How can I set up black lights for a pep rally for effect? Windows of gym are covered.?

Question

I am a cheer coach and am trying to pull together a black light pep rally. The pep rally will be in the gym which has all windows covered in black paper. There will be elementary children sitting on the floor by the outlets so I am trying to figure out how to set up the lights so that the cheerleaders and whoever else is performing will be "glowing." Any help would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

In this kind of situation, the best solution is to use spot lights with UV filters, which is obviously expensive if you don't already own the spotlights and the UV filters are not cheap (because they get very hot absorbing visible light.)
The next best solution is probably to use 4' fluorescent light fixtures with 40 watt black light bulbs in them. You will need to either sit them on the floor in a row or hang a row not far over the heads of the cheer leaders between the audience and performers. You will need to shield the tubes from direct viewing by the audience with aluminum foil reflectors because looking at the blacklight tubes gives many people headaches.
The problem is that the cheerleaders still have to be able to see what they are doing and that small amount of light requires that the black light be powerful (spots) or close.