Dance Accelerator with Orlando Ballet

Welcome everybody to our Dance Tank, and I'd now like to call to the floor, please, Mr. Robert Hill.

Hello everybody. This is truly, truly exciting. I had an amazing career with American Ballet Theatre. I also danced with New York City Ballet, the Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, La Scala in Milan. I danced with the most amazing ballerinas and the most amazing opera houses with great choreographers and great directors. And I'm very, very happy to be moving into my 12th season as the Artistic Director of Orlando Ballet. A little bit of information about that. Orlando Ballet is going into its 47th year and is Central Florida's only fully residential professional ballet company. Orlando Ballet School is one of only 5 American Ballet Theatre certified schools. 6 months ago, we moved into our amazing brand-new 38,000 square foot building on Lake Formosa. It's called Harrius Orlando Ballet Center. Orlando Ballet's mission is to enrich, entertain, and educate through the highest quality of dance. As Artistic Director, it is very important to me that we keep this art form relevant in today's world, and that is precisely why I am truly excited that we are doing this Dance Accelerator project. Thank you, Tim Kashani and Jonathan Leden, for making this possible for us to do. And now I'd like to introduce Jonathan Leden, who is the president of the Orlando Ballet Board of Directors. He is also one of our most generous supporters, and he's a mentor for both Theater Accelerator and this Dance Accelerator. Welcome, Jonathan.

Thank you, Robert. Good evening, and we are excited to be here for what I am pretty confident is Orlando Ballet's first ever virtual performance in 47 years, and we're really excited to present it. I am Jonathan Ludden. I'm the president of the board of directors, a board of 21 great supporters of the ballet with a great team. We are ending another successful year Although it's been a different year, it's still been a successful year where we're ending once again on budget and with a surplus, which we're pleased to report. We had our annual meeting yesterday, and we're actually in the, in the third year of our five-year plan, and we are tonight turning the page to the fourth year. And a goal of our long-range plan was to, one, begin to make a difference to the broader dance world not just Central Florida, not just being the preeminent cultural institution in Central Florida, but also being the, uh, making a contribution to the broader dance community. We also had a goal of establishing a choreographic workshop and competition, and we also had a goal of creating paths for our own dancers to move their careers forward. And so tonight we are chipping away at all three of those objectives, and we're happy to be here. So 2 weeks ago, the Dance Accelerator started. This idea started quite a while ago with my co-board member who I'll introduce in a moment, but I've had the opportunity to be a judge on Apples and Oranges Theater Accelerator, which is basically Broadway meets venture capital investing meets Shark Tank to develop new musical works. And with my board colleague Tim Kashani, we said maybe we could do something similar for Orlando Ballet. And we have 4 choreographers, 3 of whom are company dancers and one of whom is an old friend of Kristin's and I from Chicago, are our first choreographers. 2 weeks ago we sat down and we all agreed that none of us know what we're doing, but I hear they all know what they're doing now and they have created works virtually. So I'd like to thank everyone, all of our dancers and choreographers, for their hard work over the last 2 weeks. And I'd also like to introduce my good friends, Tim Kashani and Pamela Kashani, who co-lead Apples and Oranges Arts and are going to be your emcees for tonight's performance.

Thank you so much, Jonathan and Robert. We are thrilled Tim and I are here representing Apples and Oranges Arts. We are the co-founders. and we are so thrilled to be collaborating with Orlando Ballet. We are friends of the ballet, and as you just said, Jonathan, Tim has been on the board for several years now, and we are champions of what you do. And we are thrilled to now present to you Dance Tank, where 4 choreographers are going to share with their dancers their original 2-minute works live on Zoom to friendly sharks Quotations there from the dance world and Broadway. And it's all done in fun, and we're so glad that you could join us. Dance Tank was born out of our Theater Accelerator, which is a 2-week virtual program that— where we coach creative teams using Silicon Valley principles, and we help them become not just thriving creatives, but creative entrepreneurs, so that they can take the starving out of artist. And Theater Accelerator has successfully run 9 classes so far and helped over 150 artists along their journey.

How's it going to work today? We have 4 amazing choreographers who have created work over the last 2 weeks. The rules for them were you get 2 minutes to create anything you want following safety guidelines, meaning that They cannot—

don't bump into furniture.

Yeah. And also don't go out into the middle of a crowd and try to choreograph something. In those 2 minutes, they are using the Zoom technology. It must be live. And we let them use whatever disposable at their means as far as cameras, costumes. It was really up to them. The mantra was to create something that we virtually connect to and emotionally connect to. They will have a total of 5 minutes, meaning that they will have a chance to set themselves up in the beginning, as well as to, at the end, they might wanna bump it up and say something afterwards. Once they are finished, we then have our judges will come on, who you get to meet very shortly here, and they are given 5 minutes to then ask questions of our choreographers. At the end of doing this 4 times, we will bring the judges up one last round to ask a few more questions. And then comes the moment where they are given their virtual dollar. Each judge gets one virtual dollar to virtually invest in any virtual way that they want to. It is through that calculation that we will be seeing who is our winner in this, and one winner will get a chance to choreograph virtually through the Orlando Ballet their piece in a range from a 10 to 15 minute version of it. And this all falls in line what we have been doing at Apples and Oranges for many a moon now. When you look back at our goal and as we were starting to see how we take our world, which some of you know us from the work we've done on Broadway, and we've produced Broadway shows as well as done two feature films in the musical theater world. But since we've jumped into the virtual world, we have been helping a number of different people in our nonprofits, which is the apples and oranges arts world. And since COVID hit, we have been doing everything from galas, concerts, full plays in the UK, running another Theatre Accelerator class, as well as looking at more think tanks, creating videos for the Actors Fund. And I want to announce something very fun. Next week we are helping this play, Cuttin' Up, which look for it on June 21st. It's a virtual reading, and one of our judges, Brian Morland, is here to be a judge for us as well too, from the Cultural Theatre of Harlem. and we couldn't be more excited about moving this whole thing forward. So on that note, enough of us talking. I think it's time to meet some of our illustrious judges. Robert, can you pop on backstage and please let's start meeting our folks that are here helping us out with their very thin virtual wallet dollar.

Absolutely. Okay, we're going to start, we're going to do this in alphabetical order. First judge I'm going to bring on is Alexander Antoniowich. He is a former principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada and currently a fine arts photographer, and he is in Toronto. Am I right?

That's correct. It's very nice to see you. Nice, nice to be with you guys. I'm very excited to witness this platform.

Welcome and thank you so much for being here. My pleasure. Next up is Sarah Brady. She is the CEO of Sarah Brady Public Relations, and she is hailing from Orlando. Hi, Sarah.

Hi, thanks for having me.

Thanks for being here. And the next judge is Val Caneparoli, internationally renowned choreographer. We have worked with him here at the Orlando Ballet, and I've known Val since the '80s. Welcome, Val.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Great to be here. This is so exciting.

You're, you're, you're coming in from San Francisco, right?

I hope so.

I'm just trying to keep track of where everyone's participating from.

Yes.

