Video of the Day - Dancing Light Orb by Director Zhang Yimou

from the project:

2047 Apologue

a concept performance in 8 parts

by director Zhang Yimou

this video is the teaser for the last part of the show called "Weaving Machine"

Chinese director Zhang Yimou who is best known for his movies "Raise the Red Lantern", "Hero" and "The Great Wall" but also for directing the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics returns to the theater stage with his concept perfomance "2047 APOLOGUE".

Zhang Yimou has unveiled his latest work at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Based on Peking Opera "Sanchakou," "2047 Apologue" is breaking the form of traditional stage plays, combining Chinese folk art with the latest technology. The show aims to mirror reality, commenting on how science and technology are a huge part of life in the 21st century. The show consists of 8 parts, each combining a traditional chinese craft, music or dance style with modern high tech such as lasers, robots, drones and kinetics.

WHITEvoid was commissioned to create, program and direct the kinetic display for the last part of the show called "Weaving Machine". The 9 minute performance features 640 motorized LED spheres, an anchient chinese weaving machine and a modern dancer. German motor winch producer KINETIC LIGHTS provided the vertical hoist systems for the LED spheres and control software. Russian RADUGADESIGN animated a complementing video backdrop and CPG Concepts from Hong Kong provided the dance choreography for british dancer Rose Alice.

Le Mouvement de L'air - Dance Production by Claire Bardainne and Adrien Mondot

"The performance matches seemingly impossible visions: images look alive while bodies fly, defying gravity. The acrobatic and digital choreography outlines a body language that involves a new relationship to time, space and the whole world. Beyond looking for technical achievement, what matters is the attempt at creating a motion dreamscape by way of images."

Kickstarters Worth Supporting - Moving Ethos Dance Company in Sarasota Florida

If you're a fan of dance, here's a kickstarter to support. Moving Ethos is a Sarasota Florida dance company interested in choreography and movement that explores shape and form, aims to speak to the heart and head as much as to the eyes. Headed by Leah Verier-Dunn the project is called As We Fall. 

40 Dancers Assembled on Paris Rooftops by JR

On the rooftop of the Opera Garnier in Paris, artist JR photographed 40 dancers for this stunning series.

Shaolin Monks in A Stunning Dance on Boxes

 Contemporary choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and 17 Buddhist monks ages 10-26, from the Shaolin Temple in China, present Sutra. 

Star Trek v. Stormtroopers Dance Off

There is very little that needs to be said about these. 

Pleiades: Dance and Light Animations by Enra

Japanese troupe Enra combines dance, music, light animations, and technology in this astounding routine directed by Nobuyuki Hanabusa, performed and choreographed by Saya Watatani and Maki Yokoyama, with the animation was done by Seiya Ishii.

The A to Z of Dance

i-D and Diesel had Jacob Sutton create this video a-to-z encyclopedia of dance. Arabesque, B-Girl, ou encore Krump, Step, Twerk, Vogue Hands, shot in and around sunny Los Angeles.

The Contradiction of Silence

A new collection of carpet from Swedish design company Bolon called 'Silence', and this, The Contradiction of Silence, a collaboration with acclaimed choreographer Alexander Ekman, is how they have chosen to promote it.

Dance Movements Captured Through The Photography of Jesus Chapa-Malacara

Photographer Jesús Chapa-Malacara uses his passion as a former ballet dancer to create this gorgeous Dance Prints series. His KICKSTARTER campaign details his vision and ambitious for a bigger and better series.

via Peta Pixel

Ballet Rehearsal in Timelapse and Slow-Mo

MIT Professor David Gifford and graduate student Adrian Dalca shot he Boston Ballet practicing for the September show Night of Stars in slow-motion and timelapse. 

via PetaPixel

NYC Ballet's Stirring 9-11 Tribute on Top of World Trade Center 4

New Beginnings captures Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain filmed at sunrise on the 57th floor terrace of 4 WTC. With the Freedom Tower as backdrop,  and two NYC Ballet Principal Dancers, Maria Kowroski and Ask la Cour.

via The Fox is Black

Nuance - Dance + CGI

This marvelous video called Nuance brings together practical movement and post-production.

Marketplace Dance

Thomas Siemieniec created this video, No Limit with breaker Marcio.

via Fubiz

Dancers Among Us - Photos of Ballerinas In the World by Jordan Matter

Jordan Matter's project and book, Dancers Among Us, finds great pleasure in letting dance escape the studio and stage and find its place out in the world. 

See also Ballerinas on the Streets of Bratislava

Tension: Multiplicity of Dance Movement.

 New York photographer Nir Arieli’s ‘Tension’, a series of photographs made of several shots of dancers layered on top of another. 

See also Human Chalk Explosions

via Design Taxi

Shunpo - An Agile Dance Video

Shunpo  (瞬歩) is a step or movement faster than the eye can detect. And this dance video evokes shunpo in clever ways. 

via Fubiz

Behind the Scenes of LightSpin with Eric Paré

We saw LightSpin about a month ago and were blown away with the meticulous effort and clarity of vision from Eric Paré  that were needed to achieve the effect. ​As promised, here is the Behind The Scenes video. 

From the project page:​

"This is the story of how I managed to take half a million pictures of contemporary dancers in the dark using light-painting, stop-motion and bullet-time techniques."

Also see the full video »​

Feminine Ritual and Myth from Performance Artist Shana Robbin

Atlanta-based artist Shana Robbins' costumed and choreographed rituals of passage create her odd and evocative vision of theatre.

From the exhibition page:​

[Her] works address conditions of feminine power, natural phenomena, and cycles of life and death. Using a variety of media, she presents herself as a solitary and galvanizing figure, elaborately costumed and performing ritualized gestures in unique landscapes. Drawing on her own experiences as model and student of Butoh movement, and on numerous mythologies that link womanhood with the Earth and roles of conduit and healer, Robbins creates composite narratives of identity and transformation.

The Quick Crew

From their website:​

"Quick is Norwegian dance crew based in Oslo. Quick was formed in 2006 by twin brothers Suleman and Bilal Malik and their childhood friend Nasir Sirikhan. A year later also b-boy Kim Daniel Eriksen joined the crew. They started dancing in 2004 and have in few years managed to become one of the most successful dance crews in Europe."

via One Cool Thing A Day

This Post (​The Quick Crew) first appeared on 5thingsilearnedtoday.com