BRATTLEBORO — An artistic collaboration between local organizations has received national recognition. Juno Singles is a series of four videos featuring acrobatic “responses” by aerial performers from Nimble Arts to four compositions recorded by the Juno Orchestra.
The series was named Best of Entertainment and Arts Series by an Independent Producer at the Alliance for Community Media's Hometown Media Awards, held recently in Chicago. The videos were produced by local filmmaker Angus Reid and submitted to the contest by Brattleboro Community TV (BCTV), which aired the videos and attended the awards presentation.
The project started when Juno Orchestra commissioned four local composers to create 15-minute works for string orchestra, each of which the orchestra recorded in front of a limited audience in spring 2021, with concert videography by Austin Rice.
The next phase was for aerial and acrobatic performers from the circus company Nimble Arts, under the direction of Serenity Smith Forchion, to create movement responses to each composition.
Finally, filmmaker Angus Reid worked with the artists to produce a series of films for the camera based on their choreography and using the orchestral recordings as a soundtrack.
“Circus videography is often just a straight documentation, hoping to measure up to the experience of seeing the show when it was performed live,” Reid said in a news release. “It was great to have this opportunity to create circus films that could exist only in the world of film, taking advantage of the perspectives of the camera and the combination of images and scenery that editing allows,” said Reid.
“BCTV was proud to submit such a high quality local production representing collaborative work by excellent artists and performers,” said BCTV Executive Director Cor Trowbridge. “Winning this award brings well-deserved attention to the incredible talent of our region.”
The last time a video series submitted by BCTV won this award was in 2019 for Derrik Jordan's “The World Fusion Show.”