I’ve been filming Marla Hirokawa’s ballet company, Covenant Ballet Theatre, for a few years now, and she is often speaking to people – funders and more – about her dance organization. She decided to put me up to the task of creating a promotional film for the company and school that she could show people instead of just talking about it.

Covenant Ballet Theatre of Brooklyn gives so much to the community, and we wanted to explain it through film. We spent two days at Covenant Ballet filming the school’s dance classes and interviewing students, teachers, parents, and Marla. We really got a lot of insight into Covenant Ballet and fell in love with the whole organization.

It was a very fast project – we started filming in mid-December, and it was due January 22, right around the holidays and New Year’s! – so we asked my friend Loren Robertson for help with editing. After filming all our interviews and dance class footage, we sent it to Loren. She made a 7-minute piece that talked about all the different components of Covenant Ballet: the company, school, junior company, community programs. We got it done in time!

And now Marla’s able to have it on her website, show it to potential board members and students, share it with funders… It’s just a great way to share with people exactly what you do.