the key is to have flexible lighting and the latitude to deal with
scenarios that might arise unexpectedly and last minute, so the whole
production team has to be able to think on their feet!
Esteban says that they will definitely
be using Pointes again next year.
Lighting was programmed on a grandMA
full size by Esteban and Pablo Leguzomon, and run by Esteban for the series.
Bailando por un Sueño
was directed by Alejandro Ripoll and the Executive Producers were Frederico
Hoppe and Pablo Proda.
http://www.robe.cz
Photos by Louise Stickland
Co-Lighting Designer Esteban Leguizamon, Daniel Lema from Robe’s Argentinian
distributors TSD Group, Lighting Director Ruben Abeldaño and Gerardo Barcella
from PRG Argentina
