The Exec. Artistic Director, Jamel Gaines, is who I would consider my mentor in and outside of the internship. He’s taught me a lot about the dance/theater world and how to deal with people whom he calls “Divas”. He gave me guidance on the projects I was doing to make sure it had an artistic touch to it so it could attract more people who would be interested in seeing his showcase. There was a completely dirreferent way to design flyers with dancers apart of it. I learned that cutting out the foot, no matter how much, is a big no no. The body is the most important focal point for flyers and social media posts, and text should only be used if necessary. For example, the title of the show and the name of the company. From the photos to the body copy language he taught me how to translate his vision of his company into cohesive designs that speak for themselves.
The most tedious part of this process was sitting with him and finding the perfect photo. Photos I liked, he didn’t enjoy because of the way the photo was taken or because of the pose the dancer was in and photos he liked I had a hard time working with them because there wasn’t enough space to work or the photo was difficult to edit and was time consuming.
Overall, I have to thank Mr. Gaines for helping guide me through this process because eventually, I produced something that he loved and can use for future years to come (If he doesn’t find a better photo he likes).
