The ballerinas at the Royal Danish Theatre are not messing around.
Tutu-clad dancers wield AK-47s in a new ad for the theater, celebrating the many hands and hard work that go into putting on a season's worth of live shows.
Scene designers drip paint, wardrobe artists labor over sewing machines, musicians practice their instruments backstage, singers warm up their voices, and actors get into character in the gorgeously shot, busy-bee montage promoting the arts institution, which presents ballet and opera.
But the shots of daintily posed ladies holding and cocking assault rifles are, perhaps unsurprisingly, the video's most striking.
Whether the guns are purely a metaphor for the power of their craft, or more literal props in a rehearsal, is not immediately clear. Either way, it's an effective and efficient way to capture the intensity of their preparations.
And while the travails of the artist are generally a tired trope, the clip, created by agency Wichmann/Schmidt, is visually rich and surprising in little ways—zany costumes, engaging sets, enigmatic snippets of performances—while staying light enough so it hangs together.
Probably best not to be the dancer that misses her cue, though, and draws the ire of her colleagues—even more so in this troupe than usual.
CREDITS
Client: Royal Danish Theatre
Agency: Wichmann/Schmidt
Production Company: New Land
Director: Casper Balslev