NDP 2026: Behind the scenes of NDP’s largest ever lighting production with over 1,600 moving lights

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SINGAPORE - For more than a year, lighting designer Michael Chan has been mapping out and tinkering with every beam, colour change and transition for Singapore’s upcoming 61st birthday celebrations.

His efforts culminate in over 1,600 moving lights which will illuminate the National Stadium on Aug 9 and become the largest lighting production in National Day Parade (NDP) history.

The 42-year-old spent months designing and programming every lighting cue before the production even entered the stadium.

But coming up with the plan was not easy.

“It was actually convincing ourselves and the committee that it is worth the investment,” he said, explaining that his team requested about 50 per cent more equipment than when the parade took place at the Padang, to match the National Stadium’s much larger scale.

The lighting system for NDP 2026 comprises 54 laser units, 1,654 entertainment lighting fixtures and 170 special effects units.

Chan, who is participating in the parade for the third time, told media on July 31 that the team decided to scale up the production to create an immersive experience for both spectators at the stadium and at home.

The trickiest part of the parade is in its fourth act, which features a medley of television and theme songs that transition every 30 to 50 seconds, said Chan.

“We have to find a unique look for every single one, while move seamlessly from one to another, but at the same time making it cohesive as one chapter.”

The need for seamless transitions also shaped the stage itself.

Set designer Randy Chan, who had worked on six previous parades, came up with an arrow-shaped stage stretching more than 160m after studying the National Stadium’s scale, audience sightlines and operational requirements.

It is equipped with six stage lifts and eight tunnel entrances and exits, enabling faster transitions and more dynamic choreography.

“After many months of meetings, understanding the multimedia, the storyline, the formation of this set is the culmination of many people’s feedback,” the 56-year-old added.

This year’s parade will also see 300 drones put on a synchronised light show, alongside singer Jasmine Sokko and two aerialists.

Kwek Qing Wei, a senior programme manager (unmanned systems) for land systems at the Defence Science and Technology Agency, said there were several challenges to pull off the segment effectively.

The 40-year-old said: “One of the challenges that we faced is getting all 300 drones to fly together in a synchronised manner onto the stage and perform with the aerialists. It must also be in sync with the music and the lights.”

Preparations such as getting the indoor positioning system into place so that the drones are able to receive signals from them, took almost a month.

For safety, each drone maintains at least a 3m buffer from performers. They can fly as high as 24m.

On the rare occasion that a drone loses connection during rehearsals, backup programming allows the remaining drones to immediately adjust their positions. Such incidents have occurred in fewer than 1 per cent of flights, Kwek said.

Another 12 drones will be on standby during the parade.

Keeping every moving part running smoothly falls to the NDP show management committee, headed by Lieutenant Colonel Koh Jun Kiat.

Koh said spotters are stationed around the stage and beneath it, while quick response teams stand ready to deal with mishaps like stray props or stalled floats.

He added that the team conducts a debrief with over 2,600 performers after each rehearsal, making adjustments to choreography, timings and entry points.

The 34-year-old added: “For everything on the ground and in the air that the audience sees on stage, the show management committee is working steadily behind the scenes to operationalise the creative vision for NDP (this year) and deliver a show that will wow our audience.”