Ballantine’s Presents Nonstop's Physics Defying 'Breakin’ Gravity'

Ballantine’s Scotch whisky today launches the latest film in its ‘Stay True Story’ series, collaborating with world renowned street dancer Marquese ‘Nonstop’ Scott, whose gravity defying style of dance has seen him rack up over 350m views on YouTube alone. The film was directed by Archer’s Mark's William Williamson.

The film ‘Ballantine’s Presents Nonstop’s Breakin’ Gravity’ sees the dancer undertake his most ambitious performance ever. Defying gravity 115ft in the air, while rigged up on a rope and harness, Nonstop transforms the vertical side of a California building into his dance floor.  

This is the sixth installment in a series of collaborations between Ballantine’s and unique characters from around the world who define Ballantine’s mantra of ‘Stay True’ and embody the Founder’s spirit of ‘living the real you’. Nonstop has a true authenticity and is the latest in a line of renowned creatives to collaborate with Ballantine’s for the series, including British ‘GIF’ artist INSA (‘Space GIF-iti’), Africa’s biggest DJ & producer export, Black Coffee (‘Human Orchestra’) and world champion freestyle skateboarder, Kilian Martin (‘Carmen’).

About the film and experiment

As documented in the film, Nonstop has become one of the most viewed and followed street dancers on the internet today. Known for his unique fusion of popping, animation and break dance that’s often described as gravity defying, the inspiration for the film’s experiment was born out of his long held ambition to break free from the constraints of gravity. To make this challenge a reality, Ballantine’s enlisted the help of pioneering ‘vertical dance’ arts company BANDALOOP, whose stunning performances fusing choreography, physicality and the art of climbing have been seen on canyons, skyscrapers and buildings around the world.

BANDALOOP provided several days of training to familiarise Nonstop with the concept of moving from floor to vertical plane, after which it was down to him to transform his signature moves to a wholly new dimension; which required creativity, strength and endurance over the course of just one day to capture the film’s final performance.

About Marquese ‘Nonstop’ Scott

Nonstop’s passion for dancing started as a boy on the streets of Crenshaw, Los Angeles. Battling his friends and family wherever there was music, he never stopped staying true to that first passion, earning him the name he uses today.

He has fought hard to have his dreams become reality – from a career in the army, thinking it would never happen, to returning home and working demanding supermarket shifts, Nonstop always stayed true to his heart. He has believed in himself and worked hard, only inadvertently becoming a viral star on his 60th upload with self-shot film, ‘Pumped Up Kicks’, which has been viewed over 122m times alone. It is this story, spirit and conviction that led Ballantine’s to partner with the dancer for the series.

On the concept and undertaking featured in the film, Marquese ‘Nonstop’ Scott comments: “This has quite literally always been a dream of mine. People have long said that my style makes them think that I am defying physics; that it doesn’t look real. So what better way to push me further as an artist than to try and deconstruct the laws of gravity, push my body to the limit and create a performance that appears completely impossible!”

Director William Williamson says: "Directing this ambitious project was a great challenge. We didn't have much time to shoot it and Non Stop is not a performer who likes to rehearse. Rather he responds and reacts to what's going on around him which was brilliant for getting a genuine performance but a challenge when doing such a technical piece."

Peter Moore, Ballantine’s Global Brand Director, says of the project: “Nonstop’s Breakin’ Gravity’ is a project that really gets to the heart of what ‘StayTrue’ means. Nonstop is a truly inspirational person who has never let life get in the way of his first passion – dance. With this latest Stay True Story, together with BANDALOOP, we’ve been able to take his art that one step further and make the impossible possible.”

Thomas Cavanagh, BANDALOOP Executive Director adds: “We had been looking at Nonstop’s films online for a while and always thought he would be a perfect dancer to work with on such an ambitious project. His unique style lends itself to such an otherworldly performance. Combine this with our expertise in vertical-dance and you have a solo performance of mind-blowing scale that we’re all hugely excited about.”