Behind The Scenes Of "Reflection"

We're so excited to share our short art film we produced, "Reflection" with you all!

Cinematographer: Will Fryar

Talent: Jacqueline Gionet

Producers: Luckyleo Dancewear

As dancers, we've all struggled from time to time with seeing ourselves as beautiful in our own right. It's difficult to see such incredible dancers show up on your social media feeds every day, and to look into the mirror as you dance in class and only see your imperfections.  In some ways, this is good, since it helps us strive to be more and more refined in our art form.  But when it's taken to an extreme, we loose our creativity and become obsessed with an ideal that cannot be attainable for all.

This film is a result of our view on self, on the healthy balance of perfection and acceptance, and was such an emotional subject for us to tackle in this collaborative film "Reflection" we created with our good friends Will and Jacqueline.

Have you ever taken a step outside, in a park or out in the wilderness, and felt totally at peace, and totally free?  That's the kind of beauty we want to promote.  The natural, unique, expressive self that we all (as creatives) want to flourish. And perfection is only a means to better communicate our view on the world.  It's never truly attainable, and the sooner you realize that the better a dancer you'll become.

This incredible art form called ballet has so many roots steeped in this perfectionism viewpoint.  We really believe that acceptance of your unique abilities and natural attributes can help you grow in a way that obsession over perfection never can.  Nature is such a wonderful representation of that beauty, and that's why we featured that so heavily in our film and in our prints and design aesthetic as a company.

We had an unbelievably fun time shooting this with our awesome and talented friends Will and Jacqueline! We got to shoot in the wild mountains of Colorado, next to rivers and valleys with fresh springs, and inside a beautiful natural light studio with tons of mirrors. Lots of time was spent in between shots cleaning smudges and fingerprints off of the glass!

During our outdoor shooting portion, Jacqueline mentioned she felt something in her pointe shoe... We soon found out it was an entire cactus that had poked through the satin of her heel! She was such a trooper, and we were able to get all the spikes out with a pair of tweezers we happened to have. Now that's a real hardcore ballerina right there, looking serene and beautiful through it all...

Thank you so much for coming along for the journey and watching our film, Reflection! This is a reminder from us to keep working, keep perfecting, but be kind to yourself as well.  Reflect on the fact that we all have our struggles and abilities, and we all can grow more and more in our art if we support each other and lift each other up, remembering our unique place in this crazy world.

To shop any of the looks Jacqueline wears in the film, click HERE!