Veneration Of The Holy Mother – A Motion Picture Fantasy Ballet

Using the Holy Mother, recognized around the world as an eclectic symbol of woman, inspiration, motherhood and devotion, ‘Veneration of the Holy Mother’ is a full length motion picture ballet fantasy. It is set in the flamboyant, edgy world of 1986 Key West, Florida on the eve of the autumnal carnival celebration, locally known as ‘Fantasy Fest.’

Writing a film script for a ballet/dance film is an unusual task. The script is a ‘guide’ bringing together a story line that will come alive through the choreography, music and camera. We have teamed up with a newly established European film studio where the Parade sequences will be shot.

One of the ideas behind the motion picture is to blend dance with masterful works of art and sculpture, creating a unique cornucopia of beauty on film. Add to that a musical soundtrack ranging from classical, operatic, liturgical, Gospel, American songbook classics, Hebrew, Hindi, Brazilian, Latin, original compositions, and iconic Disco tunes.

The choreography is as diverse and exotic as the musical score. It features a wide variety of dance styles including contemporary and classical ballet, tap, SWOP, salsa, tango, circus arts, hip-hop, disco, mime, and acrobatic partnering.

Our principal choreographer and workshop director, Chris Houston – access his full biography and demo reel at www.christopherhouston.com – brought together a group of dancers from Franco Dragone’s, ‘A New Day’ Celine Dion spectacular, Cirque du Soleil and Celine Dion’s World Tour ‘Taking Chances.’

As elements of the film production continue to fall into place, we are focusing our attention on bringing our dancers together for a series of intensive workshops. We have three economic goals working simultaneously with our first ‘crowdfunding’ initiative.

Through IndieGOGO we have set our sights on reaching $23,500, which will be used primarily to defray fees and costs, plus jump-start our dance workshops.

Our fees and administrative costs include: legal, accounting, insurance, licensing fees, music editing and mixing/music engineer, graphic design, web design, office expenses, plus equipment rental (video cameras etc).

Workshop expenses include payment to dancers, choreographers, artistic director, rehearsal piano, studio rental, camera crew fees, designers, props and furnishings.

We will be filming all workshop rehearsals and informal gatherings. The footage will be incorporated into our ‘B-roll’ documentary film, ‘The Making of ‘Veneration Of The Holy Mother.’

The workshops will give the dancers the opportunity to share with each other, enhance their styles and techniques, understand motivations and inspire. The choreography for the film will be influenced by the styles and strengths of each principal and featured dancer. As Chris Houston explains,

“From classical dance, to contemporary styles, and from musical theatre to cutting edge dance techniques including stunning high level acrobatics, I envisage a fusion of styles, which is both pleasing to the eye and astoundingly singular.”

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