Great, great, great. Okay, and then the next one up is Mikey Magnosa. She is stager for Val Caneparoli's ballets worldwide and What a terrific new friend. Welcome, Mikey. She's on mute, I think.

All right, well, Mikey, we will hear from you when you are actually judging. You're muted right now.

Can you hear me now?

Yes.

Oh, very excited to be here. I want to thank Robert for having me, and also good to meet you, Tim, and the whole team. It's just new territory and it's very exciting to be part of it.

Yeah, well, thank you and welcome. And next up, as I teased you with, with our play from the Classical Theatre of Harlem, Brian Morland, who is the producer for this piece and also a Broadway producer, which is how we met through a a mutual friend, and he understands dance very well. He understands musicals, and he has got the best smile and laugh in the world. So Brian, welcome!

Hi, I'm so excited about tonight. I mean, when you told me about a virtual dance concert, I mean, come on, I'm in! So I'm looking forward to it. Good luck, everyone.

Welcome.

Brian is also one of our mentors and judges for Theater Accelerator, so it's great to have him along.

Fantastic. And next up is Jordan Morris, internationally renowned choreographer, and he will be the choreographer-in-residence for the Orlando Ballet for the next two seasons because over the next two seasons we will be presenting his Moulin Rouge! The Ballet, Peter Pan, and The Great Gatsby. Welcome. You're coming in from somewhere in Canada, aren't you, Jordan?

Yes, I'm up in wonderful Winnipeg, Manitoba, sending you all love from wonderful sunny Canada today.

Terrific.

Thank you so much for being here.

Yeah, my pleasure.

Now, next up and the final one to introduce is Desmond Richardson. Desmond, did you make it? Are you there? Desmond's a co-founder of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and I know him from my ABT days. Hopefully he'll, he'll be able to log on eventually. So back to you, Tim.

Well, we have one more judge to introduce. Robert Hill.

A very illustrious judge.

Oh!

I forgot about me.

Yes, Robert will be— Robert is judging as well on this because he will be mentoring the people not only throughout this process, but working with them very closely in the virtual world. And now that he is an absolute genius in the virtual world, I can't think of anybody better to lead them down this journey.

Thank you to you. I have learned so much in this process. It's unbelievable. It's so great.

And that's what we'd like to reiterate through this whole process is we are all in learning in every way, both technically, storytelling-wise, culturally, and just the support of all the people in this process has been fantastic. And we can take the burden off the shoulders of our 4 amazing choreographers because as we told them yesterday, they've already won when we went through the dress rehearsal and that tonight is a celebration and I think it's time to celebrate. What do you think?

That sounds perfect to me.

Let's do it.

Let's do it for sure.

All right, Robert, take it away.

Okay, so first up we have Annie Boer presenting Alone Together, and her dancers are Cobie Courtney, Andre Gallen, Matthew Cunningham, and Jason Stinnett. Annie, you have the floor. Good luck.

How does it feel to be alone? What does it mean to feel cut off from our most basic senses? Unable to feel, unable to see, unable to touch. For me, being alone makes me feel disconnected, isolated, and uncertain. These words resonate, leaving me feeling helpless and on my own. There is a void that needs to be filled. The want and need for connection, a longingness to touch and to feel. To quote Helen Keller, "Alone we can do so little.

Together we can do so much." Thank you so much, dancers, and thank you so much, judges and viewers, for taking the time to watch my piece. We have all experienced isolation requiring us to be apart from the people and things that we love, but we are not alone in this. Technology has allowed us to connect in ways we could never imagine. In this 2-week Dance Accelerator course, we learned so much about the virtual world and all the possibilities it has to offer. The inability to be live in the theater at this time has been difficult, but it's opened the door to performing virtually. This gives us the opportunity to create and perform live for people around the globe, allowing us to reach more people than ever. Live virtual performances will make it easier to track, market, and target specific viewers, allowing us to collect and monitor data like we never have before. We can follow how many people are viewing, where they're viewing from, and what their demographic is. This will allow our marketing to be more efficient and effective. It also provides us with a better understanding of what works and what doesn't. We would have the ability to target different audiences for each choreographic work. The best part is there's low overhead cost and the turnaround for production is fast. If a show doesn't work, it can be pulled and replaced quickly with another with minimal economic setback. The possibilities are endless. Now, considerations will need to be taken into account about the length of these virtual productions. Since this isn't live theater, people won't want to sit and watch a 2-hour-long production. So I would like to create a variety of virtual works that are 15 minutes or less in length. In the future, once theaters open back up, these works would be expanded into larger productions incorporating the use of technology. This will allow for a new kind of artistic performance that people will be ready and excited to see. Art breathes life into us. This current pandemic takes away our ability to physically be together, but it makes us focus on ourselves. It forces us to look internally about where we are and where we plan to go. Virtual performances are the future. So jump on board with me. Our possibilities are endless.

Thank you so much.

Lovely job, Annie.

Good job, Annie.

Shall we open it up to our judges for some questions?

Make sure they're all unmuted.

Yes.

All right, judges, go ahead and start asking your questions, please.

Hi, Annie, it's Jordan here. Great, great piece of work. I can tell all the effort you put in from the meetings we've had and everything. Tell me a little bit more about your choice of music and the composer and why.

Actually, that's very interesting. I took a page out of Robert Hill's book for this one. I started with a different piece of music that I was choreographing with. And as we were going through the morning meetings, I thought, this, this isn't getting across the feeling that I want. This isn't getting across that feeling of wanting to get out, that need to get out of isolation. So after I kind of was halfway through choreographing, I I turned on this music and I had my gentlemen listen. I said, okay, now you might kill me, but listen to this piece of music and watch the video and tell me what you all think. And they all were just like, that's it. So I actually switched music in the middle, but I think it really made the piece come to life and really gave it the effect that I wanted it to have in the end.

Excellent.

Great collaboration with your artist there, and I personally, I love that piece of music, so well done.

Thank you.

All right, next question.

Hi, it was absolutely wonderful. I'm very curious about how you develop the expansion of the piece in that environment, knowing that everyone's home is going to be different. Can you speak a little bit about that?

Well, it actually tailors to that. And my dancers were asking about that, you know, once we got closer to the performance, they're like, you know, what are we going to wear? Like, do you want us to cover up where we are? Do you want us to put sheets up? Do you want us to do this and that? And I was like, no, we're all going through this together. We're all isolated. Everybody's isolated in their home right now. Everybody's isolated in their own space. So I want to see your spaces. I want to see where you are. So to expand this, I can just use different spaces in the house or different dancer spaces. It's all going to bring such a big new element to this that I'm excited to see, actually.

Wonderful. Thank you.

Can you hear me?

Yes, go ahead.

Yes. I—

Annie, I don't have a question, I just have a beautiful comment about it. Because one of the things that we lost in COVID is touch. We can't touch each other anymore. And your message was so profound and really that famous line of "no man's an island" resonates in that I love the beginning, how you had them looking out and then everybody in this little island stuff. And I know how difficult it is for us dancers to teach the movement, and I don't know how you were able to do that, but it was very, very effective. Thank you.

