This SFB Video Lets You See a New Ballet Through the Choreographer's Eyes

March 27, 2017

We love how creative ballet companies have been getting with their promotional videos recently
. The latest company to eschew the traditional (and kind of stale) beautiful-shots-of-beautiful-dancers-dancing route? San Francisco Ballet. Not that its new short film—a teaser for SFB dancer and choreographer Myles Thatcher‘s upcoming premiere, Ghost in the Machine—doesn’t include tons of gorgeous dancing. But rather than asking us to simply admire gifted bodies, director Ezra Hurwitz asks us to consider the creation of the work from Thatcher’s perspective.

We see Thatcher writing and dancing out his ideas (on a rooftop with a fantastic view), taking daily class with SFB, visiting the costume shop, consulting with the lighting designer. And all that behind-the-scenes action is intercut with snippets of the new ballet, set to a driving score by Michael Nyman that gives the dancing—and the video—a stirring sense of momentum.

TL;DR: It’s gorg, guys. If you’re in the Bay Area, see Ghost in the Machine on the “Made for SF Ballet” program, April 5–18.