Future Classic’s seven-film visual album

Set in evocative buildings and spaces, each dancer is perfectly suited to their surroundings, trapped in habits that are interrupted by spontaneous dance and movement. 

After COVID-19 forced artists into lockdown Future Classic, a talent management and artists services company, realized they had almost 700 gifted and up-and-coming musicians in their inbox, hoping for a chance at the Studio Residency the company offers every year. Eager to support young and emerging artists, they collaborated with seven musicians and dozens of other creatives to produce the Shelter In Place series, with a portion of the proceeds from the music going to Heartland Alliance, a charity dedicated to providing emergency funds to marginalized communities most affected by the ongoing pandemic.

Directed by Ben Dean, and full of dark, deep lighting, the shadows that frame faces and doorways, the dancers in Future Classic, like in So Dumb, rage against routine and repetition, making their daily movements erratic and strange. Beautifully diverse, there are Black folks, older people, and middle-aged men dancing in their underwear, a unifying movement of maudlin emotion. The single take utilized focuses on each dancer, transforming their performance into performance art. “Themes of restlessness, isolation, and hope permeate the seven films,” Future Classic states, “which reflect the emotional impact of self isolation and the ways we can turn to artistic expression to escape them.”