Reese Madison

^{Directing a dance video to celebrate and travel through four decades of music.}

As the Co-Artistic Coordinator of NSQK Dance, an open-style exhibition dance team based in Los Angeles, I led the concept and execution of a 5-minute dance video inspired by MTV and the music I grew up listening to. We produced a social media campaign, live performance and video premiere with over 40 creatives and dancers.

Art Direction, Video, 3D, Sound, Visual Identity & Movement

Time: June 2025 - December 2025
Co-directed with Minh Le
Team Coordinators: Jennifer Nguyen, Megan Jutabha, Nairi Khemichian
Tools: Premiere, Illustrator, After Effects, Blender, Canva, Pinterest

CONSTRUCTING THE NARRATIVE

Defining the scope of a “perfect throwback” with MTV.

We wanted to find a way suit our team’s various dance styles cohesively, while creating a compelling story about music over time. Thinking through my childhood and personal relationship with music, I landed on the perfect reference for our video: MTV’s Greatest Hits.

Approaching our dance and video through the perspective of NSQK TV: The Decades Edition, was our decision to ensure we played into current throwback trends in pop culture while bringing our unique spin to it.

VISUAL IDENTITY AND VFX

Weaving the old with the new, just like music does.

DIRECTING PHOTOSHOOT AND GRAPHICS

Hinting at our concept through social media.

For NSQK, we keep the explicit themes of our dances a surprise until our debut performances. We directed a conceptual photoshoot for our team members to lead our social media campaign, and provide small hints to our theme for the season.

We took a different approach to the “retro” concept in producing these assets to remain on theme, but not give away out exact theme.

Photo via Sarah Hyun

THE FINISHED PRODUCT

Gaining thousands of new eyes across the Internet.

This season became NSQK’s most interactive, engaged and widespread thus far - across our socials, we:

amassed over 100k views in the first week, 8x higher than our second-highest campaign
gained 36% of our new followers through this campaign
saw a 20% increase in auditionees during our next season, where 70% of participants found NSQK either through our live performance or our socials campaign.

REFLECTIONS

This wouldn’t have been possible without all the friends and mentors who helped us along the way. Also, I’m a part of the best dance team ever.

I can’t express the gratitude I hold for my team, friends, mentors and NSQK alumni who helped us bring this video from idea to finished concept. A special shoutout to my Co-Director Minh, who is a true juggernaut and creative force. Being entrusted with our season and producing such a great outcome pushed me in my leadership, communication and creative skills as a choreographer and multimedia artist.

NEXT PROJECT

Updated: March 2026