Crowdfunding and Sweet Sorrow: Bringing Zombie Ballet to Life!

Design by Jennifer Logan/NEDT

It's nerve-wracking to put your personal stuff - your thoughts, your dreams, your hopes - in front of other people and await their response.

As a writer, I spend many hours in front of my computer and living in my head that when I finally send a book or short story out to others for feedback, I want to crawl into a hole and eat Fritos.

As a teacher, I create dance on a regular basis and see nearly immediately whether something works or not, if a student can't handle the material or the combination is too awkward.

But as a choreographer (and I'm a newbie to the modern/contemporary ballet world), you have to wait until the show, when lighting and music and costumes all come together to support your choreography. You watch the audience for their response: do they laugh when they should or shouldn't? do they think your choreography is interesting or pedestrian? do they understand the story or are they confused by what's happening? All dance is a work in progress, so when the audience gives you feedback, you can makes changes for next time.

So how does crowdfunding fit in? Well...it's somewhere in between. It's not a performance so your audience can only see bits and pieces of what you're doing. In this case, it's costume sketches, a written description of the project, and some cool photos from a previous performance. You tell people what you need, what you hope to do, what you want to provide and then you wait.

It's nerve-wracking. Did I mention that?

A little history:

Me with the Zombies of 2013

"Sweet Sorrow" began quite humbly, when I "zombified" an adagio to use with Prokofiev's "Dance of the Knights" from "Romeo & Juliet." It looked really cool and was fun to do so I gave it to some teen students at a summer ballet intensive. That looked cool too so I made it a bit bigger and then got a great group of students to perform it at ARC in Pasadena for ArtNight Pasadena. We got a huge audience response so we did it again the following year with more people. And then I added on to it. And on again.

I realized there was a much bigger story to this. I came up with the backstory to the piece and then fleshed it out (so to speak) until it was a full-length ballet. Then I wrote a novel.

Courtesy Cortney Armitage

About a year later I approached Nancy Evans Dance Theatre about collaboration. They are a really creative and exciting company, small and young and eager to try just about anything. We seemed to be a good fit for each other. After a few months of working together, we showed a couple of pieces in late January. Encouraged by the response and eager to get more of the story out there, we kept working. Very very hard. We expanded the story and the cast. We re-worked some things that were awkward or confusing last time around. We clarified the story and the characters, the motivation for movement, the connection to the music and the development from one scene to the next.

Courtesy Karina Jones

On May 29-31, we will present the first act. From a few phrases to a full act! I can't believe it! It's scary and amazing but I don't feel alone in doing this. I feel supported and encouraged. I love how the dancers have taken ownership of the characters and made adjustments because they know their roles inside and out. I love how Nancy Evans Doede has helped me direct the performance, how she sees the big picture and has encouraged me to try different things, to trust the dancers, to give them the tools and let them see what they come up with. It's been a tremendous growth opportunity for me - one I am extremely blessed to have. Not everyone gets a chance to spread their wings.

The ultimate goal is a full-length ballet, which we hope to put on next Spring. Whaaaaat? That's crazy! And super exciting.

To support the May performance, NEDT has launched an IndieGoGo campaign. We're trying to raise $10K to fund the production of the show, including costumes, marketing, dancer pay, and so on. If you can donate, fantastic! If you can share the link with others, awesome! If you can attend the show in May, wonderful!  Any contribution of any kind will be immensely helpful.

So please help get the word out and bring Zombie Ballet to life!  Thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my Undead Heart.

A classic book! A classic zombie film!

On this Friday, I wanted to share with you a couple of things:

A book review I wrote of Edward Stewart's "Ballerina." It is a classic tale of two young dancers pursuing stardom in the world of ballet. It was written decades ago but is timeless. Seriously, not much has changed in the dance world. We still have the same kinds of politics, the same kinds of people who enter the business, the same kinds of people who love the people who are in the business. And we have the same problems: injuries, jealousy, love and loss. If you're looking for something to put on your Kindle, check it out.

Here is my review from Dance Advantage. (DA is one of my very favorite websites for all things dance-related!) Thanks for posting, Nichelle! And the link for the Amazon purchase.

From one classic to another...Zombie Ballet! So you're thinking, what could Leigh do with zombie ballet now? She's done ArtNight Pasadena several times, each year slightly different from the last so what could this year bring?

How about a short film? Last spring, when I was shooting the dance for my own purposes (I wanted a nice copy of it with great lighting and photography), I decided to write a short story around it and make it a little more interesting than merely a dance. So I wrote"The Dead Shoes," a short film about a young dancer who goes to a ballet class on Halloween in an empty studio - or is it empty?

