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President: Rob Schimmelpfennig Executive Vice President: Judy Robson Vice President: Mike Fedler Vice President: Bill Kline Treasurer: Rich Vanek Secretary: Debbi Waring BOARD MEMBERS: Baerbel Baginski, WSL Steve Candella Neroy Carter Arnie Esterer Adele Herzog Mary Ellen Higley Ken Johnson Mark Jones Randy Jones Gloria Kaull Kim Laurello Ed Looman Chris McClure Tom Picken Scot Sinkler Linda VanBuren Joseph Varckette Ellen Winer Phyllis Duffy-Zala | ||||
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Executive Director Cindy Rimpela Business Manager Pamela Hammond Public Relations/Marketing Coordinator Shelagh Dubsky Dance Coordinator Lyn Savarise Music Coordinator Meeghan Humphrey Visual Arts Coordinator Phil Mullet Technical Liason Joe Ford Maintenance Coordinator Marquitta Mollick Evening Desk Coordinator | ||||
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 2928 West 13th St. Ashtabula, Ohio 44004 phone: 440-964-3396 |
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Posted: Tuesday, May 06, 2003
Tim Dorman sheds light on the technical aspects of the Spring Dance Concert Tim Dorman’s stage lighting experiences began back in his college days at Youngstown State University.  He was recruited by SPECIALITE Corporation, a local Youngstown production company, to assist in moving and setting up equipment for several campus shows. These experiences ranged from a Coffee House production starring Tom Chapin (Harry’s brother) to a full blown “Rock and Roll” show featuring The J. Geils Band.
In the years that followed, Tim spent time climbing ladders and trusses for many of the day’s most popular rockers, as their tours brought them into the Northeast Ohio area and onto the stages of the Youngstown and Cleveland Agora nightclubs. He has maintained his love of lighting as a hobby over the years and, though he has done many, many shows, he has never been “classically” trained in the art of stage lighting. Nonetheless, when Shelagh Dubsky decided to choreograph to Pink Floyd, she asked Tim if he could provide a type of “Rock and Roll Light Show” to accompany her dancers in this ground breaking endeavor. The course had been set. “Anyone who has not had the thrill of seeing a live Pink Floyd show has missed one of life’s truly amazing experiences,” says Tim. “Pink Floyd was one of the first live acts to engage in ‘visual assault’ as a supplement to their mind-tripping melodies. They astound their audiences with millions of watt of color, lasers, strobes, spotlights and image projections. They build 40 foot high walls and then knock them down. They float giant helium balloons of pyramids, moons, pigs, and dogs around the concert grounds.” According to Tim, a Pink Floyd concert even requires an FAA variance because of the intensity of the lasers that slice through the night sky during their performances. “Once, even, a British RAF jet had to be called into the area when a helium-powered pig broke loose of its moorings during a rehearsal,” says Tim. “The pilot reported back to his command station that the offending blip on the base’s radar was ‘a pig, sir. Yes, I said a PIG’.”  Having had the privilege of seeing Pink Floyd live at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium during their “Dark Side of the Moon” tour, Tim decided that Shelagh’s dancers were going to be basked in as much light and video projected dazzlement as the Arts Center stage’s wiring could handle. The existing lighting equipment on the AAC stage has been supplemented with Tim’s computerized lighting system of intelligent projectors, strobes and mini-spots. The video projections that dress the wall behind the dancers are made possible by the gift of the video projector (many thanks to Phil Mullet).
The images themselves are the work of Tim and his home studio. His workspace - housed in what should be a living room - consists of a bank of both Macintosh and Windows computers. The image processing is done exclusively on the Macs. At any one time there may be as many as two old desktop Macs and a shiny new G4 Powerbook churning out rendered video. Last year the entire “Crazy Diamond” video collage was processed on a 25MHz Quadra 660AV and an 80MHz Power Mac 7100. This year’s imagery was compiled and edited on Tim’s new G4 Powerbook. The images come both from digital stills and DV that Tim shoots “whenever something looks interesting.” The digital manipulation is done with combinations of Adobe Photoshop, Apple iMovie and Adobe Premier. Another older Mac laptop provides the control software for the StarTec intelligent projectors that are used in the show. That laptop uses Opcode’s MAX software to run lighting sequences that Tim programs. The computer can execute many commands in a short burst of time. “Without that software control, the StarTec projectors would be little more than just another colored light,” says Tim. 
Having all of this video and lighting synchronized is another of the computer’s tasks, with the help of at least two human operators in the control booth at the back of the house. Maintaining all of these high tech control signals flying around the theater is actually only a small part of the challenge of lighting this year’s spring dance show for Shelagh and the dance troupe. Tim says: “With all of the beams of dancing light and mojo, I am truly grateful for this opportunity and the challenge to complement the outstanding displays of physical strength and artistry that Ballet Theater Ashtabula is proud to present this year.” |
Posted: Tuesday, May 06, 2003
This spring, Think Pink ... Pink Floyd, that is! Ballet Theatre Ashtabula’s spring concert, set for May 9-11 and 16-18, will once again be a mixed repertory concert which will include many styles of dance.  Last year the young company performed “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” by Pink Floyd, and the response was overwhelming. The piece, set to Tim Dorman’s “Rock and Roll” lights and video projections, combined music, dance, lights and computerized special effects to create the effect of being at a live concert. The dancing was sassy, mesmerizing and athletic, and the integration of the special effects was stunning.
This year the Pink Floyd theme will be expanded to include other pieces of music from albums such as “Wish You Were Here,” “The Wall,” “The Dark Side of the Moon,” and “A Momentary Lapse of Reason.” In addition to the Pink Floyd numbers, the company will perform contemporary and classical pieces set to a number of other composers and songwriters. Classical repertory on the same program will include Poulenic’s “Concerto for 2 Pianos,” a full company piece which vacillates between unstoppable energy and soft fluid moments. An elegant mix of solos and duets will also be performed to Rod Stewart’s “The Great American Songbook.”  These timeless classics are a beautiful backdrop for romantic “Fred & Ginger” style dancing.
“Adagio for Strings,” set to the haunting music of Samuel Barber, will also be on the program as a tribute to all those who lost their lives both in the tragedy of 9/11/01 and in the ongoing fight against worldwide terrorism. Concert dates for “Think Pink” are May 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, and 18. Curtain for the Friday and Saturday shows is 7:30 p.m., while the Sunday shows begin at 2 p.m. As a special promotion, you can also bring your Mom to the show on Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 11) for FREE! (Just be sure to mention this offer when making reservations!) | |||