Richmond Ballet Elements of Dance

Working with Karnes Coffey Design and Photographer Eric Lusher, Alice Blue combined the live action of elegant dancers with beautiful post production artistry, creating a stunning campaign for The Richmond Ballet’s 2022-2023 Elements of Dance Season.

“When Karnes & Coffee came to me with the idea of elements, I was very excited about fire. After researching the Russian firebird ballet piece I really wanted to light paint a phoenix with fire as the dancer’s aura or essence. The concept for this campaign was that these elements are an extension of the dancer. So the firebird dancer leaping through a bird painted with fire seemed perfect.The Richmond Ballet connected us with 2 former fire dancers (Jonathan Sanford and Kierstin Kratzer), who we photographed at night in a remote location.”

-Eric Lusher

Alice Blue Studios Production Company
Campaign: Elements of Dance
Client: Richmond Ballet
Agency: Karnes Coffey Design
Co-Creative Directors/Art Directors: Christine Coffey, Jamie Mahoney
Director/Photographer: Eric Lusher
Executive Producer: Meredith Ott
Camera Assistant: Ben Corfield
Post Supervisor/Retoucher: Josh Zuercher
Producer: David Waraksa
Choreographer: Ma Cong
Costume Director: Emily Morgan
Firebird Costume Designer: Emma Kingsbury
Nutcracker Snow Queen Costume Designer: David Heuvel
Hair & Makeup: Kim Reyes
Fire Artists: Jonathan Sanford & Kierstin Kratzer

Dancers
Air: Eri Nishihara;
Earth: Naomi Wilson, Joe Seaton, Naomi Robinson, Garret McNally, Jack Miller, Ira White, Enrico Hipolito, Sabrina Sabino
Ice: Celeste Gaiera
Fire: Izabella Tokev
Space: Sarah Joan Smith & Colin Jacob
Water: Khaiyom Khojaev