Soft Opening Shoot

Saturday was meant to be just a practice day, to get used to our gear and to let our featured dancer have some rehearsal time. Instead, a major issue ("the batteries don't fit!!!") intervened. Suddenly, we had to scramble, even to get the power to the cameras! Thanks to a friend (Thank you Shane of DC Visionaries) we found a work-around.

The next challenge was rain. Scouting our Meridian HIll Park location, we realized that we might need to take advantage of the overcast skies to shoot in a hurry. If our actual day--Sunday--was rained out, we might not capture the beautiful background we had reserved our permit for.

More technical problems: the bluetooth speaker for the music could barely be heard by the dancer, especially when a helicopter started circling overhead. We had to use a number of "old school" solutions.

Then came rain. "Hurry! Throw tarps over all the equipment!" We huddled under one tarp, all the crew together, hugging the equipment. People stared. We ventured out when the raindrops slowed.

Our intrepid dancer, Jacque Nyunguru, was dancing with special shoes that allowed his toes to protrude, but the stamps and turns soon brought abrasions and blisters. In between takes, we tended to his feet with witch hazel, neosporin and bandaids.

Random passersby were recruited as "behind the scenes" camera operators. We were readying for the steady cam (gimbal) shoot when it started sprinkling again. Unwilling to stop, we clustered around the gimbal operator, sheilding him from the drops. As he moved, the other four of us moved with him, one guiding, one holding the music speaker, one protecting the equipment from the rain.

Following Jacques' movement, we waltzed around the area, like some kind of 10-legged creature, to the great amusement of onlookers. But we got the shot!

So, our "soft opening" was excited packed with adventure, exhausting, but very satisfying!