Loughlan Prior’s Ballroom Dancing

To continue our recent celebration of 25 to Watch Live, this week we’re featuring three dance films from artists featured in 2025’s “25 to Watch” in a mini Friday Film Break Festival. On his dance film Ballroom Dancing, choreographer Loughlan Prior explains:

“I’d been creating a lot of large-scale narrative work for the stage, and so the chance to make something small and personal for film was a really joyful and intimate experience. It all began with a scenario, a spark of curiosity—and a billiards table. Could a game of pool become a dance floor? Could flirtation and fantasy unfold across green felt and polished wood?

“From that playful question, Ballroom Dancing came to life. The table became our stage, a world where seduction meets eccentricity, and the ordinary is transformed through quick twitch movement. Royal New Zealand Ballet principals Ana Gallardo Lobaina and Joshua Guillemot-Rodgerson brought the duet into vivid focus, and we crafted a language for the camera that flirts between the surreal and the sincere—sharp glances, mischievous gestures, and a choreography that balances precision with spontaneity.

“Shot in close quarters by Jeremy Brick, the film captures the details that might be missed on a traditional stage: the flick of a wrist, the glint of a smile, the magnetic push and pull between two bodies in motion. Every moment was crafted to echo the playful brilliance of Oliver Davis’ score, where lightness, energy, and surprise weave together in perfect harmony.”