The choreography is inspired by the world-famous ‘white acts’ from Romantic ballets like Swan Lake, La Bayadère and Les Sylphides. The ballet was choreographed by Peter Leung, a former dancer with Dutch National Ballet, to music composed by Robin Rimbaud (Scanner). It was directed by Jip Samhoud and Marijn Korver from &samhoud media. Night Fall is a co-production by Dutch National Ballet, &samhoud media and Chester Music. The Samsung Galaxy S7 and Gear VR provide the technology that makes it possible to produce the first ballet in Virtual Reality.
Choreographer Peter Leung: ‘It was quite a challenge to coordinate all the different aspects and to see if it would work, as a Virtual Reality ballet has never been created before. The filming was a totally new experience for me as well. We had to hide away and not get in the camera’s sightline, as it films everything in 360 degrees. That meant that I couldn’t see how a take had gone. The result, however, is poetic and magical’.
Director Jip Samhoud is proud of the collaboration. ‘It’s very special to combine this new technology with such a classical art form. The result is magical, as the viewer is literally in among the dancers, in the middle of the stage. You get a sense that the dancers are creating a performance especially for you. It’s a really extraordinary experience’.
‘Virtual Reality has the unique quality of changing experiences. Since the introduction of the Gear VR, new experiences have become accessible to the general public’, says Gerben van Walt Meijer, Marketing Manager Mobile of Samsung Nederland. ‘We are really proud to have been able to create this first-ever VR ballet experience together with Dutch National Ballet’.
Anyone with a smartphone can watch the film. To optimise the experience, it is best to use a Samsung Gear VR or a smartphone in combination with a Cardboard. And the experience is completed by using headphones.
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