Thank you so much. That really means a lot. The coming together was the hardest part. The embracing them in their own spaces was fun and challenging on its own. And doing the right and left thing was a little bit more difficult with video. But thank you very much. I really appreciate that.

Well, I've got something for you, Annie. We had a little bit of a technical difficulty on the stream itself. Now, some of the judges, you said you weren't seeing the whole thing. You need to be in gallery view to see the whole thing. Make sure for all of you judges that you're in gallery view. So what we're going to do, Annie, is we all saw it and it was amazing, and it's on the recording, it looks phenomenal. But what we're going to do is have your dancers prepped, and after the end of the last one, we're going to have them do it again so that the people on the stream can see all of your glorious work.

Great, thank you, I appreciate that.

Yes, and we will just do the dance, take it from the dance part of it on that. And we're all in this new world technologically together, and that's why we want to share the work as we figure this all out. But well done. And Robert, I'm going to turn it back to you to bring in our next person.

Absolutely. Thank you, Annie. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you for this opportunity. It's been wonderful.

Fantastic. Okay, moving on. Next up, we have Kate Robichaud presenting "The Choice Is Yours," and the dancers are Daniel Benavides, Ashley Basto, and Israel Zavaleta. Kate, you have the floor.

Thank you, Robert. Hi everyone, I'm Kate Robichaud, and I'm a company member with the Orlando Ballet. I'm about to present you with an excerpt from a piece I'm creating. My piece is inspired by the power and ability your mind has. For me, mindset has always been important. It was implemented into my everyday life growing up. My dad would always say things like, "You're responsible for the kind of day you have," or, "You're allowed to have a bad day, just don't live there forever." As I get older, I started to understand the meaning behind these words. A lot of the decisions we make every day are how we react to the things that are happening in the world around us. And I realized that the effect that those reactions have can potentially affect your mindset. I read something recently that really resonated with me and sparked the original idea for this piece. It all begins and ends in your mind. What you give power to has power over you if you allow it. We all have those little voices in the back of our heads. Some of them are really kind. They tell you to be confident and that you're doing great. Others are not so nice. Which voice did you give power to today? We're about to take a look into two different mindsets an original— I'm sorry, into two different mindsets an individual is presented with and the effects the chosen path has and how completely consuming it becomes. I now present you with The Choice Is Yours.

All right, Kate, are you finished?

I am, yes.

All right, thank you. Judges, can we have you back on the floor, please?

I'll actually start. I was just wondering, with having such difficult parameters to work with, I was wondering whether you had previous experience in creating choreographic works were you relying on your typical physical identity, or was this all created for this piece specifically?

Do you mean was this piece created for like this platform, or— I'm sorry.

No, I mean more your choreography, whether it is something that you already have a very defined body language in your work, or is this something very new how you created this one? Specifically?

Well, it's interesting because I felt that I couldn't rely back on the typical body language or the way I would choreograph normally because of the platform. We learned so much in these classes that we've had the past 2 weeks, and what I've come to realize is you have to work a little bit harder to get that message across or to make your audience feel what exactly what you're trying to make them feel. It may not always read. And so I did have to have a different body language or I guess I just had to think about it a little bit differently because it was virtual rather than in person and they couldn't touch and be in person and come into contact.

Excellent. Next question, please. I have a question for you. I know you're a technology whiz. So when you had to make all these cameras and have your dancers move things and push buttons, what was that experience like? And how, if you are given this full piece to do, how do you feel about making this 10 to 15 minutes long?

Actually, I was really overwhelmed by it at first. Luckily, I have the most amazing group of dancers that I was able to work with. They're so open-minded. I really had to practice. Even, even like today in our rehearsals and yesterday, I'm like, oh shoot, guys, you have to go back. We have to do this again. I would stop the music before. Yeah, I I think I would— I just have to be more open-minded, and I have to practice things a little bit more. It's not just being on stage, it's a whole show you're basically working with on your own. You have to think about lighting and not just the choreography. You're in charge of a lot of other things, which is new.

What was your thought process on the sound and the music? What made you— what drew you to that?

Well, we were faced with copyright issues, so I had to think about that. I was also actually inspired by a podcast that I listened to, and it had— it touched on sleep paralysis. And so I actually went online and I looked up sleep sounds. And it came up with this beautiful voice that was humming, and I was like, wow, this is beautiful. I'm gonna try this out because I was so worried about choosing a song that maybe had copyright issues. And yeah, so it kind of had to do with sleep paralysis too. Like, that's the visual I was inspired by as well. And so the sleep sound just kind of made sense.

And yeah.

Robert, go for it.

Yeah. So it's interesting, Kate. And congratulations. I love that you guys are being creative. You originally— you talked more about that sleep paralysis. And I thought that that was going to be a big part of that. So it seems like your concept morphed to— which I love— the choice is yours, because that's powerful. You know, you can decide you're going to have a good day, or you can decide you're going to have a bad day. You know, you see it happen all the time.

How—

how—

talk a little bit about how you morphed from your original sleep paralysis idea to that.

So the idea, the original idea was always mindset. But the first day I kind of rambled in my first introduction to all of you. So really it was like a visual thing for me. I listened to this podcast and this woman had this out-of-body experience and she felt this connection to the spiritual world. And I— they talk a lot in the podcast how one person is more sensitive to the spiritual world than the other. And they talk about these mediums that are in touch with them, that they, they know how to turn it off and on. And it's because of the power that they give in their minds, like they can turn it off and on. And I was like, well, that kind of That kind of makes sense too when it comes to mindset. You can turn off those, you know, not so nice voices and be like, I'm not going to listen to you today. I'm going to listen to the other ones that give you a more open-minded look at things in the world. And so that's how they kind of coincided, I guess, at least in my brain.

That was great. Kate, just one last question. Your dog, how did it approve of the piece? Big barks up?

I, you know what, he watched it yesterday and barked a little bit, so I think those were like Bravo barks. So yeah, sleeping with, with dad in the other room.

All right, well, amazing work, Kate. Thank you so much. We are, we've used our 5-minute allotment, so thank you, judges. We can everybody go off screen now while we tee up our next one. So Robert, I'm going to turn it back over to you to introduce our next Next piece, please.

Terrific.

Next up we have Stephanie Martinez. Now, as was mentioned earlier, Stephanie is the only non-Orlando Ballet member in this event. She is a celebrated choreographer from Chicago and is presenting La Divina. The dancers she will be presenting: Adam Borland, Anna Marie McGinn, and Isabella Mendez. Stephanie, you have the floor.

Hello and welcome. My name is Stephanie Martinez. What you will see today is a snapshot of a larger work that will explore the psychology of fame. Without further ado, please allow me to introduce to you La Divina. After 20 years of rave reviews, she was just informed by the director that this will be her final season as the go-to young lead. Who let you back here? Please don't disturb the talent.

