QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE – THE WAY YOU USED TO DO | Beach Odyssey by Leo Hepler (Edited extract)

Edited extract from Leo Hepler’s brilliant piece “Beach Odyssey” with his friends and fellow dancers with the Dutch Nationale Ballet (a.k.a. HET Ballet) Emma Mardegan, Mila Nicolussi Caviglia, and my boy, Bela Erlandson. (Part of the Dutch Nationale Ballet’s amazing “New Moves” collection!)
I made edits to the extract & changed the music to the song “The Way You Used To Do” by Queens of the Stone Age.

I have been trying to find a dance to use this song in for over a year now, but just wasn’t able to make it work. And then I was watching “Beach Odyssey” again, and it hit me! Why didn’t I think of this before? 🙂

***AS ALWAYS, I can’t stress enough how important it is to watch the ACTUAL work of art! My video is just an edit and could never do justice to the artwork’s true beauty! SO PLEASE watch the REAL, unedited performance by clicking here!!! — https://youtu.be/L76-CLSmW5c

*****PLEASE check out the Dutch Nationale Ballet’s YouTube channel, which has more videos from the “New Moves” collection (with much more) & subscribe! — https://youtube.com/c/DutchNatOperaBallet
They are, in my humble opinion, the best ballet company the world over, and home to Miss Anna Ol (the greatest ballerina on earth…no big deal), along with scores of the best dancers the world has to offer. They are incredibly generous and upload a ton of long ballet clips, as well as FULL ballet performances and dance films (yes, you read that correctly)!
**I thank the Dutch Nationale Ballet for giving us poor souls, who could never watch your beautiful productions in person, access to them virtually—and free of charge!

*****PLEASE consider donating to the Dutch Nationale Ballet! I am sure that the SARS-CoV-2 situation hit them hard, and they could use our support. Let us all show them our sincere gratitude! 🙂
*****Visit their website www.operaballet.nl for more information on tickets for upcoming performances (which you can livestream from home) & other ways to support this beacon of beauty to the world! 🙂
*****And if you are interested in making a one-time donation, here is a direct link to make it easy for ya! — https://www.operaballet.nl/en/support-us/give-once-dutch-national-opera-ballet
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**Some Impassioned Notes on “Beach Odyssey”:

The greatest pleasure I get from actively editing a performance is that, akin to reverse engineering, I get to see & study all of the tiniest parts that make up the whole dance, and it enables me to develop a deeper intimacy with and love & respect for its beauty. This is why I’ve especially been wanting to edit “Beach Odyssey” since I first saw it.
To begin, Emma and Mila are so adorable in this—which I do not say condescendingly. Really, their dancing is cute, warm & welcoming, and both express such distinct individualities in their style and pace. They have danced and contributed to this piece expertly.
Listen. Okay, we have to talk about BELA ERLANDSON. (Lol) His performance in Milena Sidorova’s “Rose” is the first I saw of him, and he was fantastic. His variation felt so reminiscent of my favorite male variation performance: Nikita Chetverikov in “Radio & Juliet.” So I loved him as soon as I saw “Rose.” BUT then I see this?!—WHAT?! “Rose” was holding out on us. Those leaps?! Am I right? Just clutchin’ my pearls the whole time…. And, mark my words—Bela Erlandson will be the next generation’s Nikita Chetverikov. BIG TIME.

FINALLY: LEO HEPLER (who danced and choreographed the piece) has a VERY bright future ahead of him as a choreographer (and he’s an excellent dancer as well)! When editing this piece I started to see that it has this amazing duality, which is perfectly balanced—a sense of choreographed freestyle. It’s astounding. That air of “freestyle” (which I mean as something amounting to a dancer moving based upon his or her own quick-paced, natural inclinations, their skill, mood, and imagination, etc.) is something I’ve always wanted to really see in ballet. (Imagine a ballet dance battle…. That would be awesome.) But then the question arises—how does one achieve that precise degree of frivolity in the choreography without concurrently stripping the dance of what actually distinguishes it as Ballet-proper (and thus, categorically beautiful)?
Well, Mr. Leo figured it out. I am really looking forward to watching more of his work in the future.
Mr. Leo: you’re a genius. Thank you. 🙂

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