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PS DANCE! Documentary

May 13, 2015 by Rachel Hellwig

by Rachel Hellwig

“Dance is only taught in a fraction of schools nationally. But here in New York City, a growing number of schools are offering dance as a distinct course of study,” says Paula Zahn, host of PS DANCE!, a new film that explores and celebrates dance education in New York City public schools.

At P.S. 89 Liberty School in Manhattan, dance teacher Catherine Gallant guides her elementary students through an exercise set to Saint-Saens’ music “Aquarium”. They improvise aquatic life forms in swimming, swishing, watery gestures as she calls out ideas to inspire them. Gallant says that “all children have a large appetite for movement”. She also employs dance to help students remember history. When her class studies Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, they use motion to imitate the experiences of escaping slaves–running through fields, crossing bridges, and hiding behind trees.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, Dance Video Tagged With: #danceforeverychild, #psdancenyc, dance documentary, dance education, dance education in public schools, dance education in school, nel shelby, Nel Shelby Productions, New York City Public Schools, PS DANCE!, PS DANCE! Documentary

Nel Shelby Productions: A Video Review Of Dance In 2014

January 13, 2015 by Rachel Hellwig

By Nel Shelby

Happy New Year!!

2014 was an incredible year filled with so much dance. I pinch myself constantly, because I get to do what I love.

Thank you to all of our amazing clients that make our work so worthwhile. It is a blessing to be in the dance world and to film in theaters all over the country and specifically in New York City.

For the first time in 12 years, I created a video review of the past year. I couldn’t possibly include everything NSP worked on, but I wanted to give you a taste of the wonderful work that has graced our cameras in 2014.

 


Contributor Nel Shelby, Founder and Principal of Nel Shelby Productions, is deeply dedicated to the preservation and promotion of dance through documentation of live performances, fully edited marketing reels, live-stream capture, and documentaries and films that encapsulate the essence of nonprofit organizations.

Nel Shelby, Photo by Matthew Murphy

Photo by Matthew Murphy

Her New York City-based video production company has grown to encompass a diverse list of dance clients including American Ballet Theater II, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Gallim Dance, Gotham Arts, Kate Weare and Company, Keigwin + Company, Monica Bill Barnes Company, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Wendy Whelan and many more. She has filmed performances at venues throughout the greater New York area including The Joyce Theater, New York Live Arts, Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, St. Mark’s Church and Judson Church, to name a few.

For nearly a decade, Nel has served as Festival Videographer for the internationally celebrated Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in the Berkshires. Each season at the Pillow, Nel’s responsibilities include documenting aspects of festival culture in addition to its 20 mainstage dance performances, filming and overseeing documentation of more than 100 free performances and events, managing two dance videography interns and an apprentice, and educating students about the technical and philosophical aspects of filming dance.

She also serves as Resident Videographer at the Vail International Dance Festival where she spent her first summer creating five short dance documentary films about the festival in addition to documenting its events and performances. Her longer-form, half-hour documentary on Vail’s festival, The Altitude of Dance, debuted on Rocky Mountain PBS in May 2013.

She has created four short films for Wendy Whelan’s Restless Creature, and 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 and the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. She is making a dance documentary featuring Nejla Y. Yatkin, called Where Women Don’t Dance.

Nel has a long personal history with movement  – she has a B.A. in dance and is a certified Pilates instructor. She continues to train with world-renowned Master Teachers Romana Krysnowska and Sari Pace, original students of Joseph Pilates. In addition to her dance degree, Nel holds a B.S. in broadcast video. She often collaborates with her wonderful husband, dance photographer (and fellow 4dancers contributor) Christopher Duggan on creative projects with dancers in New York City and beyond. They live with their beautiful daughter Gracie and son Jack in Manhattan.

Filed Under: Dance Video Tagged With: dance video, dance videography, nel shelby, Nel Shelby Productions

15-Second Short: Netta Yerushalmy At Danspace Project In NYC

December 18, 2014 by Rachel Hellwig

by Nel Shelby

When my Nel Shelby Productions team really loves filming something, we want to show it off. We really enjoy working with Netta Yerushalmy and were delighted to capture her HELGA And The Three Sailors with two cameras at Danspace Project this Fall.

Look out for more short (like, 15-seconds short!) dance videos showcasing some of the performances we’ve filmed. (See them first on Facebook & Instagram.)

VIDEO TIP

15-second videos are perfect for Instagram and great for catching and keeping the short attention spans of your fans online. They’re fun to do in a series leading up to a show or to hold interest in between projects.

Remember, video makes a HUGE difference when it comes to a patron’s decision-making. (Google found that “Video has the most impact on consideration” when researching how people buy tickets.) Whether you’re trying to get people to donate, see a show, attend a workshop…visuals are important and video moves people to action!

