Show dictionary · Rigging & Staging
Ground Support
Ground support is structure that stands on the floor instead of hanging from the building: truss towers with sleeve blocks that let a grid or header climb the towers (typically raised by chain hoists) and lock at trim. It is how shows fly a rig where the roof cannot.
In practice
Ballrooms with thin ceilings, tents, and outdoor stages live on ground support: the floor takes the load the steel cannot. The tower base’s footprint, leveling, and ballast or bracing are the engineering conversation, and outdoor systems add wind ratings and operational wind-speed limits that stop shows.
Hybrid rigs mix both worlds (fly what the building allows, ground-support the rest), and the plot marks which is which because the load paths differ completely. The same manufacturer tables govern; the direction of the support is the only thing that changed.
How you’ll hear it
"No points over the stage, so the header is ground supported: four towers, sleeve blocks, motors inside."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.