NEW YORK, NY (Top40 Charts/ Smirnoff Official Website) Last night Smirnoff, the world's number one vodka, together with
Madonna and millions of international revelers spanning five continents, celebrated The Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project in New York.
Madonna along with choreographers Rich & Tone Talauega watched the final dancers perform and selected the winner of Smirnoff's exclusive high-profile global dance competition. With art direction and choreography by Shay Normann, the 11 finalists battled it out in front of over one thousand guests. Lil Buck from Memphis, TN was the designated winner and now becomes an official member of Madonna's dance crew. The thrilling evening included Madonna's personal selection to headline the event - DJ and Producer
Martin Solveig. Solveig has been collaborating with
Madonna on her upcoming album. Hardy "
Indigo" Muanza and Vikter Duplaix were also at the event spinning custom mixes.
Traversing time zones, borders and language barriers, the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project saw countries world-wide create one-of-a-kind global events that encouraged the sharing and swapping of the most extraordinary nightlife ideas. Events across the world featured a diverse line-up of superstar talent including Kelis, CSS, Basement Jaxx, Alex Gaudino and more - collectively performing 200 hours of music. Over 117,000 carefully crafted Smirnoff cocktails were enjoyed, partygoers grooved to over 3000 tracks, "liked" Smirnoff cocktails 5000 times and uploaded over 8000 photos to Facebook using onsite RFID technology.
"The Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project has uncovered amazing dance talent from all over the world," said Madonna.
Each of the participating countries showcased its own "Be There" moments through a melding of fashion, drinks, music, entertainment, technology and more. In Australia, which swapped nightlife with Italy, the event took the shape of Giuseppe Verdi's three act opera Un Ballo in Maschera ('A Masked Ball'). The event was brought to life with three key 'Acts,' Una Discoteca in Maschera, and at midnight all guests wore silver masquerade masks as fireworks fell from the stage and Opera singers, Aerial performers and dancers wearing Venetian masquerade costumes kicked off the global event while DJ Alex Gaudino spun Nessun Dorma. In the UK, which swapped nightlife with Jamaica, multi-award winning dance super group Basement Jaxx collaborated with Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Janelle Monáe. They were joined on the main stage by legendary Jamaican band The Jolly Boys who performed a special never-been-seen-before collaboration of Bob Marley's 'One Love' with acclaimed hip-hop artist, Ms. Dynamite.
"Smirnoff is constantly on the look-out for the world's most original and exciting nightlife and the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project gives us the opportunity to share our discoveries through extraordinary, one-of-a-kind experiences for our fans," says Simon Burch, Global Brand Director for The Smirnoff Co. "Madonna has championed unique, one-of-a-kind experiences in music and dance throughout her career, and because of this she was the perfect partner for this year's program."
The Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project, including the exclusive dance competition with Madonna, was the first component of a multi-faceted agreement between Madonna and her partner Live Nation and Diageo, the parent company of The Smirnoff Co. More details to be released in the coming months. For updates on Madonna, please visit www.facebook.com/madonna. For updates on The Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project please visit www.facebook.com/smirnoff. Additional event information and images from The Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project are available from Getty Image [https://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/gyipa_public?nav=pr159209824].
The 50 countries that participated in the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project include: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Dubai, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Trinidad, Turkey, Uruguay, United States, Venezuela and Vietnam.
At the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project's Global Dance Search which took place at Roseland in New York on Saturday night (Nov. 12), Madonna chose the winner of a global dance contest awarding one lucky dancer the opportunity to join her official dance crew. With art direction and choreography by Shay Normann, the 11 finalists battled it out in front of over one thousand guests. Beating hundreds of online hopefuls and then competing against finalists live at the event, Lil' Buck from Memphis, TN was the announced winner of the coveted, life-changing prize.
"This has been an incredible journey and a dream come true," said Lil' Buck.
"The Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project has uncovered amazing dance talent from all over the world, but Lil' Buck was the best of all," added Madonna.
Madonna, who watched the performances with choreographers Rich & Tone Talauega, handpicked DJ and Producer Martin Solveig to headline the event. Solveig has been collaborating with Madonna on her upcoming album. Hardy "Indigo" Muanza and Vikter Duplaix were also at the event spinning custom mixes.
