Responses by Pum Lefebure, chief creative officer and cofounder, Design Army.
Background: To celebrate the 45th anniversary of Hong Kong Ballet—and opening of its first-ever ballet academy—Design Army conceived a crazy inventive campaign that celebrates the universal language of dance. Our goal was to make ballet feel accessible to everyone while spreading the crazy joy of dance—and staying true to Hong Kong’s culture and heritage.
Design thinking: Wholly authentic to Hong Kong culture—while mashing inspiration from Degas’s ballerina portraits, the Renaissance age and artistic hip-hop—the film reimagines classic ballet like you’ve never seen. From the wildly witty “Tutu Academy” to the sci-fi extraterrestrial, it’s a defiantly unconventional, joyful journey connecting everyone (even aliens) to dance’s unearthly magic.
The renowned troupe of more than 50 people leads a Hong Kong tutu takeover, from its renowned university halls to the stunning plaza of Hong Kong’s cultural center Tai Kwun to the majestic High Island Reservoir. Eye-popping color, gravity-defying moves, sheer beauty and weirdness collide with koi fish-inspired hairdos, punk rockers on pointe, a jelly-like gold-toothed alien and a tutu-wearing spaceship ending. Always at the forefront and never standing still, this campaign freshly defines Hong Kong Ballet.
Challenges: Design Army created a wholly fresh visual world—including original concept, art direction, styling, set design and props—which was quite a challenge. We even handmade the spaceship! From avant-garde fashion to Renaissance-inspired pants to ballerinas in preppy crop-tops to jelly-like alien bodysuits, we conceived of and handmade every outlandish costume to keep viewers on their toes. Plus, shooting the dancers in the dam at High Island Reservoir was not easy—it’s packed with holes! But it was exciting to make that work, and that thankfully no one got injured.
Favorite details: We designed every quirky detail from the Tutu Academy’s logo to fun uniforms, and we played with graphic scale (from bird’s eye shots to silhouettes against architecture), circular repetition mimicking tutus at every turn, texture, sound, music and more. There are so many weird elements of surprise and delight—like the spaceship wearing a tutu! I also love the freshness we captured with a strong athletic man donning a tutu, which is so beautiful for any gender.
It was also a dream to work with long-time collaborators—director Dean Alexander and Hong Kong Ballet’s artistic director Septime Webre—to create a new masterpiece, a new reference that will stand the test of time. We hope this will be a classic dance film for many years to come.
Visual influences: We blurred impressionist, classic, heritage, future and pop eras. Specifically inspired by Degas’ beautiful ballerina portraits, we playfully wondered what the artist’s work would look like if we brought it to life today. The result is a story popping with the painter’s gorgeous coral hues mixed with Hong Kong’s heritage red—all juxtaposed with vivid shades of juicy jade, like the head-to-toe painted alien, that explode with extraterrestrial contrast. It’s a crazy mix of classic-meets-current!
Specific project demands: Music and sound design were so important to tell this story. Whether you dance to classic or pop—ballet, it’s all about joyfully expressing yourself. Starting with Johann Strauss’s classic The Blue Danube Waltz to hip-hopping ballerinas backdropped by Hong Kong culture, every element brings the delightfully unexpected.
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