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A Choreographed Collaboration

Carolina Performing Arts

Artists. Athletes.

We collaborated with Carolina Performing Arts, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and UNC Men’s Basketball on a short film.

Featuring dancer Michael Jackson Jr. and basketball player Caleb Love, the film highlights the melding of worlds between athletes and artists.

The Big Dance

In 1977, Marquette basketball coach Al McGuire first coined the term “The Big Dance” as a nickname for the NCAA basketball tournament. In this video, we used that as a frame to draw parallels between basketball and dance, following an elite basketball player and a world-class dancer as they prepare for a grand performance—the big dance.

Our ultimate goal is to bridge cultures and illustrate the commonalities between artists and athletes.

Alison Friedman, Executive and Artistic Director for Carolina Performing Arts

Improvisational Movements

For Caleb Love, it was the first time he had done a film like this. For Michael Jackson, Jr. it was a time to watch Caleb's moves and improvise his own movements. One working off the other to create a symbiotic visual.

Captive Audience

The video premiered before a crowd of 21,000 in UNC's Dean Smith Center during their January 7th game versus Notre Dame (which they won 81-64!).

Read more about the making of the video and its premiere over on our BTS blog.