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ARABESQUE VR

VR - AR - Development 2021

An immersive 360 short-film experience transporting the viewer into the ups and downs of the chaotic world of a passionate artistic director’s final performance of the Nutcracker ballet.

- Year of production
- 2021
- Genres
- VR - AR
- Countries
- CANADA
- Languages
- ENGLISH, FRENCH
- Budget
- 0.3 - 0.6 M$
- Duration
- 8 mn
- Synopsis
- A romantic celebration of holiday spirit, The Nutcracker ballet is a Christmas tradition that thousands dancers perform every year, from their first years as students till the ends of their professional careers.
  
  Arabesque weaves together three stories of La Belle Ballet de Montréal, a fictional world-class ballet company, as it stages the season’s final performance of
  The Nutcracker. The company’s artistic director prepares to take her final bow, a dancer in the corps du ballet must decide the direction of her career, and a young girl sees her first ballet and falls in love with it.
  
  Though she is not dancing tonight, for Masha Zemsky, artistic director, this is her last Nutcracker and her last night with the company. Famous as a muse for the com- pany’s founding choreographer, Ivan De- merov, Masha has remained faithful to her mentor’s vision for the company. But now, looking for new ballets, the board of directors is forcing her to. After being fired, Masha has lost her love for the ballet, but through this final performance, she may find it again.
  
  A key to rekindling that romance is six-year-old Amy. Before Amy was born, her mother danced at the La Belle Ballet. Her mother passed away several years ago, and Amy’s father is taking her to The Nutcracker for the first time. When Masha meets young Amy, the retiring artistic director will remember why she gave her life to dance.
  
  Hannah has grown up in La Belle Ballet du Montreal. She idolizes Masha, and Amy’s mother was her best friend. But after years in the corps, a smaller company has offered her a place as a principal dancer. Through tonight’s performance, seeing younger dancers perform roles that she performed in the past, seeing Masha’s farewell, Hannah will remember that the company is much more than just a job; La Belle Ballet du Montreal is her home.
  
  The film ends as the ballet ends, with Masha Zemsky taking her final bows to a grateful audience, with Amy in awe of the majestic spectacle, and with Hannah embracing a family she will never leave.