The Dancer on the Staten Island Ferry

In case you missed it, this New York Times Sunday Magazine story offers a great example of How We Live/Dance/Film/Self-Finance these days.

What we have here is a seven minute collaboration between director Jacob Krupnick and classically-trained ballet refugee Anne Marsen. Shot guerilla-style on the Staten Island Ferry, the video features Marsen’s giddy pastiche of hip hop, ballet, modern and jazz dance. The soundtrack is also a pastiche of sorts, an excerpt from mashup DJ Girl Talk’s new album, “All Day.”

Grupnick posted the clip above as a teaser on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter in January, hoping to raise enough money to make it into a full-length dance film. He met his fundraising goal within 6 days, and the team starts shooting in April.

A note: It takes about two minutes for the action to really kick in, and if you’re listening to it from an office, be sure to turn the volume down first.

Sheerly Avni is a San Francisco-based arts and culture writer. Her work has appeared in Salon, LA Weekly, Variety, Mother Jones, and many other publications. You can follow her on twitter at @sheerly.


by | Permalink | Comments (4) |

Support Open Culture

We’re hoping to rely on our loyal readers rather than erratic ads. To support Open Culture’s educational mission, please consider making a donation. We accept PayPal, Venmo (@openculture), Patreon and Crypto! Please find all options here. We thank you!


Comments (4)
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
  • k. Smith says:

    First I have to state that I noticed the credits in the video on direction to Jacob Krupnick while in the article you mention it as James Krunick. I am just pointing out an assumed error.

    This direction, song choice and dancing are fantastic. I can see how creative the arts have to be in order to show us their work these days. Kudo’s to these collaborators.

  • Seth Harwood says:

    What is wrong with NEW YORKERS??? I mean, insouciance and being jaded are fine, but freaking smile, people!! WTF? How cool do you have to be to get to Staten Island?

  • Sheerly Avni says:

    To K. Smith: Thanks for the sharp eyes, we made the fix!
    -Sheerly

  • Curtis P. says:

    I saw some smiles and it made me smile. Why is it only children and artists smile?

Leave a Reply

Quantcast
Open Culture was founded by Dan Colman.