ETC Source Four LED jazzes up CROSSINGS 2014 at NAFA

To light a show within budget and with a limited fixture inventory has always been one of the lighting designer's most common challenges. But when lighting designer Jonathan Sin knew he could use eight Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires for his five dance pieces in Nanyan Academy of Fine Arts' (NAFA) 2014 graduation show, CROSSINGS, he felt relieved as "things became promising when I knew I had the privilege of using ETC's new LED fixtures."

Sin chose the Sour Four LED Lustr+ luminaires as sidelights to support the tungsten Source Four® fixtures in his design. "This decision allowed me to have very flexible color-changing options while minimizing the rig on my side booms to four fixtures per boom," describes Sin.

Another reason Sin fell in love with Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires was their extraordinary range of color and superior mixing capabilities. The x7 Color System™ lets LED luminaires achieve theater-worthy color rendering and allowed Sin to "complement and strengthen my design for the five dance pieces."

He truly applauded ETC's latest technology, which allowed for smooth mixing of conventional and LED lights, drastically simplifying the designer's rig. "As a testament to ETC's Layers of Light philosophy, the ability to be able to combine traditional tungsten Source Four fixtures with the new Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires serves as a very powerful multi-tool on this design with a minimalist approach," explains Sin.

"It worked perfectly for maximum impact when LEE color swatches were dialed up for color choices on the ETC Ion® console during plotting sessions. By rigging these Lustr+ LED profiles in a mid-height position, this strategy enabled me to capture the full length of their side profile with stunning results. Colors of L110 (Middle Rose), L105 (Orange), L158 (Deep Orange), L117 (Steel Blue), L119 (Dark Blue) were very closely matched and made it almost an effortless task to light the dancers' bodies," says Sin.

Tay Huey Meng, technical manager of CROSSINGS, is also fond of Source Four LED luminaires and added that the flexibility of the x7 Color System and the reduction in manpower was very beneficial for the show: "Most of the dance pieces have different styles and moods, and in the past we had to change gel color after almost every piece, which was very time consuming, and to do it fast, we frequently needed more manpower. With the Source Four LED luminaires, which have built-in color mixing, we can just change the color from the instrument, while the brightness remains unchanged. We could even change it during the dance itself without disturbing the flow of the show. The colors are very clean and vibrant." 

ETC Asia and Stage Equip supplied all the Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires and the Ion console in CROSSINGS 2014. "We are keen to support young, talented lighting designers who experiment on the potential of LED technologies developed by ETC. And we're very excited that NAFA CROSSINGS 2014 successfully brought Layers of Light to life by deploying Source Four LEDs as a complement to the conventional rig with stunning results," says sales manager of ETC Asia, David Law.

CROSSINGS is a program of NAFA that presents both Western- and Asian-inspired dance pieces that feature students of the Department of Dance. It showcases the collaboration between professional international choreographers as well as selected student choreographers in the current curriculum.