
Elation DARTZ makes the cut on Dancing with the Stars posted: 22/10/2019
LD Tom Sutherland exploits effects package to customize looks and keep design fresh. Lighting supply by Felix Lighting
Enjoyed by young and old alike, Dancing with the Stars has been a mainstay of American reality television since premiering in 2005. For season 28, which premiered on September 16th on ABC, lighting designer Tom Sutherland is using Elation Professional DARTZ 360 beam/spot LED moving heads as a principal luminaire in an immersive 360-degree lighting environment. Lighting vendor for Dancing with the Stars is Felix Lighting with Nicole Barnes as account manager.
After skipping its standard spring season-there are typically two seasons per year-the Emmy-winning dance competition returned this fall with changes designed to freshen up the format and delight fans in new ways. A new creative director came onboard for the new season, as did Sutherland who works with set designer Florian Weider on a revamped set.
For the uninitiated, Dancing with the Stars features celebrities dancing with professional ballroom dancers as a panel of ballroom experts, along with fans at home, determines who makes the cut each week. Filmed at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, it is a competition that is as much about drama and glitz as dancing, and that's what has kept fans coming back year after year.
Lead designer at DX7 Design and a Knight of Illumination award winner, Sutherland, who has a wealth of experience lighting other TV reality shows such as The X-Factor, The Four, American Idol, Britain's Got Talent, The Voice China, Love Island and La Banda, embraced the opportunity to create something original and sought a versatile light as his principal source.
I needed something that was small but also quite bright and punchy that could light the entire room, he said. I also needed a light that was cool that I could put close to the audience as they surround the audience in a 360-degree set.
Sutherland, who is known for creating big looks on broadcast sets, had used the DARTZ 360 on a previous show and was familiar with its tight 3-degree beam and myriad effect options. Safe to use at any distance, the DARTZ, with its 50W RGB LED engine, is an ideal up-close' luminaire. It's also small and compact and can fit into any space, said Sutherland who positioned 84 of the DARTZ fixtures around the set to frame the underside of the audience balconies. We also use them to light the edges of the dancefloor as well as in reverse shots.
The challenge, the designer says, is to create unique looks for each couple's performance show after show, keeping the look dynamic and interesting for the millions of fans that tune in each week. That's where a multifunctional luminaire comes in handy. Used extensively for a variety of effects, Sutherland relies on the DARTZ's effects package, using everything from a variety of color shades to prism effects, gobos, rotation and even frost.
Shot in 360 degrees, the DARTZ, which is extremely bright for its wattage and size, are used throughout the show with the 360-degree positioning effectively filling wide shots and expanding the look of the set. I work with the creative director to come up with a concept for each performance and build around that, Sutherland says. We do many performances a week so I use everything in the fixture. They have been great on camera as well with no flicker issues, just very solid, he says, adding that matching the other fixtures in the set hasn't been an issue either.
About Elation Professional
Based in California with facilities in Florida and Mexico City, as well as European offices in The Netherlands, Elation designs and manufactures a comprehensive range of innovative lighting and video products known for its superior performance, excellent efficiency, and outstanding price:value ratio, all backed by a hard-earned reputation for Total Support. Through nearly three decades of intelligent lighting development, our mission has always been simple: to provide best-in-class products and service while offering the best value:performance ratio in the industry, helping show designers and producers achieve their vision. From discharge to LED, intelligent to conventional, Elation products continue to be a part of the industry's most exciting projects across the globe and our list of references is always growing.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
09/04/2026
Zixi will demonstrate IP-based live video workflow solutions at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2057).
The industry is moving quickly toward IP-based distribution as br...
09/04/2026
Global women's elite sports revenues are expected to reach at least $3 billi...
09/04/2026
Monitor engineer Gavin Tempany mixed Kylie Minogue s Tension Tour on a Solid Sta...
09/04/2026
KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C5507), debu...
09/04/2026
With the 2025-26 NBA regular season concluded and the playoffs beginning next we...
09/04/2026
Telestream and Mimir have announced an integration connecting Telestream's V...
09/04/2026
Bitmovin has expanded its Live Encoding and Observability solutions to provide r...
09/04/2026
The Nashville Predators and Scripps Sports have announced a multi-year media rights agreement covering local preseason, regular season, and first-round playoff ...
09/04/2026
Advanced Systems Group, LLC has announced a partnership with Beam Dynamics to offer the Beam Asset and License Intelligence Platform to its clients. The platfor...
