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Post by Admin on Jul 14, 2020 20:10:55 GMT
That old saying about limitations breeding creativity—hat tip to Orson Welles—has never felt more relevant than in these lockdown days. Here's the latest brilliant dance project born (hatched?) of quarantine restrictions: "Swan Lake Bath Ballet," a contemporary take on the classic featuring 27 A-list ballet dancers performing from their own bathtubs.
The BBC commissioned the project from choreographer Corey Baker. And while you might be imagining a lighthearted, soapy romp (full disclosure: that's what we pictured when we first heard about "Swan Lake Bath Ballet" back in May), the result has striking beauty and complexity, as well as some gentle splashstick humor.
Baker, the director of Corey Baker Dance and an alum of BalletBoyz, told The Guardian that he created the choreography in his own bathroom. He made special tutorial videos to help the film's impressive cast—including American Ballet Theatre's Skylar Brandt, The Royal Ballet's Meaghan Grace Hinkis, National Ballet of Canada's Jurgita Dronina, and Paris Opéra Ballet's Mathias Heymann—learn the tub-specific moves. The dancers then filmed themselves on their phones. Some of them performed in colored water; one filled his tub with feathers, harvested from 20 pillows. Producer Anne Beresford, director of photography Nicola Daley, editor Travis Moore, and line producer Guy Trevellyan used innovative tech solutions to make the results feel remarkably polished.
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Post by Admin on Aug 15, 2020 6:41:33 GMT
“In that moment when we found out we won, we were definitely at a loss for words,” said Smith, who lives in Murrieta and just graduated high school. “The firecrackers and confetti and big bangs were just super loud,” said Pasillas, who lives in Huntington Beach and is headed for his senior year in high school. “I felt like everything was moving in slow motion,” said Mather, whose mother Shannon Mather is both founder of the Mather Dance Company in Placentia and choreographer of the four routines MDC 3 performed on “World of Dance.” “It was such a big moment, just witnessing it and experiencing it with my two best friends,” Mather, a 10th grader, said. The three dancers have known each other through the studio for years, and have danced as a trio since at least 2014. They auditioned for “World Of Dance” each of the four years that the show — which was co-created by Jennifer Lopez, who also serves as a judge — has aired on NBC. The trio performed four numbers as they moved smoothly through the competition, their fluid and athletic movements evoking the heartbreak of a love triangle and a woman’s battle with cancer, the latter inspired by Smith’s own mother’s experience. “We made up all-new dances because we wanted it to be something special and we wanted it to have a lot of tricks,” Mather said. “Our choreographer, Shannon Mather, really knew what she was doing,” Pasillas said. Their confidence grew with the positive feedback they received after each number. Their first two numbers — set to One Republic’s “Apologize” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Never Again” — wowed judge Derek Hough with the clever continuation of the love triangle theme. The cancer-themed number set to Maxwell’s cover of Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” left Lopez with tears in her eyes.
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