Keywords

lighting design, dance

Abstract

The beginnings of modern stage lighting emerged during the late 1800s when Adolphe Appia and Edward Gordon Craig theorized about the potential use of lighting to create plasticity in a theatrical production. Appia and Craig conducted experiments, only to find that the limitation of the instruments available at the time prevented the achievement of their theory. The next documented step was when Stanley McCandless proposed and published a system for implementing the Appia and Craig theory of plasticity. Stanley McCandless' lighting textbook, A Syllabus of Stage Lighting. The book broke down the elements and function of light; ultimately becoming the common practice of academic lighting designers. One of his students, Jean Rosenthal, studied the theory and became aware of its limitations. Jean Rosenthal attempted to apply the McCandless theory to dance and found that it was not useful for sculpting the body. She then developed a new technique that better served dance lighting and adhered to the ideas of Appia and Craig. Rosenthal's theory became the foundation of contemporary dance lighting practice. The aim of this thesis consists of four parts. First is to research the evolution of dance lighting, second is to explore and apply the Rosenthal Theory of Dance Lighting, third is to document the design process and the fourth part is the personal growth and development throughout this entire process. As the Lighting and Scenic Designer I will have extensive documentation of both the process of design and the production. I will also have documentation on my growth and development based on this thesis project.

Notes

If this is your thesis or dissertation, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at STARS@ucf.edu

Graduation Date

2010

Advisor

Scott, Hubert

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

Theatre

Degree Program

Theatre

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0003282

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0003282

Language

English

Release Date

August 2010

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Download

Share

COinS