here was almost nothing the talented Johnathan Rogers hadn?t seen or done during his long and successful career behind the lens ? whether it was working with CBS News, ABC News, CNN, the Bermuda Broadcasting Company, or capturing weddings ? but when Mrs. Wendy Davis Johnson, advisor to the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda, called him out of the blue last year and asked him if he would record for posterity the registered charity?s first-ever international summer dance intensive, he knew it would be a ?first? for both of them.

?We only have the first time once,? Mrs. Davis Johnson said.

?At no other time have we ever had a summer intensive of this magnitude.

?There will be more intensives, but there is never going to be another first one, so why don?t we record it for a short film for posterity??

Mr. Rogers was no stranger to shooting dance programmes as they had unfolded on stage, but this would be very different.

It would require total immersion in the subject, covering every single facet of the story from the first press conference to pre-class interviews with dancers and instructors; the classes themselves; the many extra-curricular activities arranged for all participants, day in and night out; and the final performance at City Hall.

The assignment would also involve overseas travel, and ultimately last for just under a year.

Although today the videographer admits that all he knew about ballet at the time of Mrs. Davis Johnson?s call was ?tutus and tiptoes?, he was and remains a man whose passion for his art drives him, so he said ?yes? without hesitation.

Besides, since he and Mrs. Davis Johnson had once worked as a successful team at Bermuda Broadcasting he knew theirs would be a partnership that got the job done.

In fact, the assignment fitted right in with Mr. Rogers? personal mission statement.

?My calling in life is to be a 21st century scribe. My ?pen? is my camera, to reflect the world in which we live ? the good and the challenging,? he says. ?That is my purpose and my passion.?

Indeed, ?passion? is a byword which recurs frequently in his conversations.

As unfamiliar with ballet as he was, Mr. Rogers had a clear vision of what his approach would be: not simply to capture the interest of people who loved dance, but to educate and fascinate those who did not normally associate themselves with this art form ? people like his buddies who were interested in golf and fishing.

?My challenge was to make a film that everyone could relate to,? he says. ?Therefore I would focus on the passion and the persistence that these young people had for dance, and the pain that they went through for the pleasure of the performance. That is universal. Everybody wants a passion for something, and everybody has it for a purpose. I believe as we walk this life we are supposed to find out what our purpose is, and then pursue it with passion.?

While secure in his own professional reputation, Mr. Rogers also knew there was much more at stake in getting the film right.

?The reputation of the National Dance Foundation and Bermuda were on the line, and we were dealing with parents who took their children to summer intensives all over the world,? he says. ?Bermuda was having its first one ever. We needed to be A-1.?

The film would be shot ?live? ? nothing scripted, rehearsed, or re-recorded; no professional lighting or sound recording equipment. Instead the approach would be ?up close and personal? ? raw footage that told the dancers? tale: the pain, the passion, the perseverance it took to pursue and perfect their art; the social life at days? end; the hopes, aspirations and disappointments along the way.

Filming began with a press conference at which Cultural and Community Affairs Minister Dale Butler offered scholarships to Bermudian dancers participating in the summer intensive, and then went on to interview local and overseas dancers about their hopes and expectations prior to the classes.

Some of the (overseas) dancers had never travelled before, and none had ever been to Bermuda. ?Fairhavens?, their temporary home, was also filmed, as were the arrival scenes at the airport, and so much more. ?Basically I stayed with the students for three weeks,? Mr. Rogers says. ?I filmed their placement in the classes, the lunches, the classes, everything including the final performance at City Hall in the presence of Catherine Zeta-Jones.?

In fact, the famed Oscar winning Hollywood actress, Bermuda resident and member of the NDFB board, also faced his lens and recorded her enthusiasm for the project.

?She has a passion for it,? Mr. Rogers says.

If the dancers were self-conscious initially about the videographer?s presence, they soon forgot the omnipresent lens and the delightful personality behind it, thus allowing him to capture their very essence.

?When I first began shooting, these young people looked at this platinum-haired guy with a camera following them around every day wondering if I was going to catch them at their worst, but as the days and weeks progressed I became invisible to them,? Mr. Rogers remembers. ?I went to the job when they went to the job, I talked and joked with them, and after a while I knew them by name. I got to know their background, their history ? not just the locals but all of them. I would sit in the back of the classroom and document their learning process.?

If the students were learning, so too was the cameraman. In fact, he learned so much that today he is a total believer in the values and rewards of dance programmes ? to the extent that he has now enrolled his own daughters in ballet classes.

?Young people need discipline, nurturing, tutoring and mentoring no matter what they do in life, and dance is a perfect outlet,? he says.

Discovering that the summer intensive was not just about classical ballet but also embraced modern, hip hop and jazz, Mr. Rogers also learned that classical ballet is the basic discipline upon which all other dance forms are built.

?Ordinarily, people don?t make this connection,? he says. ?Ballet technique is slower and more methodical, and is carried out with a lot more detail, so when the dancers moved to other dance forms it was really wonderful.?

Seeing what the aspiring ballet dancers went through physically under the tuition of the expert American Ballet Theatre instructors was a revelation.

?One of the amazing things I learned about was that it is painful. They get blisters, their toes bleed. What it does to their feet is incredible, and why they continue to do it I?ll never know. One girl told me, ?I?ve got ugly toes but beautiful feet?.?

Another indelible memory was witnessing the blossoming of the local students, some of whom were in a lower level than they expected, into confident dancers who excelled in some other forms of dance.

?They were really good in classes like jazz and modern,? Mr. Rogers says. ?In fact, there were times when the other students were watching the Bermudians, who helped them to sharpen their presentation.?

Undoubtedly, the highlight of filming for Mr. Rogers was the final workshop performance at City Hall when all of the students presented a programme carefully choreographed to show them at their very best, and it was indeed astonishing.

?I was actually on stage filming, and I was surprised at how moving it was for me,? Mr. Rogers admits. ?I knew who was hurting, I knew who had strained muscles. Some had cut their feet walking on the coral rocks; some had sore feet. I had seen them slip in practice, and there was room for injury, so when they were performing I was thinking, ?Don?t slip. Just do it. Turn, jump, leap, and then run for the wings?.?

And yes, when the curtain went down Mr. Rogers succumbed to, well, Passion.

?I was in the front camera position, and when everyone took their final bow I locked the camera off, and I started whistling and hollering as if I was an instructor. I was actually surprised at myself. I knew how much they wanted to dance, to be perfect, and to live for that. That is why dance is universal. I was thankful to be a part of it. There are many golden memories. It really was an extraordinary three weeks.?

With 50 hours of filming in the can, and follow-up interviews completed with Bermudians Karissa Robert and Courtney Lopes, now enrolled in dance schools in North Carolina, and Tyler Barker at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida, the footage was turned over to Mark Weinstein for editing. On Sunday at 12.30 p.m., moviegoers will have a chance to see the final results when the 44-minute film, entitled ?An Extraordinary Three Weeks?, has its world premi?re at Southside Cinema as part of the Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF). The film will be shown a second time on Tuesday, March 21 at 9 p.m. in the Bermuda Underwater Institute?s Tradewinds Theatre, also under the BIFF banner. Following both screenings, the documentary ?Ballet Russes? will be shown.

Tickets for Sunday?s premiere are available from the NDFB office ( 236-3319 and also from BIFF Front Room, No. 6 passenger terminal, Front Street or online at www.biff.bm

?An Extraordinary Three Weeks? was co-directed by Johnathan Rogers and Wendy Davis Johnson, produced by Rocco and Sammy Schiralli and the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda, with post production by Foresight Communications, Toronto, Canada.