I’m thrilled to introduce our newest contributor to 4dancers – dance videographer Nel Shelby. Nel has captured some amazing dance footage over the years, including many spectacular performances at Jacob’s Pillow, and Wendy Whelan’s work on “Restless Creature”… and Nel is also married to our dance photography contributor, the talented Christopher Duggan…
Please join me in welcoming her to 4dancers–we feel lucky to have her! -Catherine
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by Nel Shelby
This September was the third annual performance of Table of Silence by Buglisi Dance Theatre, a free, public tribute and ritual for peace featuring 100+ dancers on the Josie Robertson Plaza at Lincoln Center in New York City. I’m always amazed by how many people come out to Lincoln Center in the early morning to watch the performance in-person. We want to share this work with as many people as possible, so we also live-streamed the performance for a third year in a row. 5,300 people viewed the live-stream from 25 countries around the world.
We received many online comments during the tribute from audience members who appreciated Buglisi’s dance. It helped families of victims from 9/11, and it helped those who were perhaps distant from the event but were still emotionally affected. It’s a beautiful thing to share dance, especially dance as a healing and peaceful experience, to a wider audience. We recorded and edited our live-stream, so for my first post with 4dancers, I wanted to make sure I shared this dance video with you, too.
Her New York City-based video production company has grown to encompass a diverse list of dance clients, and she works with an ever-wider variety of dance artists each year in her role as the Festival Videographer at Jacob’s Pillow and as Resident Videographer at the Vail International Dance Festival. Her half-hour documentary on Vail’s festival, The Altitude of Dance, debuted on Rocky Mountain PBS in May 2013. She collaborated with Adam Barruch Dance to create a short film titled “Folie a Deux,” which was selected and screened at the Dance on Camera Festival in New York City.
