Exclusive: Watch These NYCB Dancers in This Site-Specific Short Film

June 30, 2017

Here at Pointe, we love dancers who use their talent to tap into other creative projects. For New York City Ballet corps dancers Emily Kikta and Peter Walker, their mutual love of choreography and film-making has yielded a major commission: creating eight short, site-specific films to promote NYCB’s summer season at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Shot on location in Saratoga Springs and nearby Troy, New York, the minute-long videos have been released one a day this week in advance of the season’s opening on July 5. And we’ve got an exclusive sneak-peek at the last two films!

The pair, who frequently collaborate on projects together, each choreographed four of the eight pieces. In the spring they took a group of six fellow corps members to Saratoga for a week, filming two works a day.

This particular clip, starring Kikta and Walker, was shot at the Troy Gasholder Building, a large, circular brick space that was literally once used to hold gas tanks.(NYCB dancer Devin Alberda served as videographer, but for most of the films Kikta, who is a communications and media studies major at Fordham University, is behind the camera.) And yes, that is a dirt floor they’re dancing on. “It was a tough shoot,” Walker admits. “The ground was uneven.” “Like quicksand,” Kikta adds. “The dirt wasn’t packed down as much as we thought it would be!” Nevertheless, these two dance this romantically lyrical piece with perfect control. Check out the rest of their video series here, and stay tuned tomorrow for the next exclusive clip!