Can somebody turn that down? Listen, I don't know what they're doing, but I know what I'm doing. Art. High art. Look it up. Long before the curtain goes up and ends long after the curtain goes down. I am a woman and a serious artist, and I will always be as temperamental as necessary to achieve the best. I'm not bitter, I'm just right. I'm no angel, but I'm not the devil either. No matter what they tell you, opera is a battlefield, and I don't think you have what it takes. But good luck. Hello.

Thank you for watching and joining Dance Accelerator. This process for me has been a true gift to be able to navigate, create, and practice a little bit of my vulnerability in this virtual platform. It was also really interesting for me. I was trying to find ways to recreate theatrical environments, which is something I miss dearly about the theater, going to the theater and experiencing it, and also creating. So it was my version of bringing a little glimpse of theatricality into people's homes. Thank you so much. And dancers, why don't you come out and take a bow? All right. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. Great job.

I think the glass of wine was a character in the piece too. That was awesome.

Thank you, Stephanie.

I think it was apple juice, but okay. But we couldn't tell.

Judges, who's got a question?

I do.

So, Stephanie, I absolutely adored this piece. I love the theatricality of it and the juxtaposition of what's happening in the dressing room versus what's happening on the stage, and then this other camera shot. I'm very curious to know, which I thought was done so brilliantly, But I'm very curious to know how you came up with the focus of just the legs. It's like just looking at her toeshoes, just dancing this way. How did you come to that?

Well, it was a lot of, I'm going to call it failing forward and making mistakes and trying to kind of isolate her in an environment. And it was really about, you know, her iPad, like where do I put it? I kind of wanted to see her, but I really kept thinking, you know, just shoot her from the waist down and every once in a while, like, see her face. So it's—

she start—

as she started to move closer to the camera, further away, it would inform, you know, her from the waist down. But that was always something that I wanted to do. I wanted to see her, just her pointe shoes and her feet working in her little cubicle environment. So we switched the camera That took a long time.

Oh boy.

Well done. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next question.

Sarah.

I don't have, I don't have a question. I just wanted to say that this was when you told us early on what you were planning. This is the one that I really wanted to see because I think it's so, it's an interesting topic and it's so it resonates with me and I just thought it was executed beautifully.

I loved it.

Thank you so much.

And Jordan, you raised your hand there.

Yeah, that was great. I love the theatricalness that you put in there with the sort of juxtaposition to the woman in the cubicle. Where a longer piece, where would that story thread go? In a longer piece?

Yeah, well, I was hoping, you know, telling it through, like I said, the different lenses through, you know, this was told for a singer and my inspiration was Maria Callas. So she was my diva and seeing her on stage after the performance, in the performance, or a physicality of her, but in terms of a longer work, I wanted different divas, like the choreographer, the singer, the actor, the model, anybody in the performing arts, or picking these iconic women to, you know, to try to look through the lens of that into a longer work. So very female-forward, but I think this is a— even though it was told, you know, through the heart of comedy, I think it's still a very current and serious issue that I know that I've dealt with as well, and heard from my other sisters that we, you know, we talk about quite a bit.

So I was just gonna quickly ask, so the whole piece, the developed piece, would be based on comedy?

No, probably not comedy. I mean, I feel, you know, there's some darker moments to this too. I don't think that, you know, I personally could be funny that long. By any means at all. So, you know, this is something definitely for me to think about and try to navigate, but it would start off— and maybe it's told through, you know, I thought about just through Maria Callas's lens and then portraying her life as well. But I— so I have a couple of different ideas that I'm working around. You know, it may be three of— three iconic people, or maybe just one, and then opening up as you're almost like looking at a picture of them if you you opened it up and you looked inside and you could kind of see that person's life and how they got there and who they really were. The persona of onstage, backstage, the veneer that they wear sometimes throughout their careers.

All right, that does it for our time. So thank you very much. Judges, if you didn't get to ask your question, we have a 5-minute segment at the end and you can catch it that way. But we, we're, we're out.

Thank you guys.

Thank you. And now I know this is all you want to do is be on Zoom now, right Stephanie? Perfect.

Well, don't get carried away.

All right judges, you can hop off the screen now while Robert tees up our next and last Next in line. Certainly not least.

Not least.

No, no, no, definitely not.

Neither—

nothing that we've seen so far falls into least. Luis Gonzalez will be presenting Virtue with dancers David Wright, Gillian Price, and Kelly Fulton. Luis, the floor is yours.

Thanks. My name is Luis Gonzalez, and I want to give you an inside look into what the last couple of months have been like like for the dancers of the Orlando Ballet. We kicked off 2020 with a brand new building, dancing incredible rep, and probably in the best shape we've been in all season. Then the virus hit. Since then, there's been nothing but worldwide uncertainty, violence, injustice, and civil unrest, all keeping us from living the life we chose. When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw. The clip you're about to see is the journey of 3 different characters who find themselves denied of their chosen lives and consequently find ways to transcend their confines by finding light and catharsis through movement.

Thank you, dancers.

The full piece would stay musically in the jazz genre and further dive into the stories that were presented in the clip you just saw, potentially introducing some other characters. Because the circumstances in the narrative are current and relevant to many who are living them, the piece will lend itself well to marketing, I think. It would also be very cost-effective because, as you can see, it doesn't require much investment towards wardrobe or sets. This piece, I believe, deserves to be explored further because the world has no shortage of confines. Work that explores transcendence of difficulties can help people get back in touch with their joy, which is in itself an act of resistance. Thank you.

I'm feeling joy right now.

Thank you so much.

You're so welcome.

And it didn't rain on isolation.

Thank God.

Judges, do we have some questions?

I have more of a comment versus a question. I was absolutely smitten with the fact that the use of the spaces and each one that was so different, you know, to really incorporate that couch and then to incorporate the bed. I mean, the level of thought that's going into how your dancers are going to move in those spaces and incorporate all of that into their space for your work was brilliant to me. So well done.

Thank you so much. That was one of the things that really I found so stimulating about this project actually, because it challenged us to think so outside the box in terms of the limitations that we had. And so for example, David was in Indianapolis while I was choreographing it and there were riots outside and it wasn't safe for him to go outside. So I had to incorporate that and like use it. So a lot of it was really kind of conversational with the dancers as to we have COVID, we have riots going on outside, there's so many things happening and I felt like it was important to just kind of like make it a part of the story in a way, you know.

Thank you.

Next question.

Luis.

Hi, Mikey.

Hi, so good to see you. You're so intelligent and you've thought through this amazing theory, but where does this connect with that incredible message you said that resonates so now in our lives with the protest and all that? You said that you commented that, you know, a man is, you know, he gets pushed to this point where if he wasn't given the rights, he'll go into—

Right, so that, that was really what inspired the whole piece for me. It's a quote by Nelson Mandela that he was speaking about apartheid, and he was speaking about how people of color, obviously, in South Africa during apartheid didn't have the ability to live the lives that they chose because of their color. So obviously this piece isn't only about that situation, but there are so many things in a person's life that can feel like they're denying you of your chosen life. And for me, the piece was sort of a metaphor to talk about how life can feel very confining at times, but there's always a way to transcend the confines, even if it feels like everything is against you. And like how it kind of starts as a revolution of looking inside and then finding it within yourself how to how to break through, even if it feels like you can't, you know.

