GLP’s impression X5 Compact and impression X4 Bar 20 have been used to illuminate one of Europe’s most spectacular gymnastics shows, Feuerwerk der Turnkunst (the Fireworks of Gymnastics), which has toured 22 German cities and played to 200,000 spectators. The Heartbeat tour was a homage to the famous dance films of the 1980s, such as Dirty Dancing, Flashdance and Hair.
PRG supervised the tour, complete with lighting, sound and video technology, as well as rigging, and was responsible for all the special structures and technical planning. Lighting designer Marc Brunkhardt turned to GLP’s impression X5 Compact and impression X4 Bar 20 to illuminate the playing area for the artists, performers and gymnasts evenly and in a sport-appropriate manner. It was particularly important, for example, not to blind the athletes during their demanding performances.
The PRG team met these various lighting challenges with a total of 44 impression X5 Compacts, the smallest member of GLP’s latest X5 Series. On the one hand, a total of 16 impression X5 Compacts were used as trackers in the rig, in groups of four in a ‘follow-me’ system, while a further 20 impression X5 Compacts backlit the transparent LED strip.
Tom Kaczmarek, account manager for PRG, said: “The X5 Compact was the perfect fixture, especially for the application behind the LED barrier, and also did a great job visually. We favour these devices for their high performance despite their small form factor, their very low weight, the speed, and the zoom of 3.5 to 60 degrees. Wherever space is an issue, we turn to the X5 Compact.”
In addition to the X5 Compact, impression X4 Bar 20s were also installed behind the LED barrier. “Due to the suspension behind the boards, all the technology was not visible to the spectators,” continued Kaczmarek. “Here, too, the Bars’ compact dimensions were a decisive factor in our choice.”
For the past 34 years, the Turn- und Sportfördergesellschaft (Gymnastics and Sports Promotion Organisation), a subsidiary of the Niedersächsischer Turner-Bund e.V. (Lower Saxony Gymnastics Association), has been performing the gymnastics show. The tour took place from the end of December 2023 to the end of January 2024, including 36 performances in 22 German cities.
