Joffrey Ballet 2010 Gala Video
This video was produced for The Joffrey Ballet‘s 2010 Gala and was the opening for the evening of performances. Shown in the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago, it was fantastically received and kicked-off a fabulous night of celebration for the world-renowed ballet company.
Inspiration for this piece started in late February of 2010 when Executive Director Christopher Clinton Conway and Marketing Manager Amanda Mestemacher contacted me and asked if I could create a glamorous, visually interesting video that would open the show. Of course I wanted to. Having created last years gala video, I wanted to improve upon the basic concept of showing the dancers faces while they worked. This basic idea led to the incorporation of the dancers improvising in front of the camera in their rehearsal studios.
While thinking of ways to best portray the vibrant community in the company, I also wanted to have some sort of message about the arts that the video could express. This concept led to the beginning voice-over by the late Artistic Director and Co-Founder Gerald Arpino. The clip is from a television interview, where he speaks about the importance of experiencing art in order to understand it, specifically in the context of dance programs on television, which were gaining in popularity. The other voice-over is from the Joffrey’s current Artistic Director Ashley C. Wheater, who speaks about how it is important to support the arts in order for us to explore and evolve the dance world. These two quotes that blended the past and present were just what I needed to help give context to the video as a whole.
The project evolved further as myself and other dancers felt the need to find alternate locations in which to dance and be filmed. Dancer Fabrice Calmels had the brilliant idea of having himself float around the city in an athletic jump that had him doing close to 300 jumps from The Civic Opera building to the Chicago Tribune Tower on Michigan Avenue. The effect wound-up being one of the highlights of the video.
Dancers Allison Walsh and Graham Maverick did a quick pas de deux in a skate park in the Logan Square neighborhood, until the police showed up and told us that we needed to leave, as the park was closed.
Dylan Gutierrez volunteered the roof-top of his downtown apartment with which to dance on. The effect and texture of the skyscrapers in the background added to the amazing moves that Dylan, Michael Smith and Derrick Agnoletti performed.
While we were getting some amazing footage outside the studios, inside the studios was no less inspired. Stacy Keller brought her son Andrew in for the shoot, and it led to a fresh interlude in the video with Andrew making faces and being generally adorable. Dancer Erica Lynette Edwards decided to go all-out and wore her gala dress and pointe shoes to the shoot, which underlined the glamour of the evening and made her look absolutely stunning.
Everyone came to their shoot with amazing, funny, sexy and brilliant ideas.
Special thanks to Artistic Director Ashley C. Wheater, Executive Director Christopher Clinton Conway and Marketing Manager Amanda Mestemacher for their patience and direction at all times during the piece’s creation.
Special thanks also to the dedication and creativity of all the dancers at The Joffrey Ballet: April Daly, Erica Lynette Edwards, Yumelia Garcia, Elizabeth Hansen, Jaime Hickey, Anastacia Holden, Victoria Jaiani, Stacy Keller, Suzanne Lopez, Erin McAfee, Caitlin Meighan, Amber Neumann, Alexis Polito, Megan Quiroz, Valerie Robin, Christine Rocas, Abigail Simon, Allison Walsh, Jenny Winton, Joanna Wozniak, Kara Zimmerman, Matthew Adamczyk, Derrick Agnoletti, Miguel Blanco, Fabrice Calmels, Raul Casasola, Jonathan Dummar, Brian Gephart, John Mark Giragosian, David Gombert, Dylan Gutierrez, Calvin Kitten, Graham Maverick, Thomas Nicholas, Aaron Rogers, Ricardo Santos de Paula, Tanner Schwartz, Tian Shuai, Patrick Simoniello, Michael Smith, Temur Suluashvili and Mauro Villanueva.
It was a joy to be able to create this piece for such an amazing, dynamic and beautiful company.
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