Filming Dorrance Dance For A Digital Premiere at Jacob’s Pillow

We are back at Jacob’s Pillow, and I’m so happy to say not only is there an outdoor, in-person Festival there’s also a digital festival. Every Thursday through September 9th, you can experience the Festival on your screen at 7:30pm ET. (Shows continue to be available for a limited time on demand as long as you RSVP.)

As Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival was set to begin, I sat down with Michelle Dorrance, Dorrance Dance artists, my video team, and my husband & dance photographer Christopher Duggan to map out how we wanted to capture the company’s roving outdoor performance across the Pillow’s campus.

This was our first shoot at the Pillow in over a year, and our first shoot together as a Pillow video team. 

It was a really rich experience, and I’m so glad our summer started with these artists. On the day of the shoot, we began filming at 1:30pm and filmed for five hours! Every moment was high-energy – there were a few points where we only had 40 minutes in a particular location, so we had to get the shot and quickly leave.

Behind-the-scenes photos & video by Christopher Duggan & Mason Chapello.

We had anywhere between 2–5 cameras at each location, and we really relied on each other to keep things organized and collaborative.

Michelle Dorrance literally picked up a camera to show us what her vision was!!! And dancer Luke Hickey was on the gimbal for a few of the location shots!

This film was a fun, exciting, energetic collaboration with my team and Dorrance Dance.

I thrive in collaboration, like really thrive. It takes a village to make a film and I hope you can watch and feel the love and joy that was put into this one!!

This first shoot at Jacob’s Pillow each season is always a special one, and this felt especially noteworthy after a year without live dance at the Pillow. Handing my video interns cameras for the first time, finding fun and interesting ways to create smooth transitions from one location to the next, staying true to what the artists were creating, and finding unique ways to show those moments… If you’re tuning in to watch online, there are some key moments we’ve included that live audiences may have missed!!!

The best part of it all? We all edited together, in person. Michelle and I had such a great time collaborating. Donovan Dorrance mixed sound. Ben Rich did color. Christopher made gorgeous photos (see below!)

Watch Dorrance Dance’s Ways To Now, streaming Thursday, July 15 at 7:30pm ET.  Available on-demand through July 29.

Photo Credits (clockwise): Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie, Donovan Dorrance, and Matthew “Megawatt” West; Warren Craft and Rena Kinoshita; Dorrance Dance performing …Praise: The Inevitable Fruit of Gratitude; Josette Wiggan-Freund; photos by Christopher Duggan

This presentation was produced in collaboration with Nel Shelby Productions and Dorrance Dance.

Film Production Team:
Nel Shelby, Film Director, Editor, Videographer
Michelle Dorrance, Film Director, Associate Videographer
Luke Hickey, Film Director, Videographer
Christopher Duggan, Videographer, Drone Operator
Mason Chapello, Videographer
Sonia Bartolomeo, Videographer
Sydney Samson, Videographer
Taylor Hutchison, Videographer
Donovan Dorrance, Sound Engineer and Sound Mixing
Christopher Marc, On-site Audio Engineer
Benjamin Richards, Graphic Designer and Colorist