Gymnastics holds a special place in the hearts of Russians. As arguably the most successful gymnastics country of all time, the sport is followed closely and is conducted at the highest level with facilities dotting the country at all stages.
Dominated by Russian gymnasts, rhythmic gymnastics has been a particular success for Russia since gaining worldwide recognition as an Olympic sport in 1984. In Moscow, construction of a new, modern gymnastics venue was recently completed, the Irina A. Viner-Usmanova Rhythmic Gymnastics Centre, a world-class facility that houses a flexible Elation Professional lighting system.
Featuring a main performance arena and facade that resembles the wave of a gymnastic ribbon, the Irina A. Viner-Usmanova Rhythmic Gymnastics Centre, named after one of the most successful gymnastics coaches of all time, can host any type of gymnastics event from local competition to world championship.
As the sports facility was designed to be multifunctional in order to accommodate training and competition across a variety of events, as well as concerts, shows and special events, Elation distributor LPD Tech was contracted to provide a versatile lighting system. With flexibility essential in gymnastics, perhaps it was appropriate that the new venue’s lighting system was expected to possess that same resilient quality.
Faced with the challenge of finding a multi-faceted luminaire that could add flair to opening and closing ceremonies while doubling as a multi-purpose concert and show light, after consultations with several lighting designers, LPD chose the Elation Platinum FLX hybrid moving head to fulfil the many roles.
“The Platinum FLX is an award-winning, multifunctional spot, beam and wash fixture that is as bright as a 1,200-watt fixture so was perfect for this type of application,” commented Executive Director of LPD, Mikhail Morozov. “Together with different gobos, prisms, bi-directional animation effects, CMY colour mixing and highly saturated colours, it can be used to decorate any event and is enough to keep anyone happy and satisfied.”
LPD completed the general design of the venue’s multimedia systems, including supply and installation of the sound and lighting equipment. Located in the venue’s central arena, 26 of the Platinum FLX fixtures fulfil the main lighting role in a design completed by the LPD engineering team. Housing the Philips 470W Platinum 20R lamp and emitting up to 23,000 lumens, the FLX can adjust from a pencil-thin beam to a fat tree trunk shaft of light in a snap and can zoom in all modes.
The Elation lighting fixtures are controlled by a brand new Obsidian NX 2 lighting console in combination with Elation eNode4 Ethernet-DMX routers. “We chose the NX 2 because of its wide-ranging functions and features in a small size, which the venue requested as they require mobility in the control system. Perhaps most importantly though was the included Capture software which helps them to design different types of shows.” Running Obsidian Control Systems’ proprietary ONYX software, the Rhythmic Gymnastics Centre is the first installation in Russia of the compact yet fully integrated NX 2 lighting controller.
Located in Moscow’s Luzhniki Olympic Complex, the 4,000-seat Rhythmic Gymnastics Centre was host to the Rhythmic Gymnastics Junior World Championships this past July, the first time that thousands of visitors were able to experience the new lighting system.
