Preeti Vasudevan for the New York Public Library | Promotional Video
Watch a promotional video we created for Preeti Vasudevan’s Stories By Hand
Preeti Vasudevan’s created and performed in Stories By Hand at New York Live Arts. It was an absolutely beautiful show. We filmed her work at NYLA for The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, which is something we do often, either at the request of an artist or the library.
Dance documentation is so important to us, and filming for the library feels like a very important contribution to dance history. Our videos become part of the archive in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. Researchers and visitors to the library can then watch the shows we have filmed and incorporate what they see and learn into their projects, teachings and writings in the dance field. We don’t take our jobs lightly!
Filming Preeti’s work really challenged us, because she moved offstage, into the audience, and she had many different lighting cues. The lighting design was really stunning.
My team and I loved working with Preeti, because she’s extremely thorough and organized.
Preeti came into our office to edit her promotional video with me in person. I love when artists come in to work alongside us while we edit. Usually, the NSP team will send a first draft of the video, and that’s when an artist will watch it, take notes and come in to edit to explain their changes in person.
It’s something we offer that I’m not sure everyone knows about!
Preeti has spent a lot of time in the editing room in the past, so she really knew what she wanted. She had a detailed list of edits she wanted to make based on time codes in the video (making things easy on us!) Preeti and I were able to make all of the changes and create a promo in two hours.
It was a quick turnaround, because Preeti had a lot of people interested in watching her performance, and she didn’t want the work to lose momentum. We love when our artists have and share a deadline with us, and really, really use the momentum of the show to share video with presenters and funders and whoever might be inspired to support the work!
Preeti was awesome and put her video right to use. She has already used her promotional video for marketing (nationally and internationally) by sending to presenters and others who are signed up for her newsletter and follow her on social media! And we know the New York Public Library will have a copy of the performance for generations to come!
Nel Shelby is Owner & Filmmaker for Nel Shelby Productions, her New York City-based company dedicated to dance videography and editing. Nel shares her mission to preserve and promote the art of dance with her husband, Christopher Duggan, a dance and wedding photographer. They collaborate on projects with dance companies of worldwide renown, up-and-coming choreographers, dance educators, dance schools and more. Nel is Video Producer at Jacob’s Pillow and Vail Dance Festival and is also the proud Director and Producer of PS DANCE! — a New York Emmy-nominated documentary about dance education in NYC’s public schools.