Excellent. Next question.

How was it, the challenge of having when it was unison? I'm really curious.

Yes, well, that was more of a technical component, which we had a lot of help from Tim, which was wonderful. It was all like playing around with the Zoom settings and Finding out how to feed the music through the right platform so that the latency was such that it— what everybody would be hearing at the same time, and then just kind of crossing your fingers and praying to God that it wasn't gonna freeze on anybody. But yeah, all of that, all that we definitely learned so much throughout this whole process. It's been some, some days we had so much information it was like we needed like a week to process, but, but it's all been— we've done our best to definitely soak it all up and use it in the process.

That's great. Nice to see you.

Robert, you looked like you had a question.

Oh no, I'm good. We can save it for the end.

Okay, great. Well, I can say, can you— last— can you believe you did all this in 2 weeks, Luis?

I— yeah, I mean, honestly, I did not know what to expect. And then definitely throughout the process, there were some moments where I was like, oh, what am I gonna do? But it was like I said that the— like in the piece, the confines were almost like stimulating to innovate further. And it just like pushes you to a place that you didn't know you— that even you didn't even know existed, like that you didn't even know was a thing that you could go to. So it was really, it's been really fulfilling in its own right 'cause I feel like I've learned so much just in attempting to do some of the things that even I didn't end up going for. But, um, but it's just been, it's been great. It's been a really wonderful process. So thank you guys so much for that.

I, I just want to read one, something you texted me last night, Luis, and we were talking about this whole process, and you said, it almost feels like I'm finishing one of my college courses.

It does. Yeah, we were talking with Kate about that.

In 2 weeks, who needs a whole semester?

And now Robert's thinking, wow, my dancers, they're like beyond just dancing. I mean, what they can come up with, these young people, huh, Robert?

Completely. I mean, I have to say though that Tim Tim is so generous with his information and so— the amount of information is phenomenal. And I don't know how you continue to channel it the way you do, Tim, but sharing all of that with all of us has just been phenomenal.

As they said earlier, we fail forward and we fall on our faces a lot too while we're figuring this out.

Well, you know, as we were going along and we were— you know, I want everything to be right, right, right, right, right. And when you and Jonathan finally said, look, it's okay, we're gonna make mistakes, this is our first time doing it, and made it okay that we may make mistakes, I think everybody settled in a little bit easier, you know? It was great, so.

Well, speaking of that, we now need to bring back our first piece because we were not able to show it online in all of its glory. And I want for Annie, for all the people out there watching As they say in the old days, all you people out there in TV land— well, all you Zoom land, YouTube land, Facebook land, virtual land, watching it on your VR glasses, we want to see that again. So Annie, can we bring you back up to the stage please to get yourselves all ready? And judges, if you can stop your videos please. And I have a quick question for Annie. Do you Do you want to play the deck first or do you want to just start from the video? How— what experience do you want our audience to have? What works best?

Um, I guess I could start from where I, uh, the very first video that I played, maybe that way the dancers know how to turn the videos on and everything because that's all choreographed.

There you go. Because I actually think I found the problem that Zoom, when it plays a share screen on my screen switched me to speaker view because it did it on this last one and I caught it. So hopefully we catch it this time. As we say, we're all jumping because I'm in gallery view and judges should be in gallery view, especially for the ending of this one.

Okay. So I can just go ahead and share my video then?

Yeah.

And your sound?

How does it feel to be alone? What does it mean to feel cut off from our most basic senses? Unable to feel, unable to see, unable to touch. For me, being alone makes me feel disconnected, isolated, and uncertain. These words resonate. Leaving me feeling helpless and on my own. There is a void that needs to be filled. The want and need for connection. A longingness to touch and to feel. To quote Helen Keller, "Alone we can do so little.

Together we can do so much." Annie, while we're on this, I'm gonna stop you. All right, dancers, you're phenomenal. I, I've got a great recording of it, but it's not working. So Annie, I want to try this again without you playing that video. So dancers, go ahead and go back to 1. Let us know when you're ready, um, because I don't want to deny— we do have the recording, so all of you out there in YouTube land will be able to show it to you if we can't get that piece working. But I, I don't want to give up here. So what we'll do is go ahead and go to your 1. I'm going to turn off my video so that I am not taking up your screen. All right, and Robert, I want to double-check that you're in gallery view as well.

Jason, turn your video off for me, please.

I am in gallery view.

Great.

And whoever's camera blocker is closed, turn that video off. Matthew should be on first. Yeah, turn that video off, Andre, please. Andre.

So Stephanie, you call it when it's time. I mean, Annie, you call it when it's time, please. So for those of you watching us, this is what we go through on a daily basis, making the technology support what we want to do. So you're getting to see behind the scenes of what goes on.

Okay, they're ready.

All right, Annie, I'm going to turn it over to you. All right, Annie, we got it. Come back up.

3 times a charm.

Oh, wonderful.

Well done, dancers.

Well done, everybody. And for all of you watching us live, this is This is the world and we're figuring it out. And there is, there was some glitch with the share screen video into the windows. And we also tried something new this time, which is to simultaneously stream to 3 platforms, 1 Facebook and 2 YouTube. So who knows where this came in, but the world got to see your beautiful piece.

And the in-betweens.

They got to see it all.

Running around with their cameras.

Yes, exactly. All work. Yeah, well, that's what art is about, isn't it? And congratulations. So let's bring all of our choreographers back, please. Put on your videos. We have now a couple of minutes for any additional questions for all of them.

I, I'll just, um, just step in and say I'm not a judge. I'm, I mean, uh, just watching. But congratulations to each of you. I think each were great.

I think you did—

you solved a ton of problems. You were completely intimidated the first two weeks ago. Kate wanted to slink off the screen and hide.

I remember that.

And there you are. And then I think that, you know, ballet is 200-something years old. I don't know how many times there's been live ballet presented on Zoom. I don't know if this is the first time, but it's pretty darn close. Close to an innovation. And Annie, I think you did your third time, it was worth seeing and worth the wait because I think the way you used the technology, I think the way you guys were all willing to not just be, why can't we talk, right, during the ballet? Why can't it be, some of it be a story? I thought, Louise, I think your piece really came along extraordinarily well. I think you may have the first ballet performed with face masks. So I think that's another innovation. Thank you. Kate's story was compelling and it was, it was a great moving story and narration that I'd love to see more of. And, and, um, and then I think Stephanie, in terms of your, your sort of like using the characters, um, and the juxtaposition of position was outstanding. So congratulations to each, each and every one of you. Every one of you has been successful. So I hope you learned a lot. This is what an accelerator is, that, that frantic pace to be ready after 2 weeks. So congratulations.

Stephanie, I think you can be funny a lot.

Thank you.

I have a feeling you can do it. You could pull that off. Just, just an aside note.

Okay, well, I do see that sense of humor in there too, so— Well, do we have any— before you start dividing up your virtual dollar, do we have any more questions from any judge to help you with this? Mikey?

