VIDEO MOVES
Dancers creating works for Saratoga Performing Arts Center
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » This week, Emily Kikta and Peter Walker, acclaimed New York City Ballet corps de ballet members, have been directing video shoots at various Capital Region locations. The videos Kikta and Walker create will be used by Saratoga Performing Arts Center to promote the venue’s ballet season.
On Friday morning, the duo conducted a video shoot at the Saratoga Springs train station.
Kikta attended Ford-
ham University, and in 2013 she and Walker began creating different videos throughout New York City.
The first one took place on a rooftop.
“I had access to cameras for one of my journalism classes, and instead of doing a normal news package, I had asked Peter, ‘Do you want to make a dance video?’” said Kikta. “It was kind of fun. I mean, it was bad because the first time you attempt anything it isn’t awesome. But it was a lot of fun.”
Making the videos became a more routine thing when the New York City Ballet corps de ballet wanted to attract a younger audience.
“We just felt it was a small untapped corner,” said Kikta.
“It’s still a little untapped because still no one knows about it, but we’re doing it,” said Walker. “People who do see it love it, think it’s really different.”
Walker and Kikta would use empty apartments in NYC to shoot videos. A popular real estate blog picked up there videos and shared them with a wider audience.
Walker said the format has changed since they began making videos.
“We base everything around the social media standard, which is now Instagram — one-minute long videos because even now it’s too much to ask someone to go to a YouTube link for something, because we used to make YouTube videos, two-three minutes depending on the song, but now it’s down to Instagram,” said Walker. “It’s interesting because it makes it a lot more fun doing these short little bursts of energy and stuff and a lot of different themes throughout.”
Usually it’s Kikta and Walker who choreograph dances themselves, but this trip they brought six dancers along to make the videos.
Devin Alberda, Meaghan Dutton-O’Hara, Mimi Staker, Sebastian Villarini-Velez, Sarah Villwock and Giovanni Villalobos did choreographed dances at Yaddo Gardens, SPAC, Saratoga Lake, Congress Park and in Troy.
And even on the Saratoga Race Course track.
“We were on the racetrack during the thunderstorm, which was really fun,” said Kikta. “It was a tiny bit terrifying as the lightning was coming down, but it was fine.”
New York City Ballet’s 2017 residency at SPAC runs from July 5 to 15.
SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol reached out to Kikta and Walker.
“Emily Kikta and Peter Walker are connecting a new generation to the beauty and power of dance, not only through their performances on stage, but as filmmakers who capture dancers moving freely and in harmony with both urban and outdoor environments,” said Sobol. “We invited Emily and Peter to create a video series based on this concept, using various Saratoga and Capital Region landmarks as the backdrop. They exemplify the fresh thinking and approach that is needed in the arts today; it is a privilege and very exciting to be working with them on this project.”