Film crew at their stations in the Opera House media suite during a test filming of Swan Lake.

Normally up to 10 robotic cameras are controlled by operators in the media suite, a control room found in the upper reaches of the Opera House.  In order to modify the system for dance, the robotic cameras had to be repositioned to replicate the viewing angle of a audience member in the orchestra level.  Also, to ensure every jeté was recorded, the cameras were mounted on tripods and controlled manually.

Just a few hours before the opening night, I sat in the back of the media suite and watched Director Frank Zamacona oversee the taping of the final dress rehearsal. The room was dark save for the dozens of monitors showing various live camera feeds and technical readouts. The Tchaikovsky score filled the room, accompanied regularly by Frank’s directions to the camera operators in the house.  I wanted to watch all the activity in the suite but I found my eyes constantly drawn to the monitors and the extraordinarily crisp HD video of our dancers performing live a few floors down.

The experiment went remarkably well and the lessons, as well as the video footage, will be invaluable as SF Ballet continues to explore new ways to share our art form. Keep an eye out for HD excerpts of the Swan Lake test in the near future.

Director Frank Zamacona gives direction to the camera operators as media consultant Judy Flannery looks on during the final minutes of Swan Lake. Click for a close up.

To celebrate the completion of our Green Jeté campaign, I asked the Green Team members and Principal Dancer Nicolas Blanc to perform in a follow-up video. It answers the question: “How far will San Francisco Ballet go for the environment?” You’ll have to watch to find out the answer, but here’s a hint: Green Alert!

Here I am wearing a retired ballet costume for our End of Season Party, May 2008

Two years ago, before I began working here, I was completely ignorant of ballet. I’ve now become a hopelessly addicted fan of the art form. During the season, I go across the street and watch our dancers perform in the Opera House as much as I can. And every day I’m able to observe and work with the diverse team of artists and professionals who collaborate to make ballet possible. In the coming months, you can expect to hear their stories on our blog. Much of the work we do is pretty unusual and fascinating, but some may even sound a little familiar. For example, I handle a fair amount of billing paperwork. It’s just that the bills are for things like flame-proof snow and tutus…

Today I’d like to share a side project I’ve been working on for the Ballet. This spring, Glenn McCoy, our Executive Director, asked for volunteers to start a ballet Green Team. He had no difficulty finding team members- it turns out there were a number of enthusiastic environmentalists at San Francisco Ballet, and I was among them. We found time over the course of the very busy season to meet and talk about ways to be more green at the Ballet. By the end of the summer, we were ready to share our ideas with the rest of the company. We decided to launch a program of green initiatives entitled “Green Jeté.” My contribution to the project was this video I shot with members of the Green Team. It’s an educational video inspired by those odd in-flight safety videos. Enjoy!