For the past three years at Valley Dance Studio, the students who are a part of the competition teams have the opportunity to participate in the fundraiser Dancers Create. This performance is comprised of student choreographed pieces and raises money toward their competition fees. This year because of Covid-19 we were unable to invite family and friends into the studio to watch these dancers, so instead we decided to have a virtual performance that would be streamed live on the studios Facebook page. The owner of the studio asked if I would like to take the lead on developing this new version of Dancers Create which I had organized, filmed, and edited.
First, we had to organize the event. Student sign up were posted for those interested in choreographing, we planned a date to film all the dances, and picked a date the performance will air. While leading up to the performance, I offered any student choreographing a chance to show me their work to receive feedback. Most of my older students took advantage of this opportunity and I was fortunate enough to see at least a draft of each of the dances. I offered feedback and questions for the choreographers to think about that could enhance their piece and help with their own choreographic process.
When it came time to film, I had to have everything set up at the studio in a very particular way. I had to remove all portable barres, clear the space, and make sure it was set up to be performance ready. I had one tripod in the center of the studio near the mirrors, and a second tripod in the corner on an angle with my phone recording the dances. As we filmed each piece I had the students perform up to three times. One shot would be with a camera on the center tripod following the action, and one I would physically follow the performers while shooting. Following their performance, I recorded each dancer stating why they loved to dance.
Editing this project took much more time than I expected. I spent about 12 hours putting together this showcase. For each dance I would take the best footage from their performance and edit it together, color correct the footage, and set a mood for each piece by include specialized titles and credits. I also put together a video of all the students answers for why they loved to dance to include half way into the performance.
Dancers Create was premiered on November 12th, 2020 at 7:30pm on Valley Dance Studio’s Facebook page and has been uploaded to YouTube to watch at any time.
Forrest Hershey 