Australian actor Hugh Jackman brings his song and dance act to Uruguay in the Lipton Ice Tea television commercial, “Join The Dance”. Sitting by the beach Jackman invites his chair to join him in The Feeling’s cover of the Men With Hats track The Safety Dance. “You can dance if you want to”. The chair begins to move to the beat of the song as a few people at the next table catch Jackman’s infectious energy, get out of their seats and begin to dance with him. As Jackson dances his way onto the boardwalk, and then along the streets and into the town square, more and more people are drawn to the upbeat spirit and join the hoofer, creating a huge procession dancing in synchronized step. Stick figures of a man and woman on restrooms doors sway to the beat, buildings revolve, the statue in the and even the square gets into the spirit.
Litza Bixler, who choreographed the “Join the Dance” advert, gives an instructional dance video, showing you how to perform the moves so you can “Join the Dance”. Click on the image below to play the instructional dance video in YouTube (HD)
Credits
The Join The Dance ad was developed at DDB London by creative director Nick Bell, creatives Fernando Tchechenistky and Pablo Batlle, agency producer Lucinda Ker.
Filming was shot in Montevideo and Punta del Este by director Luciano Podcaminsky via Radical Media, Stink and Landia, with producers Josh Barwick and Marcelo Fontao, director of photography Marcelo Camorino.
Visual effects were produced at Bitt Animation. Editor was Diego Panich at Wild(child) Editorial, New York. Panich talks about the work behind the scenes…
“The concept of the spot depended heavily on postproduction. Both Luciano and the agency wanted to include the maximum number of scenes. Jackman and the cast danced through over two dozen locations — each one more beautiful than the one before –- and we didn’t want to lose any of the richness that these scenes brought to spot. So the first challenge was to find a pace that worked with the tempo of the song, and still allowed me to weave an overabundance of scenes into a visual tapestry that didn’t feel rushed and gave viewers the time needed to take in what they were seeing. While maintaining the pace of the spot, it was also important to keep the feel of the long dance sequence spontaneous as more and more people joined the procession. At the same time, the high-tech CGI elements needed to flow with the tempo of the music without taking the focus off the dancers as their growing numbers built the momentum, right down to the last frame of the spot.”
Music is “The Safety Dance”, performed by The Feeling, represented by Universal Publishing, licensed through La Cupula. Talent was sourced through Platinum Rye.
somehow... felt like coke~