 

Filed Under: Dance Video, Social Media, The Business Of Dance Tagged With: dance video, dance videography, Danspace Project, HELGA And The Three Sailors, nel shelby, Nel Shelby Productions, Netta Yerushalmy

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival 2014 – Daniel Ulbricht/Ballet 2014

August 31, 2014 by Rachel Hellwig

28_20140719_Ballet2014-performance_ChristopherDuggan_142
BALLET 2014 Performance

by Christopher Duggan

I’ve photographed and filmed a lot of top-notch ballet this summer. Nel and I wrapped our fourth season at Vail International Dance Festival, where we filmed some performances by international dance stars from New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Boston Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet and more. Artistic Director Damian Woetzel outdid himself this year, creating beautiful new partnerships and sharing dance classics and world premieres.

         Highlights from International Evenings of Dance, video by Nel Shelby Productions

Tiler Peck, Robbie Fairchild, Daniel Ulbricht and other incredible dancers from New York City Ballet performed in Vail, and it was exciting to see them in new roles, after photographing them this summer​ at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

I photographed the dress rehearsal of Daniel Ulbricht/BALLET 2014 at Jacob’s Pillow​ like I do every performance, every week. But I also had the rare opportunity to photograph a live performance of BALLET 2014 from the front of the house.

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BALLET 2014 Performance

I also made portraits with Daniel Ulbricht, ​Georgina Pazcoguin, Tiler Peck & Robert Fairchild. Tiler & Robbie​ are beautiful dancers and newlyweds. We made two portraits together on the Pillow grounds, and then we went and did some pictures on my trampoline.

01_20140717_TilerPeck-RobbieFairchild_ChristopherDuggan_110
Tiler Peck & Robert Fairchild

I know they just got married, and, as a friendly gesture from me to them, I wanted to make a romantic portrait. That’s where that lift came from. An intersection of weddings and dance right there!

06_20140717_TilerPeck-RobbieFairchild_ChristopherDuggan_034
Tiler Peck & Robert Fairchild

Georgina Pazcoguin found time in her busy dance week to come over and make pictures on the trampoline too. I’ve photographed Gina for American Dance Machine and she is creative and fun. She saw some of my daughter ​Gracie’s balls in our yard, said we should use them for some of the photos we were making, and it turned into a really great portrait!

02_20140717_GeorginaPazcoguin_ChristopherDuggan_032
Georgina Pazcoguin

Daniel Ulbricht had an extremely busy week, but we found time for him to come over to our house and make pictures. Our daughter Gracie jumped with Daniel on the trampoline, and our 13-year-old cousin Mary, also a ballet dancer, was just over the moon when Daniel said he would make a picture on the trampoline with her too. It was definitely the highlight of her summer! Daniel is gracious, generous and thoughtful, and we had a great time.

08_20140720_DanielUlbricht_ChristopherDuggan_050
Daniel Ulbricht and Gracie

Nel and I feel so blessed to work with such mindblowingly talented dancers. We’ve always loved going to the ballet in NYC, and now, high-caliber ballet performances are everywhere we go.

07_20140720_DanielUlbricht_ChristopherDuggan_045
Daniel Ulbricht and Mary

 

Contributor Christopher Duggan is a wedding and dance photographer in New York City, the Berkshires and beyond. Duggan has been the Festival Photographer for Jacob’s Pillow Dance since 2006. In this capacity, and as a respected New York-based dance photographer, he has worked with renowned choreographers and performers of international acclaim as well as upstarts in the city’s diverse performance scene.
Christopher Duggan, Photo by Julia Newman
Christopher Duggan, Photo by Julia Newman

He photographs dancers in the studio and in performance, for promotional materials, portraits and press, and he often collaborates with his wife, Nel Shelby, and her Manhattan-based dance film and video editing company Nel Shelby Productions (nelshelby.com). Together, they have documented dance at performances from New York City to Vail International Dance Festival.

Christopher Duggan Photography also covers the finest wedding venues in the Metropolitan and Tri-State areas, in Massachusetts and the Berkshires, and frequently travels to destination weddings.

His photographs appear in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Knot, Destination I Do, Photo District News, Boston Globe, Financial Times, Dance Magazine, and Munaluchi Bridal, among other esteemed publications and popular dance and wedding blogs. One of his images of Bruce Springsteen was added to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and his dance photography has been exhibited at The National Museum of Dance and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

His Natural Light Studio (http://www.christopherduggan.com/portfolio/natural-light-studio-jacobs-pillow-photography/) at Jacob’s Pillow is his most ambitious photography project to date – check out his blog to see more portraits of dance artists in his pop-up photo studio on the Pillow grounds.

Filed Under: Dance Photography Tagged With: BALLET 2014, christopher duggan, dance photography, Daniel Ulbricht, ​Georgina Pazcoguin, jacob's pillow, Nel Shelby Productions, Robbie Fairchild, Tiler Peck

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