Footlights can be useful as a design statement and to some extent for fill. Depends upon the show, if you want a lime light effect there is no better position to project from. Front up lighting tends to flatten people out against the background and provide a unnatural lighting effect on them and their shadows against the back wall. Unless foot lights are part of your design concept, a little bit of them would go a long way as a fill light if at all used. Definately not a key light. They would also have problems projecting thru smoke or especoally fog unless ligting the smoke/fog/haze were the desired effect also.
Side lighting would cause harsh shadows if it were just parallel beams of light and that's all that is lighting the people on stage. Someone standing on the center of the stage and looking out into the audience would have a shadow running down their center. It's not McCandless but for the most part if you have say three or four banks of side light with three to four instruments each you can light the stage sufficiently.
This especially if when positioned slightly behind legs, you point them slightly upstage so as to provide a little front lighting effect. In doing so, say from the high side (top of the boom) you have a 6x12 or 36 degree for the long throw to the opposing side of the stage. Than on the mids and shin busters some 6x9 or 50 degree or wider focus fixtures for the short throw on each side of the stage, you get a blending. This is supplemented by front of house wash lighting and top light. As long as the dancers don't get too close to the legs, portals or torms, they normally are lit well enough.
In those cases where they will coming from the wings, top or fill lighting can often cover them sufficiently.
One advantage of side lighting in doing dance, is because of the placement the dancers are often dancing along the linear length of the beam of light from the various side lighting instead of with say a McCandless type, jumping in and out of zones of light in a linear way that is hard to blend on a empty stage sufficiently. In McCandless style the wings will also have just as many problems in getting lit.
Dance ligting is different, it's not naturalistic. Nor is foot ligthing naturalistic. Foot ligting is very harsh and not flattering to the talent, thus the Limelight tecnique. These days it is normally only used for an effect. Wouldn't want to light some realistic show with either form of lighting unless of wing and drop style or for an effect.
In the end both are just tecniques for a lighting effect designed.
Really good side but parallel lighting would be for the reveal of Dracula from behind a scrim. Tight parallel beams of light allow the scrim to be solid up until Dracula sticks his head into the beam of light behind and parallel to the scrim.
Side lighting would cause harsh shadows if it were just parallel beams of light and that's all that is lighting the people on stage. Someone standing on the center of the stage and looking out into the audience would have a shadow running down their center. It's not McCandless but for the most part if you have say three or four banks of side light with three to four instruments each you can light the stage sufficiently.
This especially if when positioned slightly behind legs, you point them slightly upstage so as to provide a little front lighting effect. In doing so, say from the high side (top of the boom) you have a 6x12 or 36 degree for the long throw to the opposing side of the stage. Than on the mids and shin busters some 6x9 or 50 degree or wider focus fixtures for the short throw on each side of the stage, you get a blending. This is supplemented by front of house wash lighting and top light. As long as the dancers don't get too close to the legs, portals or torms, they normally are lit well enough.
In those cases where they will coming from the wings, top or fill lighting can often cover them sufficiently.
One advantage of side lighting in doing dance, is because of the placement the dancers are often dancing along the linear length of the beam of light from the various side lighting instead of with say a McCandless type, jumping in and out of zones of light in a linear way that is hard to blend on a empty stage sufficiently. In McCandless style the wings will also have just as many problems in getting lit.
Dance ligting is different, it's not naturalistic. Nor is foot ligthing naturalistic. Foot ligting is very harsh and not flattering to the talent, thus the Limelight tecnique. These days it is normally only used for an effect. Wouldn't want to light some realistic show with either form of lighting unless of wing and drop style or for an effect.
In the end both are just tecniques for a lighting effect designed.
Really good side but parallel lighting would be for the reveal of Dracula from behind a scrim. Tight parallel beams of light allow the scrim to be solid up until Dracula sticks his head into the beam of light behind and parallel to the scrim.
