These Ballet Trailers Are Like Short Films

Nowadays, when a ballet company wants to promote a new work, or an upcoming season, they go all-out. Rather than cutting together a bunch of performance footage, companies are creating mini-films that bring the artistic director or choreographer’s vision to life. And with recording and editing equipment more widely available than ever, it makes sense.

Take, for example, two recent films produced by Dance Theatre of Harlem and San Francisco Ballet, respectively. In DTH’s season trailer, we get less of a performance overview and more of a narrative, conveying the power of tradition, representation and diversity within the ballet world, and using a curious little girl as an example of how ballet can change lives. It’s even set against an original song by India Arie!

SFB’s trailer for corps member Myles Thatcher‘s upcoming premiere Ghost in the Machine takes us on a whirlwind adventure covering many behind-the-scenes aspects of a new work. We see Thatcher sketching out movement patterns in his notebook, conferring with a costume designer and taking class, plus tantalizing glimpses of the choreography.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=6NS98KKDQtM

It seems like Hollywood movie trailers become more sophisticated every year, so it’s no surprise that media-savvy ballet companies aren’t far behind.

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