West Coast Elite Dance Competition
The West Coast Elite Dance competition took over the Long Beach Convention Center for several days in March 2025. PCE provided lighting, audio, rigging, staging, video walls, and other production, augmenting some truly breathtaking dance performances from the best middle and high school dance teams in the country.
The Long Beach Arena served as the event's main performance space. Inside, PCE installed lighting to illuminate the dance floor and set the mood. We used Vari-Lite VL3600 Profile IP and Martin MAC Allure Profile lights while a PCE lighting designer ran the show via an ETC Road Hog 4 lighting console.
At the rear end of the dance floor, our team mounted seven video wall sections, each consisting of Absen PL2.5 LED panels. A Blackmagic ATEM 2 M/E Constellation switcher and a Blackmagic ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel let us control the images displayed (mostly graphical backgrounds to accentuate the performances).
The event sound system included JBL VT4888 line array speakers (the main PA), JBL SRX835 powered speakers, and three kinds of JBL subwoofers: JBL VRX918SP, JBL RCF SUB8006-AS, and JBL MP418SP. The event MC relied on a Shure ULX-D wireless microphone kit, and a PCE audio engineer set the levels with an Allen & Heath SQ-7 console.
Finally, a drape package and some sturdy truss helped complete the picture.
Across the street at the Westin Hotel, we contributed to a secondary performance space. We built a Steeldeck stage, lighting it with ETC ColorSource Spot LED Leko and ETC Source 4WRD Leko fixtures. At the back of the stage, Elation SIXPAR 100 RGBAW lit up a truss-mounted West Coast Elite Dance banner. The sound system here used Pioneer Pro XPRS102 powered speakers, QSC KW181 subwoofers, and a Shure ULX-D wireless microphone kit.
In a room adjacent to this secondary performance space, PCE helped outfit a rehearsal area. We deployed a Marley Dance Floor and a lot of the same gear found in the secondary performance space: Elation SIXPAR 100 RGBAW lights, a Shure ULX-D wireless microphone system, Pioneer Pro XPRS102 powered speakers, and QSC KW181 subwoofers.