{"id":764,"date":"2019-09-16T17:28:57","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T17:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/eva-air-in-flight-safety-video-featuring-dance\/"},"modified":"2023-12-26T17:43:34","modified_gmt":"2023-12-26T17:43:34","slug":"eva-air-in-flight-safety-video-featuring-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dancedispatches.com\/blog\/eva-air-in-flight-safety-video-featuring-dance\/","title":{"rendered":"EVA Air: In-Flight Safety Video Featuring Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After a very belated and very exhausting honeymoon, J and I boarded an EVA Air flight from Taipei to Hong Kong, where we would connect for our last leg to London<\/a>. I buckled in, but my eyelids were heavy, and I was just about to drift into dreamland when J gave me a stern poke, gesturing towards the screen. I wasn\u2019t surprised to see the EVA Air in-flight safety video playing, but I was<\/em> surprised that the Taiwanese airline chose to feature dance. Apparently, I\u2019m not the only one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTaiwanese airline EVA Air\u2019s pre-flight safety video is a genuine oddity in a field littered with creative interpretations.\u201d<\/p>\u2013 Ayun Halliday, Open Culture <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

If you’re interested in learning about screendance, see our interview with Omari Carter<\/a>, director of The Motion Dance Collective.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"EVA<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Industry In-Flight Safety Demonstrations and Videos<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most travelers have\nbecome accustomed to watching the airhostesses and stewards gesture in synchrony\nwith an audio recording. They fasten and unfasten their seatbelts, pull on\ninflatable life vests and point out the emergency exits. But as more planes\ninclude built-in entertainment screens, many in-flight safety demonstrations\nare now broadcast as video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although each airline must present similarly critical information, some succeed at making their in-flight videos more entertaining than their competitors. These companies seek to highlight their brand\u2019s style and personality. Virgin Atlantic\u2019s cartoon in-flight has a mix of blockbuster themes from superheroes to cowboys, and British Airways infuses their in-flight with a good dose of (infamous) British humour. Meanwhile, EVA Air certainly distinguishes their company by incorporating modern dance<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"EVA<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

EVA Air: Dancing In-Flight Safety Video<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lin Hwai-Min founded Taiwan’s most famous dance company, called Cloud Gate Dance Theatre; and the national dance troupe paved the way for many other modern dance companies to flourish. The dancers in Eva Air\u2019s in-flight safety video, directed by Taiwanese Robin Lin, follow choreography by Bulareyaung Pagarlava \u2013 a local with roots in Taiwan\u2019s indigenous Paiwan community. \u201cThe small crew of dancers spent three months translating the familiar directives into a vocabulary of symbolic gestures,\u201d according to Ayun Halliday in this Open Culture <\/a><\/em>article<\/a> about the creative video. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eva Air\u2019s video doesn\u2019t just feature modern dance; the short film showcases the dancers alongside 3-D projections to illustrate the aircraft\u2019s standard safety procedures. This means that the performers don\u2019t simply pantomime each action, which makes the video more interesting. However, the abstraction may make the important messages difficult for some audiences to understand, which would be cause for concern in case of an actual emergency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Middendorp<\/em><\/a>, director of Another Kind of Blue, is famous for his productions that combine dance and technology. His futuristic <\/em>Flirt with Reality<\/a> show cleverly incorporates projections on a live stage.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Craig White, author of \u201cEva Air\u2019s new safety video combines dancing and 3D-projection<\/a>\u201d for Business Traveller,<\/em> agrees. He explains: \u201cWhile the safety protocols that the video demonstrates are not always immediately clear from the performance, the background music and visually impressive sequences certainly make for an interesting viewing \u2013 a positive for a safety video, which are likely to often be ignored by seasoned travellers.\u201d In terms of actual flight safety, the Eva Air\u2019s dance-y video may be better suited to frequent flyers than first-time flyers, but it absolutely delighted me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out the EVA Air In-Flight Safety Video below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n