impression X5 Compact used as a tracker, and for discreet lighting behind LED barriers

For the past 34 years, the Turn- und Sportfördergesellschaft mbH (Gymnastics and Sports Promotion Organisation), a subsidiary of the Niedersächsischer Turner-Bund e.V. (Lower Saxony Gymnastics Association), has been celebrating Europe's most successful gymnastics show, Feuerwerk der Turnkunst (the Fireworks of Gymnastics), attracting attention to committed young talent.

From the end of December 2023 to the end of January 2024, the organisers staged the Heartbeat tour, a passionate homage to the legendary dance films of the 80s, such as Dirty Dancing, Flashdance and Hair. The tour included 36 performances in 22 German cities, with over 200,000 visitors in total watching the energetic gymnastics and artistic shows.

PRG supervised the tour, complete with lighting, sound and video technology, as well as rigging, and was responsible for all the special structures and technical planning.

For his lighting design, Marc Brunkhardt turned to GLP’s impression X5 Compact and impression X4 Bar 20 in order to illuminate the playing area for the artists, performers and gymnasts evenly and in a sport-appropriate manner (it was particularly important, for example, not to blind the athletes during their often very demanding performances).

The PRG team met these various lighting challenges with a total of 44 impression X5 Compacts, the smallest – and yet surprisingly powerful – member of GLP’s latest X5 Series. On the one hand, a total of 16 impression X5 Compacts were used as trackers in the rig, in groups of four in a ‘follow-me’ system, while a further 20 impression X5 Compacts backlit the transparent LED strip.

Tom Kaczmarek, account manager for PRG, says: “The X5 Compact was the perfect fixture, especially for the application behind the LED barrier, and also did a great job visually. We favour these devices for their high performance despite their small form factor, their very low weight, the speed, and the zoom of 3.5 to 60 degrees. Wherever space is an issue, we turn to the X5 Compact.”

A total of 300 impression X5 Compacts are currently available at PRG Germany.

In addition to the X5 Compact, impression X4 Bar 20s were also installed behind the LED barrier. “Due to the suspension behind the boards, all the technology was not visible to the spectators,” continues Kaczmarek. “Here, too, the Bars’ compact dimensions were a decisive factor in our choice.”