It was a lot of fun to shoot and it combined all the things I'd studied in my life: filmmaking, writing and dance. We premiered it on October 10 at ArtNight Pasadena at ARC Pasadena and the crowd loved it! Twice!

Here it is, for your Halloween enjoyment:

Photos from the Sunday Zombie shoot!

It was a long day but fortunately all my dancers were playing zombies so when they got tired, they were still in character. Those of you who are on Facebook may have seen the photos I posted there so I am using different ones here.  All are courtesy of Karina Jones, who graciously shot and shared them with us!

Fun Friday Ballet!

I don't know why I wasn't aware of this video until now!  But thanks to my student, Wilma, who sent it to me, I can share it with you.  It's a super cool video with some gorgeous dancers and a rockin' beat (do the kids say "rockin" these days?) and it was choreographed by a local artist named Josie Walsh who works with lots of wonderful companies as well as her own. And bonus! It was shot at my friend John Pennington's studio, ARC Pasadena, where we performed Zombie Ballet and Alice in Wonderland.

Brise vole!

What does Zombie Ballet look like?

Ah, you have long wondered what Zombie Ballet is, haven't you?  A secret passion for George Romero movies, the Walking Dead novel and series, hanging around cemeteries after midnight...it all leads to this:

Video, you say?  You want to watch these creepy characters dance around the stage?  Well, okay...

Want even more of the Zombie Ballerinas?  Check out Cortney Armitage's gorgeous photos on her blog, The Spinning Dancer. Thanks, Cortney and Jen!

UPDATE: I just finished a zombie ballet short film for Halloween titled "The Dead Shoes" based on the full ballet I'm working on.

Upcoming Zombie Ballet!

Local dance friends, I am so happy to announce the next showing of my Zombie Ballet will be this coming Friday evening in Pasadena as part of the city-wide Art Night.  Last year we performed the first third of the dance for Art Night (above).

This year I have added the next 2/3 of the piece for a total of 4.5 minutes.  It is so much fun for me and for the dancers - and I have to say, it's a real crowd-pleaser.  How can you go wrong, seriously? Fun movement, exciting music (a section of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet score), and fantastic costumes.  The dancers all made their own costumes and did their own makeup last year and I was immensely impressed with their talents. I expect even more coolness this year,

So if you're in the area, please come by and say hello!  It's free!

What: Zombie Ballet at Art Night Pasadena
When: Friday, October 12th, 6:40ish
Where: ARC, 1158 East Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA  91106
Cost: Free!

And there will be lots of other amazing performances that night, not just Zombies.  So come for the Undead and stay for the cutting edge dance!

Happy dancing~

Zombie Ballet & ArtNight Pasadena schedule

 Since everyone's been asking (thank you!), here is the schedule for the ArtNight Pasadena events at ARC (A Room to Create) studio/theater:

 

ART NIGHT ARC PARTICIPANTS/Friday, October 14, 2011

 

6:00-6:15 Pennington Dance Group

6:20-6:30 Leigh Purtill and Dancers (Zombie Ballet!)

6:35-6:45 Pasadena Civic Ballet

6:45-7:05 Laurie Sefton-ClairobscurDance

7:10-7:20 Leigh Purtill and Dancers (Zombie Ballet again!)

7:25-7:35 Deborah Rosen Dancers

7:40- 8:10 Benita Bike

8:10-8:30 Danza Floricanto

8:30-8:50 Paula Present -Ptero Dance

8:55-9:05 Jessica Kondrath

9:05-10:00: Laurie Sefton, Pennington Dance Group, Deborah Rosen & Ptero Dance

 

As you can see, my group of 19 fantastic dancers is performing the Zombie Ballet twice on Friday night, at 6:20 and again at 7:10.  I am very excited to watch Pennington Dance Group and my friend Laurie's Clairobscur Dance.  Two amazing modern dance companies!

 

These times are approximate, of course.  When you're dealing with such a large number of dances and dancers, you never know exactly how long things will take!  My piece is under 2 minutes, just fyi...

 

Here is the address for ARC:

1158 East Colorado Blvd. (west of Michigan Ave and across the street from Michael's crafts)

Pasadena, California 91106 

http://www.arcpasadena.org

Entrance in back.  Parking on side streets or in the back of the theater.  There will be food trucks plus free shuttles to take people to other performance venues and galleries.  And it's all free!