Al

Al Crawford, Lighting Director for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater creates the lighting for many of the famed company's modern dances. But he also designs the lighting for one of the company's most important fund-raising events, a gala for approximately 700 people to benefit the Ailey School.This event is housed each year in a 50' x 200' tent erected for the occasion in Harlem in New York City.

Crawford's challenge is to create a theme and a color palette each year... and each year it's different. Usually, the Alvin Ailey event planners pick up on Crawford's color palette and carry its theme through to the rest of the event. In the 2006 event, for example, shown above, the planners used crystalline serving pieces, mirrored vases and other accessories chosen to match the lighting scheme. Here's what Al Crawford said about the lighting for the 2006 event:

"This event wanted to celebrate the Ailey school and honor its colorful nature. This organization is extremely diverse and I wanted to comment on that through the design - primarily through the variety of color used. Red (R27) and magenta (R346) don't usually go together, but they do in this design to carry forward the theme of diversity!"

"The use of rich color with the mirror ball chandelier (29 in all) allowed all of these hues to layer in a very unconventional way. It was very exciting to experiment during this event as the chandelier of mirror balls created a refractive element for us to be creative with. I chose color combinations, such as R388 and R33 that would vibrate against each other, using ultra violets as a background tone. I wanted this to be a color spectacle and create an environment the guests would remember.