Industry Watch
Talking About Dance: A Videographer’s Inspiration
Talking About Dance: A
Videographer’s Inspiration
When
we first saw Melissa Johnson’s commercial featuring Custom Barres, we were
thrilled. We sent the Master’s degree candidate a new freestanding barre and
asked her to reshoot her class project for our site. (Both versions of the
commercial are posted above.)
We
caught up with Melissa, who is on her way to becoming a quadruple threat in
Hollywood: an actress, writer, producer and director, via email to find out
more about her work, her studies and her dance workout.
Q You are still in school
full time. What are you studying?
A I did undergrad at Yale
University where I was a double major in Art with a concentration in
Photography and Psychology with a concentration in Art Therapy.
I
am currently working on an online Master’s degree in Creative Writing, studying
to be a screenwriter. It is a accelerated 12-month program in which we take a
different class every month. I’ll graduate this year!
Q Are you working while you
pursue your master’s?
MJ I am a full time actress.
Q What is your career goal?
MJ I always tell people I
want to be the female version of Denzel Washington, that is to say I want to be
an actress/writer/producer/director.
Q Tell us about your Custom
Barres commercial: Which class assigned the video project?
MJ The project was for my
Character Creation and Development class. We were asked to pick a product that
would compliment the main character from our thesis project. We were initially
given a commercial rubric and asked to write the commercial script. The
following week, were told to produce the commercials using either still
photography or video.
Q How did you find out about
Custom Barres?
MJ I have actually always
wanted my own portable barre, so I just Googled it and found Custom Barres’
website!
A How did you come up with
your creative concept?
MJ My character, Maria
Ambitsiya, is a hardworking biomedical research scientist who spends most of her
days in her lab or office; however, she harbors a secret love for her childhood
ballet studies. The idea that Maria could come home after a really long workday
and still be able to dance even though most studios are closed just wrote
itself!
Q Tell us about your dance
life: When did you start dancing?
MJ I've heard family stories
that I started ballet when I was very young, like two or three, but it didn't
last long enough to form a memory. It wasn't until college in 2008 that I was
able to get back into classes. I have performed liturgical dance with my church
since I was about 15.
Q Are there other dancers
in your family?
MJ My aunt, Andrea, the
actress in the second video, was the one who got me into all things
entertainment really. She studied several forms of dance and performed in the
theater for as long as I can remember. I've followed in her footsteps in many
ways.
Q What forms of dance have
you studied?
MJ I have taken classes in
ballet, hip-hop, and modern. As well as liturgical praise dance at church.
Q Now that you have your
own Custom Barre, where have you put it?
MJ I have in my living room,
just like in the commercial!
Q What kinds of workouts or
stretches are you doing at the barre?
MJ I mostly copy the barre
work I do in class: pliés, ronde jambes, battements, that kind of thing.
Q Is there a dance performance
space you use in LA?
MJ My church, One Church LA,
actually has a non-profit artist resource space in North Hollywood called the
ARC. They have a dance studio, which is where I have modern dance class on
Thursdays.
Q What do you love about
dance?
MJ I have a very busy mind.
It seems like my thoughts as constantly moving at a rapid-fire pace. There are
very few things that I can just lose myself in. Dance is one of those things.
Plus I heard someone once say it’s the closest thing to flying, and I love the
freedom of that.
Q What is the most
important thing you’ve learned through being a dancer?
MJ I hate to be cliché, but
Misty Copeland is kind of like my dance idol right now. You've seen her Under
Armour commercial, "I Will What I Want." In it she talks about how
she was basically told she'd never be a dancer, but she worked hard and gave it
her all and now she's a soloist with a premier ballet company. Dance is like that;
it gives back what you give to it. No matter who you are or your station in life,
there's a type of dance for everyone and the harder you work at it the more it
pays off. I love that about dance, and life.
Follow
Melissa on Twitter at @ahmusen