09/04/2026
Lawo has unveiled Edge One, a combined video and audio stagebox for broadcast and Pro AV workflows. The device will be on display at NAB Show (Booth C2108, Apri...
09/04/2026
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) will host the SMPTE ST 2110 IP Media Roadshow on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, at the Las Vegas Conven...
09/04/2026
The Atlanta Braves have completed upgrades to video displays in and around Truist Park ahead of the 2026 MLB season. The upgrades include the Delta Out-of-Town ...
09/04/2026
The University of Southern California has contracted Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT) of Brookings, South Dakota, to manufacture and install 22 LED displays across fou...
09/04/2026
Backlight, the media technology company behind Iconik and Wildmoka, will showcase its Creative Operations Platform at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N2829, April 19-22). ...
09/04/2026
MotoAmerica and V10 Entertainment have announced a partnership to broadcast MotoAmerica Superbike racing on VICE TV for the 2026 season. Coverage begins live on...
09/04/2026
Proton Camera Innovations has announced the appointment of Tod Musgrave as US Sa...
09/04/2026
Designed specifically for live sports broadcasting, new platform features IP-nat...
09/04/2026
Blending 1990s DNA, modern motion theory, and a distinctly colorful brand identi...
09/04/2026
Technical capability is essential, but long-term success often depends on how we...
09/04/2026
15 feature films, including fiction and documentaries, along with six short film...
09/04/2026
Spotify has always been about putting listeners in the driver's seat. Today, people don't just want more ways to spend their time; they want that time t...
09/04/2026
Our Chief Public Affairs Officer Dustee Jenkins shares how we're building a more positive experience for families on Spotify.
As Spotify's Chief Public...
09/04/2026
Festival season is upon us. From sun-soaked weekends out west to iconic stages in Chicago and New York, fans are getting ready to see their favorite artists liv...
09/04/2026
O Spotify sempre teve como foco colocar os ouvintes no controle. Hoje, as pessoas n o querem apenas mais formas de passar o tempo - elas querem que esse tempo s...
09/04/2026
Read the original note in English here.
Nossa Chief Public Affairs Officer, Dustee Jenkins, compartilha como estamos construindo uma experi ncia mais positiva ...
09/04/2026
New synth focuses on sci-fi scoring
Following their formation and debut releases in December 2025, Smokestack Sounds - the brainchild of composer and produc...
09/04/2026
Latest version set for May 2026 launch
Reason Studios have revealed that the latest version of their DAW software will be launching in May 2026. Currently a...
09/04/2026
New EQ aimed at mix-bus & mastering duties
Shy Audio's first two releases focused on the past, delivering recreations of the budget mixers that were com...
09/04/2026
Based on John Galsworthy's novels known collectively as The Forsyte Saga a...
09/04/2026
The Forsytes has been renewed for a third season before the period drama has even premiered on PBS Masterpiece.
The adaptation of John Galsworthy's novel, ...
09/04/2026
IThe BBC has commissioned new drama The Witch Farm, starring Gabrielle Creevy (T...
09/04/2026
The next big thing To help broadcasters fully embrace dynamic hybrid workflows, Calrec will make a major announcement that unlocks even more freedom for broadca...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
Purpose Built Monitoring From Live Production to Master Control to OTT, Across On Prem and Cloud Environments
At the 2026 NAB Show (April 19-22, Las Vegas Con...
09/04/2026
Purpose Built Monitoring From Live Production to Master Control to OTT, Across On Prem and Cloud Environments
At the 2026 NAB Show (April 19-22, Las Vegas Con...
09/04/2026
New advances meet surge in demand for broadcast-grade IP migration as C-band spectrum auctions approach
LTN announces major enhancements to its purpose-built g...
09/04/2026
Hitomi Broadcast has expanded its sales team with the addition of Nicola Milburn as Technical Sales Manager. In this role, Nicola will work with customers and p...
09/04/2026
Revolutionary combined solution brings sub-second latency, resilient delivery, and workflow orchestration to global broadcasters and digital platforms
Layercak...
09/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/04/2026
Yospace exceeded 10 billion dynamically stitched ads in a single month, reaching 11.6 billion as ad-supported streaming surged. Driven by a packed global sports...
09/04/2026
Bitmovin has expanded its Live Encoding and Observability solutions to provide true end to end, real time insights across live streaming workflows, from encodin...
09/04/2026
Leyra has announced the launch of Icelandic public broadcaster R V's streaming service on Samsung and LG Smart TVs. R V is the first public broadcaster to d...