Dance Video: Research

RESEARCH

Zoi Tatopoulos

Zoi is a California born Greek choreographer who started dancing at just the age of four; starting with ballet. When she turned 7 she started training in other styles of dance as well including jazz, lyrical, tap and hip-hop. In 2007, she participated in the Greek So You Think You Can Dance where she came 3rd but soon moved back to California to persue her dream of becoming a choreographer.

I personally came across her work on YouTube when I was looking for experimental dance videos. I fell in love with Zoi Tatopoulos and her work. I don't know how to describe her dance style specifically because it's very "open". I would put it into the open dance category because it involves a mash-up of different dance styles which I really like. 

Experimental Dance Video

In terms of the style of dance and the movement that I would like from my dancer(s), I was really inspired how the dance moves are corresponding with the beat of the music. The video is not your average video, which I really appreciate about it, it stands out from many other dance videos out there.

GUMBALL

This video is a little different from the one above, because of the way it was shot. The choreography is amazing and I definitely would like to work with some dancers to choreograph movements of a similar style. What I like about this video over the other one is the camera movement, it's so smooth and captures the two dancers movement really well. The filming and editing style is consistent throughout; which makes it look a lot more commercial than the one above. 

KONTROL

My favourite and the video I'm going to be drawing the most inspiration from is Kontrol. I just think it was fantastically choreographed, amazingly shot and well edited. The dancers strong, powerful, sharp moves worked really well with the whole concept of being control, and I like the element of puppetry that Tatopoulos added to the choreography. The costume and makeup made the visuals look better, so costume is definitely something that I need to have a think about when it comes to how the video will look overall.