Winners of Battle of the Bands 2017
Battle of the Bands National Schools Lighting competition for amateur lighting designers took place at St Mary’s School on July 20, 2017. The competition represents young and upcoming lighting designers who went head-to-head working off the MA platform with a Robe rig.
“We had a great turn out with 13 schools & Tshwane University of Technology participating with close to 450 students attending the finale” said Barry Strydom
For the 3rd successive year in a row, DWR Distribution were proud to be a sponsor of this competition, of the prizes donated were a dot2 Node, DMX Dongle and training.
Last years’ winner, Mark Milward kicked-off the event with a lighting show.
Jannie de Jager of DWR Distribution was the lighting judge and also announced the winners for each category. The Battle of the Bands is a regional competition.
The competition was divided into 2 classes; an Amateur and a Semi-Professional. A finalist was chosen from these two categories.
Barry Strydom, Edge Theatre Manager at St Mary’s School is a very professional person who tends to take on a stage manager’s approach, managing the technicians backstage. As always, Barry did an amazing job, he took time out to talk to each participant, guiding them and giving them advise.
There were students in attendance from Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) who participated in the semi-professional in the lighting category.
The equipment used on the night was 8 Robe Robin LEDBeam 100, 16 Robe Robin LEDWash 300, 4 Robe miniPointes, 4 Robe Robin Pointes, 3 Robe Robin, Spot Classics 300, 2 Robe DL4S Profiles, 8 Robe Spikies, 6 Source Four 19˚, 12 Source Four 26˚, 8 Source Four 36˚ and 10 ETC PARNel.
The winner in the Amateur Category using MAdot2 went to Lelentle Mosimane a 17-year old student from St Mary’s School who lit Rush from St Stithians. Lelenhe had to busk her way through her performance, as on the previous night she had accidentally deleted her show files. She was on target using a theatrical approach to light the band using white light. Her effects used in the breakdown was on time and accurate.
Lelentle Mosimane from St Mary’s School who lit Rush from St Stithians
Rush
The winner in the Semi Professional Category went to Tiaan Glianne a 17-year old student from St John’s College who lit Sacred Heart College Band. His overall performance was extremely good, this brought to the fore his passion for lighting. Tiaan was well prepared with lots of pre-programming, he was in his element and this was portrayed how comfortable he was behind the lighting desk.
Tiaan Glianne from St John’s College who lit Sacred Heart College Band
Sacred Heart College Band
The winner in the Overall Category went to Thato Matibide a 22-year old student from TUT who lit HIPNotic from St John’s School. Thato was presented with a challenge to light up a jazz band. Jazz bands are very difficult to light as the mood is slower and the lighting effects need to be more subtle. Thato took the approach to light the band using theatrical lighting which lite the band subtly. He was on point, reading the music 100 percent, enhancing the performance.
Thato Matibide a student from TUT who lit HIPNotic from St John’s School
HIPNotic
