Entertainment

“Once There Was III” — A Mesmerizing Blend of Dance, Animation and Tech | Nina McNeely | TED

A talented trio of dancers brings to life choreographer Nina McNeely’s contemporary dance piece “Once There Was III.” Settle in for a dazzling, hypnotic performance. Creator, animator and choreographer: Nina McNeely Dancers: Karen Chuang, Allison Mehay and Diana Schoenfield, from Entity Contemporary Dance in Los Angeles Music: “Recurse” by Umru; “Surcharge” by Umru and Warpstr;…

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A talented trio of dancers brings to life choreographer Nina McNeely’s contemporary dance piece “Once There Was III.” Settle in for a dazzling, hypnotic performance.

Creator, animator and choreographer: Nina McNeely
Dancers: Karen Chuang, Allison Mehay and Diana Schoenfield, from Entity Contemporary Dance in Los Angeles
Music: “Recurse” by Umru; “Surcharge” by Umru and Warpstr; “Linkrot” by Umru
Costumes: LVDF Design

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49 Comments

  1. Peter Weller

    August 26, 2022 at 1:29 pm

    Reminds me of albeit a way slicker and multimedia of jr. high school seminar of modern dance presentation.

  2. idk why but

    August 26, 2022 at 1:34 pm

    Oh. This was great. How did this all work? How are these no reflections or refractions on the background?

  3. listen2meokidoki

    August 26, 2022 at 1:34 pm

    Silly.

  4. idk why but

    August 26, 2022 at 1:35 pm

    This was just live surrealism. Marvellous.

  5. idk why but

    August 26, 2022 at 1:38 pm

    Nina is an _amazing_ artist. So, incredibly intriguing!

  6. Chuck Lauer Vose

    August 26, 2022 at 1:39 pm

    I wasn’t properly warmed up for this. I sincerely hope that the audience was or this would have belly flopped there too.

    I sincerely hope the musician will consider leading into the dubstep with something a little less caustic at first.

    Maybe this was just taken out of context where it made more sense. Dunno, too early in the morning for me tbh.

  7. Blaze

    August 26, 2022 at 1:43 pm

    I don’t know what I’m more weirded out by: the video, or the comment section…

    • Jen McGraw

      August 27, 2022 at 1:25 am

      This is nasty not right

  8. Kate Uhler

    August 26, 2022 at 1:44 pm

    WOW – Amazing!! Beautiful and haunting, and an ingenious use of art, light, sound, staging, electronica, and dance.

  9. Walshy

    August 26, 2022 at 1:47 pm

    I wasn`t mesmorised

  10. yoder bird

    August 26, 2022 at 1:53 pm

    this is utterly pretentious.

  11. Silent Reader

    August 26, 2022 at 1:56 pm

    Does the eye meant illuminati

    • REVEAL YOUR INNER PERSONALITY

      August 26, 2022 at 1:57 pm

      Me 2 searching for ans

    • Jack Callahan

      August 26, 2022 at 9:54 pm

      A biblically accurate angel

  12. Mana Aier

    August 26, 2022 at 3:25 pm

    wTF?

  13. Eskapismus

    August 26, 2022 at 3:27 pm

    ok.

    • Eskapismus

      August 26, 2022 at 3:31 pm

      Pretty cool tbh. And Nina seems so nice and eloquent. <3

  14. Paladin Trist4n

    August 26, 2022 at 3:33 pm

    The shadow demons in my dreams be like

  15. pfarabee

    August 26, 2022 at 5:20 pm

    If by mesmerizing, you mean silly, pretentious, and a rather derivative impersonation of much better attempts at merging projection tech and dance, then yeah, I guess.

  16. landofthelivingskies

    August 26, 2022 at 5:49 pm

    Gosh I loved it. Fantastic.

  17. harshbutt

    August 26, 2022 at 6:03 pm

    hahaha

  18. Freddy Vejen

    August 26, 2022 at 7:45 pm

    Why do you ruin the experience by cutting it to pieces? The performance should be shown from the view of a member of the audience, close-ups and switching cameras kills the experience.

    • Jack Callahan

      August 26, 2022 at 9:53 pm

      Dunno bout that

  19. NullBlox.ZachryWilsn

    August 26, 2022 at 8:08 pm

    HOLY TOLITO THIS WAS BEYOND WORDS!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!

