Lean Back, Relax; Here Come the Snacks

October 29, 2013

In the coolest move in aerospace history (OK, apart from space travel and the whole flying thing in general), Virgin America has commissioned a new dance piece to replace the boring, old in-flight safety video. And when you want something slick, fresh, commercial and smart, who else would you call but director extraordinaire Jon Chu?

 

Choreographed by Christopher Scott and Jamal Sims, the video stars singer/songwriter Todrick Hall. Dancers include some of The LXD creators’ usual suspects like Chadd “Madd Chadd” Smith, So You Think You Can Dance-ers Cyrus Spencer and Sasha Mallory, and even our August 2012 cover gal Tyne Stecklein. What’s even cooler? The video is 100 percent FAA compliant, and even some of the airlines’ own on-board flight crew sing and dance right alongside the pros. The VX Safety Dance can be seen on Virgin America flights starting November 1, but you just have to check it out now:

 

 

 

If you watch the behind-the-scenes video—which I also highly recommend—neither Chu, nor Scott or Sims mention the grand-daddy of all airplane dances as inspiration: “Take Off With Us,” Bob Fosse’s sexy creation in All That Jazz. (In the film, choreographer Joe Gideon was commissioned by an airline’s ad team.) But is it even possible to put the words “dance” and “airplane” together and not think of Fosse? As they say in the song, “lean back, relax,” and enjoy: