Polski Teatr Tańca, or Polish Dance Theatre, is an interdisciplinary dance company formed in 1973. While the company owns a rehearsal studio in Poznań in western Poland, it has never had its own performance space – until now. The curtain is about to go up on a brand new theatre in the historic centre of Poznań, complete with a carefully designed KV2 Audio sound system.
From the outside, the building looks like any one of the imposing 19th century edifices in the old town centre. Now fully renovated, whilst the exterior blends perfectly with the rest of the city’s architecture, inside the venue has been transformed into a modern performance space with distinctly industrial feel. Concrete, glass and metal structures prevail in the new space which has been designed as a place of interaction between performers and spectators; here, the set is the whole theatre and audiences are seated according to how the performance area has been defined for that production.
KV2 Audio were brought in to design an appropriate system following recommendation from Pawel Szulc of Music Store, whom the management had contacted for advice on the best audio solution. KV2’s Technical Projects Director, Andy Austin-Brown, takes up the story:
“The requirement was for a totally flexible and switchable system capable of delivering high fidelity sound everywhere and anywhere throughout the room,” recalls Austin-Brown. “As a dance performance venue, the emphasis was more on high definition output even at low levels rather than high output, extended low frequency performance. This made our ESR212 3-way, full range units a good choice as they are capable of producing the accurate, full-range sound required without the need for subs and without losing imaging or atmosphere and perspective, even at lower levels. ESR Series is a proven choice in theatre environments for all of these reasons, and even though the application at the Polish Dance Theatre is not a conventional theatre system with a fixed stage and tiered seating, the same criteria of accurate, detailed output still apply.”
Austin-Brown decided to keep things simple with as few points of source as possible within the performance environment. The aim was to cut down on potential interaction and time arrival issues as well as minimising any acoustical excitement concerns with the reverberation times, particularly with so much bare concrete around. “I opted for a simple grid of four ESR212 full range units in a square (essentially two units on opposite walls equidistant from each other) so that any pair could be used/muted as desired via the matrix control of the FoH mixer depending on the orientation of the production. Further discussion led to us adding another centre right and left pair to enable full and complete control of sound within any part of the room as required.”
Once the positioning of the loudspeakers had been determined, it became clear that bespoke brackets would be required to allow the speakers to be swung out from the walls beyond any wall drapes used to define the performance area or as part of the set design. The brackets were designed and manufactured in house.
The system is fully controlled via KV2’s dedicated ESR2800 amplifier controllers ensuring optimum performance at all levels. Matrix switching, muting and combining is handled by the FoH mixer.
“The Polish Dance Theatre now has a flexible, high quality performance system that is completely configurable according to the requirements of the production,” concludes Austin-Brown. “The ESR units may be used in any combination and, thanks to the custom brackets, positioned at will for maximum versatility. The whole system is easy to control and operate and the design allows for any updating or upscaling that may be required, making it fully future proof. In short, it’s a simple, professional system that meets all of the client’s requirements.”
The director of the Polish Dance Theatre, Iwona Pasińska, is thrilled with the results. “We’re grateful to Pawel at Music Store for recommending KV2 who were thoroughly professional and delivered excellent service. Music Store themselves did a great job of the installation, completing the entire project in just two weeks. We’re delighted that our audiences will benefit from the highest quality audio from a world class manufacturer, and we can’t wait to welcome the public to our new home.”
