Richard Godin, lighting designer for Michael Clark Company, states, "The company performed an extract from an existing piece called Come Been and Gone. There were three performances in total during the festival: one on the Pyramid Stage and two more in the Astrolabe Tent. It is extremely rare for a dance group to perform on the Pyramid Stage and I can only think of one other time this has happened."
The piece performed by Michael Clark Company was a physical exploration of the music of David Bowie and had already received favourable reviews following runs in both London and Edinburgh. Rachel Gale, moving light hire manager at White Light, says, "It's always a great experience working on any Michael Clark Company show. Not only do we have a strong working relationship with them but as their shows are so unique and ground-breaking, they get the most out of our staff and resources."
The performance at the Glastonbury Festival proved to be no exception. Rachel comments: "The brief for the Pyramid Stage performance was to supply a complete floor package which included the lighting, control desk and power. For the lighting, Richard used the i-Pix BB4 LED Washlights and Arri Fresnels 2K Junior which were rigged in dance towers and controlled by an ETC Ion Console."
Rachel adds, "As both the Pyramid Stage and Astrolabe Tent are so different, Richard had to create various set-ups that would easily adapt to each. That's why preparing at our warehouse was so important as it gave him the opportunity to try out different set-ups and ensure that we provided the equipment which not only fulfilled the brief but could then be taken to the Glastonbury Festival."
Richard comments, "The whole design was based on how best to support six dancers in both spaces. It was also important that the colour pallet created by Charles Atlas on the original production was still clear, even in the daylight. Through White Light's support and diverse equipment list, I managed to achieve this."
(Jim Evans)
