Swinging it in the top end

Swinging it a the old Darwin town hall ruins with
Quito Washington and Kelly Ann Doll

Today I woke up to a special start, and it wasn't anything as tame as bacon and eggs in bed either, my 0600 start was an opportunity to work with the indomitable Kelly Ann Doll filming a swing dance sequence for Swing Dance NT dance master, Quito Washington.

No stranger to the camera , Kelly is one of those people that can actually  provide energy  to invigorate a scene.  After just five minutes with her I could see she has (quite aptly) been described in the past as the 5 foot pin-up pocket rocket, and this girl can move!  Not just as a swing dancer either, Kelly Ann Doll has redefined the art of cabaret,was the first burlesque performer to tour Singapore and this year was a headlining star at the Australian Burlesque Festival with other featured Australian tours with Gangsters Ball, Burlesque Royale at Crown Casino and an boasting an endless list of premier events, functions and festivals all over Australia.

In front of the cenotaph on Darwin's esplanade

I had seen Kelly in action previously in the feature film 'Swing It' and her incredible assortment of stills work from her casting profile on Star Now, but the piece of media I found the most interesting was her Burlesque showreel on youtube check it out to see energy in abundance here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h64jIN6fUxg

Todays filming was shot pretty much 'guerilla style' - the idea is in your head and you just wing it at different locations and work out the shots as you go.  Relaxed, only semi-organised and a really good way of practising improv with limited gear.  I only brought the glidecam rig with the Canon 7D, a tripod,  an LED spot and a a panasonic AG-HMC41E for the morning and that pretty much covered all scenarios.  I'd almost forgotten how much fun unscripted shooting can be.

Murphys law invariably threw some clouds our way, but nothing that a little warming up in post editing can't fix.