 |
Showing posts with label john pennington. Show all posts
Showing posts with label john pennington. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
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!
Friday, March 14, 2014
The why of a Zombie Ballet film
This Sunday, I will be shooting a short film that incorporates a five minute long dance we affectionately call "zombie ballet." It began five years ago as an experiment in one of my classes: it was close to Halloween and I wanted to "zombify" an adagio I had choreographed for my intermediate level ballet class. I found the very intense piece of music, Dance of the Knights, from Prokofiev's score for "Romeo & Juliet." Lo and behold, it was a magical match!
And it kind of grew from there. The following year I did it for a ballet intensive for young people and it just clicked: this could be a really cool, fun piece to perform and to watch. I had an opportunity to perform it - with costumes and makeup - for ArtNight Pasadena and it was a major crowd-pleaser. So we did it again the following year, but much longer -a full five minutes and with a dozen dancers on stage. Again, big applause! And then we did it again this past year, each time refining the movement and the steps. Each year, I used different dancers, but with the same result: passion and energy and commitment.
(You can see the evolution of the dance in these short clips under the title "Sweet Sorrow.")
I have since tried to get the piece into dance festivals, to no avail. No matter how many times I tried to convince directors of festivals that my "zombie ballet" would be a crowd-pleaser, that it was easy to relate to and family-friendly, no one bit (excuse the zombie pun!). A friend of mine suggested that the video I was submitting, which had been shot by members of the audience at performances, did not show off the piece to its best advantage. The videos did not capture the energy and theatricality of the piece and the excitement of the audience watching. She suggested I rent a studio, get a nice camera, light it well and shoot it without an audience.
I thought that was a great idea. Not only would it preserve my choreography but it would showcase my dancers who truly loved doing the piece. Each one of them had created her own character and costume and makeup, and each really enjoyed performing the dance. After all these performances, I had/have six wonderfully talented and passionate dancers who are super committed to the project and to each other. It is an exceptional group of young women. So it was just a matter of picking a date, booking the studio, and shooting it. Right? Right?
Except the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do more with it. I wanted to get the choreography, on film, yes, but why not build a story around it?
Here's the background part you might not know about: I'm not only a dancer and teacher, but also a filmmaker and novelist. My master's degree is in Film Production and I spent a dozen years in film and television in NYC and LA. So there's that. I also have published two novels for young adults with Penguin's Razorbill imprint. So there's that too.
Why not put them all together? So I did...I wrote a short script that makes the zombie ballet an integral part of the story, kind of my homage to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" but with a much smaller budget and no singing. The rest sort of fell into place serendipitously: my husband is a former grip/electric who now edits my ballet videos; I have a student who is also an actress and whose boyfriend is a cameraman; I have another student who is a professional photographer and superb editor (and who I somehow convinced to act in this too!); I'm renting the studio where we performed the piece several times and which is exactly what I wanted for the story (thanks, John P.!); and just about every dancer has some connection to film or movies or effects in some capacity.
What do all these people get from this? Nothing.
What do I get from this? Besides what I mentioned above? Nothing.
Why do it then? Well, why not? True, there is no logical reason to do this. But logic isn't the justification for everything. Sometimes you have to recognize that certain combinations of people and places and events may not ever happen again and you have to grab onto them when you can.
Happy (zombie) dancing~
And it kind of grew from there. The following year I did it for a ballet intensive for young people and it just clicked: this could be a really cool, fun piece to perform and to watch. I had an opportunity to perform it - with costumes and makeup - for ArtNight Pasadena and it was a major crowd-pleaser. So we did it again the following year, but much longer -a full five minutes and with a dozen dancers on stage. Again, big applause! And then we did it again this past year, each time refining the movement and the steps. Each year, I used different dancers, but with the same result: passion and energy and commitment.(You can see the evolution of the dance in these short clips under the title "Sweet Sorrow.")
I have since tried to get the piece into dance festivals, to no avail. No matter how many times I tried to convince directors of festivals that my "zombie ballet" would be a crowd-pleaser, that it was easy to relate to and family-friendly, no one bit (excuse the zombie pun!). A friend of mine suggested that the video I was submitting, which had been shot by members of the audience at performances, did not show off the piece to its best advantage. The videos did not capture the energy and theatricality of the piece and the excitement of the audience watching. She suggested I rent a studio, get a nice camera, light it well and shoot it without an audience.I thought that was a great idea. Not only would it preserve my choreography but it would showcase my dancers who truly loved doing the piece. Each one of them had created her own character and costume and makeup, and each really enjoyed performing the dance. After all these performances, I had/have six wonderfully talented and passionate dancers who are super committed to the project and to each other. It is an exceptional group of young women. So it was just a matter of picking a date, booking the studio, and shooting it. Right? Right?
Except the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do more with it. I wanted to get the choreography, on film, yes, but why not build a story around it?
Here's the background part you might not know about: I'm not only a dancer and teacher, but also a filmmaker and novelist. My master's degree is in Film Production and I spent a dozen years in film and television in NYC and LA. So there's that. I also have published two novels for young adults with Penguin's Razorbill imprint. So there's that too.Why not put them all together? So I did...I wrote a short script that makes the zombie ballet an integral part of the story, kind of my homage to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" but with a much smaller budget and no singing. The rest sort of fell into place serendipitously: my husband is a former grip/electric who now edits my ballet videos; I have a student who is also an actress and whose boyfriend is a cameraman; I have another student who is a professional photographer and superb editor (and who I somehow convinced to act in this too!); I'm renting the studio where we performed the piece several times and which is exactly what I wanted for the story (thanks, John P.!); and just about every dancer has some connection to film or movies or effects in some capacity.
What do all these people get from this? Nothing. What do I get from this? Besides what I mentioned above? Nothing.
Why do it then? Well, why not? True, there is no logical reason to do this. But logic isn't the justification for everything. Sometimes you have to recognize that certain combinations of people and places and events may not ever happen again and you have to grab onto them when you can.
Happy (zombie) dancing~
Friday, March 15, 2013
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!
Sunday, October 7, 2012
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~
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)