I don't have a question, more that I am so enamored by the fact that dancers who in our lives never get to speak. We stand in the back of this studio, we wait to get chosen, or this is what I'm talking about as dancers, they wait to get chosen to be in a role. We never say anything for 6 hours, and you've just given them a way to be able to express express how they really feel, and I think that's really powerful. Kudos to that, and kudos to all of you for just— I mean, okay, you guys are young, so that's why you can do this. But the other thing I wanted to say was I didn't know when I brought it up to Tim in the beginning, I said, How are they gonna do this in 90 seconds? And they did. So yeah, that was amazing because I had no idea that they could pull it off. Everybody brought such amazing depth into what they wanted to say and everything, like what everybody's trying to say now is that We need to be together. Very nice.

That's very well said. And the depth of emotion that I saw in your work was revelatory to me. And I agree, Mikey, that I always want to know what the dancer is thinking and feeling and wanting to say. And you said it today, and it was thrilling to see. And now I see we have some more faces on the screen. We have our dancers with us, and so I want to open it up to all of you dancers to give us some comments. I'm just going to open it up with a question about—

Really quick, sorry to interrupt, but before we do, the judges have an important thing to do, which is to go calculate.

So, oh yes, yes, while, while we are asking these questions, judges, please do take your pen and your pencil or your your online calculator, however you do it, and divide up your dollar, please. And for our dancers, obviously this is a new environment, not one that you're used to, not, not a studio, not a stage, but your apartment, your home, a parking lot. What, what made this experience challenging and what made it rewarding? And you can answer either question. Just raise your hand if you want to speak up.

Yes, I see you, but it's Dash.

Dash, please.

Well, I accidentally turned off my camera. That was my 5 seconds. If nobody says anything, I'll start talking. No, so I think as far as rewards and challenges, so for me, I just had a realization that it reinforces the idea that inspiration for a piece of work can really be anywhere. Certainly these are times that are moving and provide a lot of emotion and things to draw from, but when you bring it down to like you folks are saying, we're dancing in our living rooms in situations that we never could imagine. And I believe— who mentioned earlier about Luis's piece how each scene had a different quality of movement? And I think that's very interesting and something you don't always get to explore when you're in the studio. But I think it was really challenging trying to get to that point. Certainly it was a lot of crunching up the paper and back to the square, square one type of thing.

Oh, okay.

I felt—

Lada Vina here. Um, so, uh, the biggest struggle I would say would be the setting and setting it up and having to have all this.

The—

even the wig was sent from a friend in Jacksonville. This is Anna Marie who's in my group, this is her mirror. So we had to switch stuff. But the most rewarding thing I think I would say is, and Stephanie the choreographer said this quite a bit, choreographers come in and they choreograph in the studio and they have about 2 weeks and then they exit. So they don't get a close personal relationship with dancers. So having that close-knit personal connection because we were right in front of each other and there were a small amount of people. I would say that was very rewarding and it was nice to have a schedule again too.

How did you pick up on each other's styles looking at a screen? Was that a challenge for you or did that just come along naturally? Anybody?

I think we might already know from being in the studio together so often. Some of us have been here for years together, some are newcomers, but as dancers, that's our vocabulary. So I feel like you pick up on that very quickly and it's quite a signature thing.

Sometimes people say you can't have an emotion on a flat 2D screen. Well, you all have proven that incorrect with your dancing on your pieces. But what were some of the emotions you went through just from the beginning of thinking that first day of going through it and to where you are today? So yeah, go ahead. 4 dots.

Well, at the beginning for me, I couldn't imagine how it was going to work, you know, because it's kind of weird to dance in front of a camera and like just looking at the camera.

Right?

So I didn't think how is it gonna work, and then when she said like, oh no, you can use two cameras, I was like, what?

You know?

And I was like, how am I gonna turn off this one and turn on this one? But we figured it out and it was really, really good for me doing this piece, Kate's piece, because it's something that is really important. Like mental health is really important. And it makes so much sense what she tried to do in the choreography that it was really special for me.

Wonderful.

All right, really quickly while we let our judges do that last little calculation, can we go in the order of choreographer and just give us a one-sentence takeaway of how you're feeling, what you're doing, like what, what has this been to you? Let's start with Annie, who got to go multiple times.

This has been an incredible experience where I've learned so much and I have grown so much as an artist and a person. And I'm really thankful for this opportunity and thankful for Orlando Ballet and Robert Hill and Jonathan for introducing Tim to us and you coming here to share all of your knowledge because we didn't just learn all of this dance and virtual stuff. We also learned about marketing and the whole development side and everything. So it was, it was an incredible learning experience for me and humbling and I feel really touched and grateful for this experience.

Thank you, Annie. Longest sentence ever, but still a really good sentence. The emotion was there.

Thank you, Annie. You're trying to make it all cynical like me.

Next, we'd like to ask Kate. Well, what's your takeaway, Kate?

I think that to— well, that I had help along the way and that I wasn't in it by myself and that the people that were here to mentor me just gave me the most incredible knowledge. And I took away everything I learned throughout the past 2 weeks, and I've learned a lot, and it was incredible to be a part of this project. So yeah, thank you, everyone.

And Stephanie?

I'll make it quick. I think for me the takeaway is to keep working my virtual muscle just like I have done on stage. And thank you everybody for having me, dancers, Tim, Robert, Meredith. Thank you for all your help. It's, it's, it's been the most pleasurable, frustrating experience combined. So Thank you so much.

Pretty much sums up my virtual life too. Thank you, Stephanie.

And Luis.

And Luis.

I would say growth and catharsis are my two biggest, like, things that I felt through this experience. I would refer back to what Mikey said about how a lot of the time dancers are kind of told to be seen and not heard. And it's just the nature of our job really, because we don't make sound. But you know, we can speak through our movement, but it's a completely different experience to kind of like have such an incredible venue to create something.

It's—

and it also is a much bigger undertaking because you have a lot more considerations But, but yeah, perfect.

Well, thank you, Luis. Now comes calculation time. So dancers, thank you so much, and you can hang around till the end. We'll all turn on our cameras and say goodbye at the end, but for now, we'd like to spotlight our 4 choreographers and our judges, please.

All right, it is time to divide up your dollars. And I want to remind everybody, this is all done in fun, and it doesn't matter if you don't get a cent or you get everything. Everybody, and I say this across the board, did incredibly beautiful moving work today. So let's keep that spirit going as we go into our friendly competition. I'd like to see what your tallies are, so we'll start with Alexander.

Well, I'll be very quick. First of all, I just want to say what a what a fascinating project this has been, and it was such a pure joy for me to be a part of it. And thank you, Robert, and congratulations to Orlando Ballet for starting something so innovative and exciting, especially during this difficult time. And I mentioned at the beginning of the process how lucky these choreographers and dancers are to have someone of Tim's experience to just so generously share with all of us. I was very moved by everyone's everyone's participation in this because we as artists, we have to be brave even at most difficult times and really just keep on creating and connecting people's lives and emotions. And so without further ado, I cannot but not split my virtual dollar equally. I just have to. There's just no other way. So congratulations to all four of you. Wonderful. And I was really, really impressed.

