Clay Paky Shines a Light on Bahrain's Path of Pearls

Festivities are underway as Manama, capital city of Bahrain, celebrates its appointment as Capital of Arab Culture 2012.

As part of the festivities the city produced a spectacular opening ceremony, Path of Pearls, which was packed with magical imagery and effects. Responsible for the stage and lighting concept was Belgian lighting designer from Painting with Light, Luc Peumans, who employed no less than 170 Clay Paky fixtures to light the vast tiered stage, full sized orchestra, aerialists, and dancers.

Long-term Clay Paky dealer, Eclipse Staging Services, a supplier of audio-visual services in the UAE and GCC, supplied local Bahrain Company, AVL Concepts, with Clay Paky Alpha HPE 1500, Beam 1500, Wash 1500, and Profile 1500 along with a large number of Sharpy fixtures.

Darren, general manager for Eclipse, discusses: "One of the fields in which Luc Peumans and his company Painting with Light excels is in utilizing the latest technologies in the process of designing, while at the same time increasing efficiency and output. This made the Clay Paky Alpha range ideal for this project as they pack a lot of punch for relatively low power draw. In addition the Clay Paky Sharpy effortlessly cuts into the action to pick out individual performers or to create architectural scenic effects."

Lighting had to be strong and defined to complement the performances and ensure the performers were not lost to the audience on the immense stage. Peumans used the Clay Paky Alpha range to evoke a variety of moods and environments. These varied between underwater worlds to storm sequences and sunny seashores. The show's performers, which included over 100 dancers and aerialists, plus a full sized orchestra, used all areas of the expansive, three-dimensional multi-level stage, which presented Peumans with quite a challenge.

"Luc used a large number of our Alpha 1500 stock, including the wash, profile, beam, and HPE models," explains Darren. "The high build quality and the fact that they're reliable and robust, even outside in a rainstorm made them a great choice for this project. The range of effect and projection options along with their high luminosity, sharpness of image, richness of color and graphic effects are all features that ensured Peumans could successfully deliver his creative vision. From the moment we purchased the Clay Paky Alpha range -- and more recently the Sharpys -- they have become the preferred choice of fixture for many LDs in the region. Today they're used across every professional lighting sector in the region including theatres, television studios, architectural, and entertainment environments, we're delighted with them."