top of page

Heavy Baile: Dancing in Old Paintings

Plain English

 

Heavy Baile is a music group from Brazil. Their music includes Afrobeat, Latin American, and Caribbean sounds.


They recently released a video of the track Noturno 150 in partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum is in New York, USA. It's the third most visited museum in the world.

 
In a dark room, dancer Ronald Sheik is looking at his phone screen. He is black skinned with shoulder lenght braids and wearing a green silk dressing gown.
 

The video begins with the dancer Ronald Sheick at home. He is isolated like all of us. Bored, Ronald Sheick takes out his cell phone. He starts a virtual tour inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 
The entrance to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's in a neo-classical style, with broad steps leading to the entrance.


The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 
In Ronalds hands: a mobile phone showin the virtual tour in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
 

He's viewing the museum's rooms and art works. Suddenly he notices a person moving in a painting.


Watch the Noturno 150 video to see what happens next.

 
 

Ronald sees himself dancing in famous old paintings.


Ronald Sheick is dancing “inside” the works of great masters in the museum. He is shoulder to shoulder with white people in the art work, bringing it alive.

 

-------- Advert --------

 

Ballerinas and Ronald Sheick in one painting.

Old painting of a ballet class with 9white female dancers in long white dresses. Ronald is dancing in the foreground.

One famous painting by Edgar Degas shows classical ballerinas.

Ronald changes the painting by entering it and dancing passinho.

Passinho is a dance style very popular in Brazil.

 

Painting of a church entrance. In the foreground, Ronald, a black-skinned man with braids is dancing. He is wearing orange shorts and a silk robe.


In the video Ronald dances from one old painting to the next.

 

Video director Daniel Venosa hit upon the idea for this video on a morning in June, when he was quarantined.


“I was taking a virtual tour of the museum and thought it was cool to be able to zoom in on the paintings to see them better. So, I had the idea of inserting a dancer in them!”

 

-------- Advert --------

 
Painting of a rural scene with people and farm animals. A black man in red shorts is dancing in the middle of the painting.

Ronald pops up dancing passinho in another painting.

 

Daniel shared the idea with Leo Justi, one of the founder members of Heavy Baile. Leo Justi too liked the idea and they got together with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to create the video for Noturno 150.

 
A painting of a sea-scape. Facing towards the sea is a man wearing a light colored cape.
 

Watch the Noturno 150 music video on YouTube.

Follow Heavy Baile on Instagram: @heavybaile.

Follow dancer Ronald Sheick on Instagram: @shk_cria.

 

Photos: Heavy Baile/video stills , Heavy Baile on Instagram , anielbaez0/Pixabay

Sources: ARTEQUEACONTECE , Nowness , Billboard

*Quotes are edited to Plain English.*

 

Back to all Plain English articles

 

bottom of page