All right, there you have it.

Wonderful, thank you.

And Sarah?

Well, thank you.

I have to say, for those of you that know me— there's a couple of people here know me— I deal in crises. I just want you to know that this is crisis right here for me because I'm so horribly intimidated by these dancers and this process and all of you artists. Because it's not my world. And I love all of these dancers. I have to split my dollar 4 ways as well. But I want to make a couple of points. I thought Annie's was beautiful. I want to see it over and over and over. I thought everything about it just, you know, was woven in beautifully from the music to the images and the choreography. And just, it was really intricate. And Kate's, I love the whole concept. And I wish more people thought like that. And I think you've got great advice growing up, clearly. And it's really, for me, what validates the discipline and how you all do what you do. So, and I just thought it was exquisite. And Stephanie, I want to see the whole thing because I'm getting old and I'm watching all of that. So I just thought, I love the humor. So I just thought it was, I just thought it was great. And I'd like to see the whole thing. And Luis, you've You're so cerebral. It's just lovely. Just lovely. But are you sitting in a basement someplace? That's a little weird. So I want to say that what Annie said when she was talking, she said art breathes life into us. And I think where we all are in the world right now and in our communities and these circumstances, that's exactly what this has done. And so I'm moved by all of this. I can't pick a favorite. I think they were smart, imaginative. Cerebral, and moving. And so I thank you for this opportunity, and congratulations to you all. Now I'll mute.

Thank you, Sarah. Very eloquent— eloquently said. And now we go to Val.

Well, I've got to say, all 4 of you, amazing. And I just want to say, if any of you need mentoring advice anytime, you know how to get hold of me. I am open for all of you. I'm mentoring a lot these days, and in my old age, I'm, you know, giving a lot more. And this is, this is great. I, I can't do it splitting 4 ways, and I don't— I hope none of you are offended by this. I want you all to continue, all to keep exploring. And I was kind of drawn to one out of the four, but it's just apples and oranges. And again, my opinion doesn't matter. Yeah, thank you. But I'm doing it only because I thought that it was the concept and movement and everything fit at this time and worked the cameras and worked all of that. Which I couldn't have done. I would have bombed terribly in this, this. So just so you know that I would have been number 5. So, um, I'm gonna do Annie 40, and then 20, 20, 20 on that. 700, 800?

Yeah.

But anyway, it's— yeah, so nothing personal. I love you all. You can slap me when you see me if you or next time.

Not at all, Val. This is how it's normally done on Theater Accelerator.

Oh, really?

Really?

Oh yeah. I mean, I'm appalled.

I'm like freaked out that I have to do this.

It's actually very rare that people split across the whole way. So no, you, you, you, this is—

You're—

it's me and you, Val. I'm a non-splitter in theater.

Oh God. I'm like bullets here anyway.

And also thank you for your mentoring and all that you do.

Please do. I, I really mean it. I— every angle. I mean, I didn't think I'd be as good as it— as I am, but like I said, the older you get, the more you have to offer. And so I'm here for any of you.

Well, next week I'd love to help you technically with your new ballet called I Am Number Five.

And I was giving myself credit. Five is really up there in the food chain.

That's a Theater Accelerator musical.

There it is.

All right, well, thank you, Val. Next, Mikey.

Unmute yourself.

Now? Yes.

Okay, so my first opening thing is, you know how there's that song, I Left My Heart I left my heart in San Francisco. Mine is, I left my heart in Orlando Ballet. Because I do love, like you said, Tim, I really believe in the organization. I believe in what Robert has created. I walked into that studio the first day and I was hooked. I couldn't wait to get up the next day to work with them again. The dancers, unbelievable. I've worked with Val for over 20 years, and I have enjoyed every ballet company I've worked with, and I'm not putting anybody down because it has been an amazing career, but Orlando Ballet is special. And if the dancers are hearing me, you know how much I love you. What I have to say is because of this thing that you had offered us to judge, which is a little bit tough, I mean fun but tough, as I brought up earlier, how are you going to transcend such deep, deep messages in 90 seconds? And I believe Annie was the most successful in doing that. You know, she man— you know, they're all— you're all talented, obviously, you know, I love you, but she had managed to put it all together in such a short— and in the whole series of what we were talking about, TM, you were talking about how to grab the attention of people within seconds, and I believe Annie did that. Kate, you know when I talked to you and I asked you that question in the beginning that I loved your— not Kate, sorry, Stephanie, that I loved your idea from the get-go and I said, how long is this ballet gonna be when you make it? Because it's brilliant and I am fascinated and impressed by you from the beginning, and, you know, your experience and everything. And I love that you, even as accomplished as you are as a choreographer, you're still looking to find other things and creativity to make— you know, that's what makes probably why you're so good at what you do, because you're constantly trying to discover and never satisfied with what you have and what you have created. And obviously that's the artist in you, and you certainly accomplished that. And Kate, Kate is being so, so humble because she's the ballerina of the company and she says she's a member. And I worked with her in Nambarena and just loved her openness, and her openness is what she shows in this work. She's so open when she's in the studio, and that's what she's exactly done in this work. She just opens everything, and she's welcoming everything and trying, trying to explore things that she hasn't touched, and she wants to keep learning, and that's why she's so beautiful. And Luis has so totally impressed me because he was always the quiet one in the back and just, you know, sort of listened and took everything, but in the end, look at him, such a— like Alex said, so cerebral, so impressive in how he wants to— he's approached his work. So, but in the judging part, I think I would give Ani 70 and the three of you 10, 10, 10, only not because of the work being bad, it's just that like Tim said, the success in trying to compile it in 90 seconds. I mean, so that was my point. And last note, Alex, I'm so glad you're sitting up. Oh my God, the last few times you were like Yeah, thank you.

Yeah, thank you very much.

Thank you, Mikey. Very well said. And next we have Brian.

Wow, this is like a tough act to follow with all the comments that they've all been so wonderful and so positive. Um, it— I want to start with Robert, with an organization that you've— that you're leading that has this much diversity in the styles of dance that you're presenting. I mean, your dancers aren't confined to the traditional form of ballet. It is expansive, and that's evident and proven by what they've come up with. So kudos to you and all of Orlando Ballet. Okay, dancers, I am also— I am impressed, encouraged, thrilled, overjoyed that as dancers you guys are finding your voice in this medium and in this time to have an opportunity to work with the camera this way. It's a whole new market and you guys are expressing yourselves in amazing ways. So kudos to all of you, seriously, seriously, kudos, kudos, kudos. So I didn't split across the board. I want to do 40 to Luis, artists are storytellers. You guys are the keepers of the keys of our past. Like, 15, 20 years from now, we're gonna come back and look at the art you guys have created, and that's going to be the story of what happened in 2020. I mean, 2020 is a wash, but that will be your— the ballets that you guys have created in these few minutes, and then maybe 15 minutes or however long they are moving forward, you will be the storytellers to capture this time. And so I'm very impressed with that. And so for me, Luis, your piece was so— it incorporated and encapsulated so much of what's happening in America and in the rest of the world. And that, for me, moved me beyond all ends. So 40 to you. Thank you very much. 2020, keep going.

