Twenty years ago, the life of the simplest design of the stage, called the JSA Stage Camel, began. The idea of such a design was born in 1998 when the company JSA held talks at the Moscow office of the international advertising agency (It seems it was McCANN). The topic of this meeting was the discussion of the organization and technical support of the promo tour for the world tobacco brand – Camel. It had to be the Russian part of the international music project of this popular cigarettes with the slogan “Everything is possible!”
At that time in the Russian market, there was not enough developed staging service. JSA was the first and only company that provided professional services in this sector. The company had by then a large set of Layher designs, but at that time it did not yet have designs of simple roof systems from aluminum trusses. And in the market in general, none of the technology companies did have this kind of construction.
For the tour, it was necessary to have several small scenes with a site size of 8 x 6 m – which was supposed to be compact, reliable, and quickly assembled, without the use of lifting mechanisms and easy to maintain. In the arsenal of JSA, there were many different elements of Layher scaffolds. And to solve this problem Alexander Strizhak came up with an original design of the scene, made only based on elements of Layher Allround Scaffolding. It was not a complicated structure, the stage floor was covered with wooden beams and plywood (in 1998 podium shields from Layher Event Systems were not yet available). In this version, the scene had a total frontage size of 12,432 meters, a scene width of 8,288 meters, a depth of 6,216 meters (total depth of 8,288 meters), a height from ground to roof top: in front of about 8 meters / behind about 5 meters.
The structure of the overlap was assembled from Layher elements using steel flat trusses (4,144) connected in series in two pieces to create a span. The shape of the roof was sloping to one side and is covered with an awning. In the supporting towers (2.072 meters wide), there could install a stack of the sound system (then a line ray sound system practically was not on the market). The main installation of such a stage (basic structure), with a properly organized process, took from six to eight hours together with unloading. The dismantling took about four to five hours together with the loading.
Remark: if then there we had Layher Event Decks and a comfortable Kedar profile – installation work would be even easier and faster.
The tour was very successful, this design of Layher Stage by JSA met expectations and hopes for the quality of staging service. The schedule of the tour was strictly observed, and the construction of the stage contributed to the solution of the tasks of the project. The working space of the structure provided opportunities to meet the requirements of artists. technicians. And most importantly JSA Camel Stage had an attractive appearance (especially for that time).
The promo tour “Everything is possible!” has gone to some major Russian cities, including Sochi. At the end of the tour, Alexander Strizhak gave the name to this design of the stage – Camel. This name coincided with two components: the name of the famous cigarette – the brand that financed this project and the camel as an animal, which is a symbol of movement in the caravans, which is the main idea of the promo tour when you need to move from city to city.
Special thanks to Marina Lomteva and Natasha Stepanuk from the agency for the invitation to JSA Stage Company to participate as a technical team in the tour “Everything is possible!” and the fact that they believed us then that everything will be fine.
The original photos of the first use of JSA Stage-Camel see below. Also, you can see the first layouts and drawings of this stage for the tour “Everything is Possible!”.
After this project, where a good experience of using this type of stage was obtained and the skills of its installation were worked out – the Camel Stage became very popular for small events: presentations, city holidays, advertising actions, and small concerts. Later the design for this simple model of the stage changed and modified depending on the tasks of events.
The unique idea of Alexander Strizhak based on the modular elements of Layher Allround Scaffolding allowed users to have a possibility to change the size width, depth, and height, change the width of the supporting walls for sound, attach to the sides of the structure for video screens. This type of scene design from the elements of Layher allowed to install of the JSA Camel Stage anywhere and on any solid surface with irregularities and with differences in height. With the advent of flat Layher trusses made from aluminum, it became easier to install a roof. Using connected farms measuring 5.14 meters, the span of the roof covering was increased to 10 meters. We know of cases when some companies used a triple connection and the span of the roof was 12,432 (4,144 x 3) or 15,432 (5,144 x 3) meters.
JSA began to actively advertise its universal product on the market (please see pics below) and this version of the scene is still used in many places. In 1999, JSA Camel Stage came to Ukraine – as the most simple and inexpensive construct for the staging business. Here the company Bita Music from Kyiv began to actively promote our model of stage. This was done without agreement with JSA and for promo, they used our layout of the leaflet with the changed scene name – “Lemak (c)” (if you try to read Camel – on the contrary). JSA does not complain about this and we are glad that we were able to contribute to the development of the staging business in Ukraine. Sometimes it’s nice to see at some events and different places our an already grown “child” – JSA Camel Layher Stage.
Although we are sure that these “stagers” who build these stages even do not know the roots of this original design. Nevertheless, we are proud of our popular product and wish everyone good luck and success.
Like the advertising: we inform you that we are ready to present shortly an improved model of this stage design. It will be like a Remake of a successful product after 20 years of a triumphal procession on the market!
Please wait and watch our news.
Below you can see a photo gallery about the JSA Camel Stage including many images from various events and concerts in the late 90s / early 2000s (staging by JSA). We made this selection of historical moments by taking pictures from our archive.
Версия на русском языке: JSA CAMEL STAGE – 20 ЛЕТ ЖИЗНИ! САМЫЙ ПРОСТОЙ ДИЗАЙН СЦЕНЫ
© All photos are copyrighted by JSA Stage Company.