Claypaky lighting, including Arolla Profile HPs, A.leda B-EYE K20s, and Mini-Bs, comprised the bulk of the fixtures illuminating Gala Dynastie 2025 at Montreal’s Théâtre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts. Omnison in Montreal supplied the luminaires to Lighting Designer Steve Wary of SW Design Lumière for the televised awards ceremony, which celebrated Black excellence across Quebec’s arts, media and cultural sectors.
“Gala Dynastie has been held every year for the past nine years, and the production has grown and the resources have evolved over that time,” notes Wary. “The creative aspect is very important to this event. Beyond the more conventional moments of an awards ceremony, there is always a big introductory show interspersed with several performances by artists. A live band is also present on stage throughout the evening.”
This year’s gala marked Wary’s first time as the show’s lighting and production designer. “I was asked to create a highly visual design that could be relevant for broadcast. In previous years, a big part of the show relied on LED screens that covered a large portion of the stage backdrop. My idea was to add more depth and texture by minimizing the screens – without forgetting them – and focusing more on lighting,” he explains.
“Most of the performances were intense and emotional moments, which, for me, required a creative approach to showcase them. I quickly felt the need to create a cozy and warm overall atmosphere in which the artist, the audience and the viewer could feel at ease.”
To deliver that ambiance Wary made extensive use of rounded shapes in the overall layout, especially in the stage backdrop. “For me, they were a nice change from the usual linear shapes that are much more commonly used, but which can quickly become very modern, very straight and very cold.”
Wary’s production design featured beautifully intertwined hoop pieces that captured the depth of the main stage of the Place des Arts theater. At the center of the stage was an elevated 5-meter diameter hoop with an LED screen inside to display the nominated artists’ presentation videos as well as motion design. He placed beams and tungsten blinders around the hoop to add warmth.
Beneath the hoop was the central entrance for the artists featuring a wall of ACL lights in the background, something Wary finds “is always effective, especially when you add heavy smoke to the floor as each artist passes through this central corridor.” Two quarter hoops, each 8 meters in diameter, were placed on the floor, with two half hoops, each 12 meters in diameter, arranged between the back of the stage and the front of the stage, tying together the entire design around the central artist. He added fixtures on booms at the back and two booms at the front. On the floor, around the musicians’ four circular platforms, he positioned a series of beams arranged in a circular pattern to complement the shape of the stage design. Wary deployed 24 Claypaky Arolla Profile HPs in three different placements: on the FOH booms, on the counter booms, and on the ground on flights behind the musicians.
On deciding to use the Arolla Profiles on the FOH booms, he says, “I obviously chose these lights for their power. The light output was impressive. Even with the zoom fully open and the shutters fairly closed, they retained enough lux for the cameras. I knew I’d get my 1000 lux in all situations! I was also very surprised by the color quality of the white LED and their very high CRI. Usually, to achieve my 5600 degrees Kelvin, I have to make quite a few adjustments to the color, but this time it was quickly resolved!”
For the same reasons, the Arolla Profile HPs also excelled for counter and ground shooting of the artists. “I noticed that even using more saturated colors, the intensity level was very good. The zoom, whether closed or open, was extremely impressive, and the gobo diversity was perfect – all the ‘classics’ were there along with some nice surprises that were very effective.”
While the B-EYE K20s are hardly new fixtures, Wary has come to rely on them to provide counter lighting for the artists. He mounted 20 of them on the counter light booms to create flat colors on the set and deliver their “timeless flower effect,” he says. “I also like to use them in a tight zoom: The light sticks these washes create are always very effective on camera.”
Some 40 Midi-B washes were distributed across the two large half-circles that closed the stage on each side. “I wanted fixtures that weren’t too big and heavy, and I wanted a large number of them to really emphasize the curve of the hoops. The Midi-Bs were perfect for this, very powerful for their size.”
Wary used them “in several different modes: in open beams to create washes behind the musicians, in tight beams to blend with the surrounding beams or to create beautiful fans toward the ceilings with the shape of the hoop, and in ‘Blinder’ mode with their round lens and impeccable color blending on camera. I like to create well-crafted color gradients, and I must admit that the Midi-Bs helped me a lot. Their color blends are very clean, with no variation from one fixture to another – that’s very pleasant and saves time when creating our presets.”
Further information about Claypaky: www.claypaky.it