Excellent, excellent, Brian.

Thank you.

And next we have Jordan.

Hi everybody, um, really wonderful work. I echo pretty much everything all the other judges, uh, have said. I, I think I was fortunate being a mentor and a judge and being with you a little bit more, uh, through the first week and watching you all grow. As I said, was, uh, really fascinating and heartwarming. And for me, who's coming to work with you guys and this everybody, you know, like again, Robert, I'm just, I am so excited to be coming to work with the company. And now seeing the choreographers and the dancers and all the wonderful people that you've assembled as this amazing team, I'm just, I just get more excited every day about. I'm like, can we start rehearsals next week?

Can we just, you know?

So for the pieces, because I was in a lot of those things that we were doing with Tim and John, I did break it down and I kind of put into, you know, music, movement, vocabulary, and what you did with the 90 seconds. Stephanie and Kate, I want to see more of what you were doing, but I think some— it's really hard, I know. As far as you intrigued me in the 90 seconds, but I felt it didn't, it didn't get as far as maybe it could have gone in the 90 seconds. Louise and Annie, I think you, I think you, you, you did grab me and take me on a bit more of a journey. With, with the time and the tools that we had. So I'm going to break it down. 30 for Luis, 20 for Kate, 30 for Annie, and 20 for Stephanie. And it was just so cool to work with you all.

Yeah.

Could you say that again?

30 for Luis, 30 for Annie, 20 for Kate, and 20 for Stephanie. Right.

Thank you, Jordan.

And last but not least, yes, yes, I guess Desmond had his technical difficulties, so he wasn't able to join us, our other judge. So Robert, you're, you're last and definitely not least.

Does Robert get $2 then?

Oh, if you want to, Robert, you can get $1 for me and then Thank you, everybody. This has been truly an amazing, amazing experience. I'm proud. I'm inspired. And I, I'm going to go back to my, one of my early, early, early thoughts about this when Tim and Jonathan and I were first talking about it. And the subject of being able to create, reach people emotionally through this, this platform. I thought, wow, it's— I don't know how that's gonna work. So I'm thinking if each of them can do that in 90 seconds, then kudos. And I think that all 4 of them did in their own way. So based on that, and I really do want to encourage everybody to keep trying, keep exploring this, keep doing it. So I'm going to split it 25, 25, 25, 25, because I would— I really want to encourage all of you to keep going, keep going. I'm really impressed with— and I also have to say that separate piece, Tim, that I was privileged to be able to see that you sent me the link. Amazing theater piece. It is possible to reach people emotionally through this medium, and that's so fantastic because that's, that's a big part of the reason why we go to the theater. So that's my 25, 25, 25, 25, and I'm really proud of everybody.

All right, well, Pamela, we've got our totals here on our little calculation sheet.

Oh my goodness.

And you want to go ahead and read them off?

No, no, I do not. Everybody wins in my book.

All right, well, it, it was one of the closest we've ever had on these. We had The Choice Is Yours by Kate and La Divina by Stephanie both garnered $1.45, and Louise Virtue was $1.75, and Annie at $2.35 in total for our pieces. So congratulations to all of you in your, in your virtual creations.

Great job, everybody.

Hey, fantastic!

Jonathan was texting me to, um, to kind of come in and say a few things. So, uh, do you want to say anything to us, Jonathan?

Do I want to say anything? I think Robert wanted to say it, but I wanted Robert to say it.

I think we all were talking about this. Um, and you go ahead, Jonathan, go ahead, share it.

I don't know what I'm supposed to share.

I'll do it since I was on the text thread when this was going on, which is the text thread was, how do we—

you're the first leader, Robert, you get to share.

And so we— what was going back and forth while we did pay attention to your dances, by the way, but when the judges were doing their things—

yeah, we didn't pay attention to the judges.

Yeah. Um, and what came across is that first of all, the idea of the fun in the competition is great, but that it's literally subjective when you look at dance and when you look at everything's doing. So with Jonathan's permission and Orlando Ballet, we want to offer you all the ability to continue with your pieces and come up with a season that we will be showcasing you, you all.

Wonderful!

It is just so overwhelming to see where you came. And the fact that going into this, whenever we run these, we literally have no idea how this day is going to turn out. And it could have turned out very different than it did, we'll just put it that way. And the fact— and I'll reiterate for those of you that are watching this online, those Those dancers did— everything was live. And they were dealing with internet, wireless phones, iPads, computers, dogs, you name it, things coming in and out, moving their furniture, trying to figure out lighting in the afternoon. And for that, if you want, we want to support you to go ahead and do your 10 to up to 15-minute piece version of this. So big, big, huge thank you to all of you.

And one more thing, so congratulations. So we will work this out within the constraint of next season and to create, because each piece deserves more time to fulminate because you guys, we threw this at you at the last minute, it was stitched together. So each of the four of you, Robert is convinced that he can work into the season calendar. Hopefully we'll have a live and virtual season, but we can put together an easy of finished pieces. And as an additional piece, we greatly appreciate the dancers switching contract weeks and all the things that we've had to throw up in the air, and you guys giving up some of your own personal time. So a, let's just say a donor is gonna give some prize money out here to $1,000 to each choreographer and $500 to each participant as a thank you for your time.

Wow.

Wow.

Happy Friday, everybody.

See what I'm saying, people?

But everybody's a winner, and this is the first time ever, and next time the sharks are going to be tougher. So we did that when we do the 8-choreographer version in a year. But thank you all very much, and thanks to our judges for helping innovate.

Wow, that, that, that— we just got more good news. So on that, Pamela, I think we're done with our part.

I think we are.

We are more than thrilled to be collaborating with all of you. With Robert, you must feel like such a proud papa right now.

I am.

And to the company and all the dancers and the choreographers, again, heartfelt congratulations from us, Apples and Oranges, and our team who is here to help support this broadcast today. And with that, I just want to say thank you again, and to everybody watching, I hope you enjoyed it. And until next time.

Yeah, to Nellie, Christopher, Ido, and Ali from—

Thank you.

Thank you for all the work you did. And let's bring all of our dancers and everybody back so that Robert can take us home and get us off this stream. And stay on for the after-party, everybody.

Miss you all, guys.

All right, Robert, take us, take us home, Robert.

I'm so proud of everybody and I'm so thankful to the mentors and the judges. And I know I said it earlier, but I don't know if all the dancers were on. Tim, you were amazingly generous and amazingly instructive and strong in the right moments and then nurturing when necessary after you knock us off our feet. It was an very, very fascinating and wonderful, wonderful experience that I look forward to everyone having the opportunity to experience again and again and again. So thank you, all of you. I am feeling my heart really full right now, and I'm— in this time for that to happen, wow, that's pretty phenomenal. So I hope you're all feeling really, really good too.

Thanks everybody.

Thank you.

Thank you.