  20. Tamay Aytam

    August 26, 2022 at 8:48 pm

    I prefer yoko ono. She has more art. Art art art until you choke to death.

  21. Val Jones, Da Oracle

    August 26, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    Gave me a headache. 👁 will pass thank you. ✌🏿

  22. Kevin L

    August 26, 2022 at 9:55 pm

    Very cool.

  23. Melissa0774

    August 27, 2022 at 12:47 am

    I wonder if it’s hard for the dancers to see and be careful not to fall off of the blocks with the light from the projectors in their eyes and the light changes. I imagine that would be the hardest thing about doing this, for them, anyway.

  24. Green_Irishman

    August 27, 2022 at 1:05 am

    Well, that’s enough Internet for me today

  25. right? -

    August 27, 2022 at 3:15 am

    Glory to God

  26. Shaun Rankin

    August 27, 2022 at 4:42 am

    Lurking in the shadows of the mind, feels like a dream, create illusions… totally not demonic 🙈🖕🏻

  27. Alan Sarthou

    August 27, 2022 at 7:36 am

    The effects are as exceptional as the dancers. But I’ve liked to hear a story while they danced it. The whole wired sounds + strange images can be cool for a while, but it got so boring after a while…

  28. උපුල් පල්ලෙකුඹුර

    August 27, 2022 at 7:54 am

    The Video Transitions & editing have killed the true beauty of this art piece!

  29. SWEETGA BROWNIN

    August 27, 2022 at 5:25 pm

    Absolutely intriguing. TFS

  30. Raju Bhuriya.GJ.20

    August 27, 2022 at 5:43 pm

    Hi 👍👍👍

  31. Noah Lantz

    August 27, 2022 at 6:16 pm

    This was terrifying – it’s like if the Nun decided to take ballet with her sisters 👀👀👀

  32. robotmuratyalçınsoner robot

    August 27, 2022 at 7:14 pm

    ✝✝🧕🧕✅✅

    ❌❌👩‍🦰👩‍🦰❌❌

  33. robotmuratyalçınsoner robot

    August 27, 2022 at 7:14 pm

    stop

    • Rob

      August 28, 2022 at 6:50 am

      Hammer time.

  34. Cassy Nicole

    August 27, 2022 at 7:34 pm

    Wow! I’ll be sharing this everywhere. Thanks TED! 🤩👍💯

  35. Animation Team

    August 27, 2022 at 7:47 pm

    very nice animation video 😃😃😃

  36. Naimur Rahman

    August 28, 2022 at 7:55 am

    Do not worry, for this is only a very legen- I mean rare, very rare – legendary doesn’t seem right here – so… ahem… fear not, for this is only an extremely – yeah, extremely seems about right here – an extremely rare case of tinkering with the projectors, and it will be done eventually. So fear not.

    The people watching this that don’t know what art is and what projectors are:

    • Naimur Rahman

      August 28, 2022 at 7:57 am

      6:43 As you can see…

  37. Brenda Montgomery

    August 28, 2022 at 5:32 pm

    1/3 jajaja

    • 🌟WhatApp ME+𝟏𝟓𝟏𝟖𝟗𝟑𝟑𝟖𝟗𝟎𝟓

      August 29, 2022 at 8:53 am

      Thanks~~~~

    • 🌟WhatApp ME+𝟏𝟓𝟏𝟖𝟗𝟑𝟑𝟖𝟗𝟎𝟓

      August 29, 2022 at 8:53 am

      I appreciate you D👆M👆 watching and supporting the YouTube channel, I have something to share with you🤗

  38. Average White Guy

    August 30, 2022 at 8:22 am

    Complete and utter garbage, which seems to fit with the current trend of TED ‘talks’ 🤷🏻‍♂🤦🏻‍♂

  39. Aaron Wilson

    August 30, 2022 at 12:10 pm

    I’m not sure what is worse…the comments or the content….

  40. Invox

    September 2, 2022 at 10:14 pm

    There seems to be something wrong with the sound quality… Or is it this bad on purpose?

    Oh god… It’s dubstep.
    (and them he stopped watching) 😳

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