Stage One helps performers take to the air in Turin

Stage One, one of Europe’s top scenic contractors, has brought its highly regarded technical and motion control expertise to bear on the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Turin.
Brought on board in September 2005, Stage One and its technical team were tasked with helping to make the innovative, stylish and incredibly visual designs of Mark Fisher (Mark Fisher Studios) a reality.
The company’s involvement in the show was divided into two parts, with Stage One supplying and operating two completely separate motion control systems. Firstly, one of the most spectacular and visual elements of the opening ceremony was the aerial routine carried out by multiple performance artists on a set of a structures, which moved smoothly on their vertical tracks and then, once the performers dismounted, rotated to dramatically form the iconic Olympic rings. Stage One’s superb motion control system - Q-Motion - was responsible for all the movements associated with the rings. The movements were designed and programmed using Stage One’s Next-QTM software and Q-PosTM positional controllers by the company’s Q-Motion specialists, Jim Tinsley, (Technical Director) and Jim Almond (Project Manager – Technical).
Tinsley said: “It’s always very exciting to be involved in something as enormous as an Olympics Opening Ceremony and the Turin ceremony was an excellent opportunity for us to demonstrate the flexibility and reliability that our specialist Q-Motion system can provide.”
In order to achieve the movement of the rings, Stage One built four vertical tracks and provided 10 hoists, two per 1100kg ring to ensure extra safety for the performers. The upper rings were controlled by six small motors, which enabled them to tilt on their own axis, while the tilting of the bottom two rings was controlled by the main lifting hoists (as their position meant they couldn’t track up and down the vertical tracks), with one attached to the outside edge and one on the tracking edge. The second part of Stage One’s involvement took place at the opposite end of the arena after the entrance of the athletes. For the superbly draped stage the Company supplied a further eight hoists, positioned at the bottom of each mast.
The drapes then moved in a pre-programmed sequence, again controlled by QMotion. All the hoists used were specially designed and built by Stage One and are capable of speeds of up to four metres per second and controlling weights in excess of a tonne. They are designed to be adaptable, with the ability to be reconfigured for any event. With over 100 winches, with full positional control capability, in Stage One’s hire stock, the Company can service most events that require specialist cable net or winching applications. Stage One’s involvement in the closing ceremony was a further programmable sequence for the movement of the huge drapes only, as the Olympic rings remained static throughout.
(GB)