Story behind Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Michael Jackson ONE’ “A Place With No Name” Video

Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Michael Jackson ONE’ cast celebrates
King of Pop with new “A Place With No Name” video
by Damien Shields


The cast of Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Michael Jackson ONE’ celebrates King of Pop today with the release of their “A Place With No Name” video tribute via the official Michael Jackson VEVO account.

The video was directed by MJ ONE performer and life-long Jackson fan Kany Diabaté, who worked together assistant director Ceraldo Moreau and script co-writer Cassandra Strickland. Cirque du Soleil photographer and videographer Aaron Felske served as director of photography on the project with Lexflow Unity contributing editing and effects and Malik “Skitzo” Williams starring as the lead in the clip.

The goal was to create a storyline within the video, as Jackson often did, with a beginning, a middle and an end. Although the Las Vegas landscapes don’t provide the perfect setting to literally interpret the grass, flowers and trees depicted in the song’s lyrics, Diabaté has still done an honorable job at carving out a storyline that is both entertaining and makes sense.

The project was not commissioned by Sony Music or The Estate of Michael Jackson, therefore was done without a budget. Essentially it’s a labour of love on the part of the Cirque show’s cast, who did everything on their own.

The video was filmed over the course of two weeks in June 2014 at several locations across Vegas including an abandoned Ghost Town gas station, open desert, The Strip and Mandalay Bay foyer and theatre – the home of Michael Jackson ONE – in the cast’s spare time between shows.

“I can’t even express what i feel right now,” said director Diabaté in a Facebook status today after the video went live around the world. “I always wanted to find a way to express my gratitude to MJ for bringing so much in my life, so this is for you. I hope you watch it somehow, somewhere!”

“A Place With No Name” marks the second video to come from one of the Michael Jackson-themed Cirque du Soleil productions. Earlier this year, when the ‘XSCAPE’ album was released, the ‘IMMORTAL’ cast issued an independent video for the original version of Jackson’s “Blue Gangsta”. See below:

Source: DamienShields.com

Michael Jackson
 XSCAPE
 A Place With No Name

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