Behind the Scenes: Washington Ballet’s “Wonderland” Commemorative book premieres

This book is called “Wonderland” and is the brain child of the incredible Design Army , The Washington Ballet, and a photographer whose style takes one’s breath away, Cade Martin.

I have since received some of my best works through the Design Army/Cade combination and this is where it all started. I got a call to do about 4 scenes for The Washington Ballet and in no way knew this would be an amazingly grand production when getting into it. I walked into the Meridian House in Washington D.C. and saw all the lights, the fog, the costumes, the dancers, and already knew this would be unlike anything else I worked on before.

Oh, what it would be like to set up in a room like this all the time.

We started with our first dancers of the day, George Washington and King George III, also known as the Nutcracker and the Rat King. Septime Webre, dancer and extroidinary choreogapher for the Washington Ballet showed them what he would like to see in their upcoming scene they were playing out for Cade’s camera. I was fortunate enough to have my blackberry camera on me to get a few shots but not as fortunate to have a camera that worked very well. Alas, I wanted to include some of the behind the scenes shots to show the energy and hard work that went into this production.

Septime Webre showing the dancers the moves for the next shot.

That was practice, this was the magical moment that got caputred once they were on set.

Excerpt from the Washington Ballet Commemorative "Wonderland" Book

We had a couple more shots for a scene from “Carmen” and “The Nutcracker” as well as one of the bigger scale setups for The Nutcracker in which a number of children toy soldiers took part in.

Scene from "Carmen" of The Washington Ballet

Ballerina waiting for her cue for a "Nutcracker" scene

It was finally time for the last shot of the day which was a huge production. Tons of cute children and their parents took over the Meridian entrance in costumes of soldiers, bunnys, and even the older children donned outfits of scary rat soldiers! I think the pictures say it all…

They were all ready and gearing up to go outside and play their part. The young girl, Talia Statesman, who plays Claire in “The Nutcracker” was such a breath of fresh air. She was so talented, sweet, and so excited to be getting her hair and makeup done. I don’t think either of us was ready for the scene outside. On this chilly  fall day Cade and the Design Army created a misty morning scene with streaks of sunlight bursting through the trees. It was truly breathtaking in person and I have proof of just how much so. While I was playing a stand in for the moment I quickly snapped a pic with my dissapointing Blackberry camera phone without even framing the picture. When I went to look at what I caught of the ambiance this is what I saw staring back at me. 

These girls were ready to go and while the Rat Soldiers took their places I went back up to the front and grabbed a few more shots of the craziness.

With all that went into the shot, this is the stunning peice that came out of it!

I can’t stress enough how honored I was to work on such a magnificent piece and am looking forward to receiving my own book for my coffee table to share with my family. This Washington D.C. based book (The Capitol building is right on the cover of one of the editions!)  would make a wonderful gift for the Holidays for anyone from adults, to children, to artists alike! You can find the books at the Kennedy Center right now or order them online at The Washington Ballet’s website.

Tags: Cade Martin, Design Army, Featured, Hair and Makeup, Meridian House, The Nutcracker, Washington Ballet, Wonderland