Automation specialists Kinesys have designed a customized control system for the large moving band platform used on Movin’ Out, the Twyla Tharp dance production set to the music of Billy Joel. The show has just opened at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre.
Kinesys were asked onboard by Total Fabrications’ Chris Cronin, who designed and built the 14m wide by 8m deep structure that moves several times during the performance and is in full view of the audience throughout. The platform needed to move up and down as well as tracking upstage and downstage, so Kinesys supplied five of their Velocity drives and a laptop running their proprietary Vector software.
The four two-ton winches – one in each corner of the structure - were supplied by TFL and travel at up to a quarter meter a second, the platform is tracked by a single motor and line shaft system and is controlled by the fifth Velocity drive.
The show is scheduled to run for 16 weeks at the Apollo and then tour UK and European arenas.