Joe Connor's long-awaited, hauntingly beautiful ice-dancer video for Coldplay's Everglow is finally here. 

Commissioned by the band but then withheld from being the official video for the track, Connor's work has nevertheless avoided the fate of numerous canned videos that never see the light of day (as discussed at length in a feisty panel at MusicVidFest last November) by receiving Coldplay's assent for this latterday release. And it's wonderful that Connor's exceptional video is finally available. 

The clip focuses on an ice dancer (Tanja Kolbe) who is coping with loss. We see her dancing, apparently on her own - until it slowly becomes clear she is in fact dancing with a partner who is no longer visible, on a rink that has become part of a natural landscape. 

The sequence is paced beautifully and builds subtly - courtesy of superb VFX work undetaken by the team at Cherry Cherry – before ripping it all away for a heartbreaking final few shots.

JOE CONNOR:

"I wanted to make something beautiful that dealt with the concept of loss. Reflecting on the support once given and how even in its absence that support can still be felt, it can still profoundly affect us.

"We had two of the most amazing dancers in Tanja Kolbe and Stefano Caruso, both German Olympic participants, both helping me choreograph and shape the piece. Tanja, whose performance is so intimate and exposing really grounds the video, Stefano deserves the utmost credit for his part in the dance even though it is unseen in the final piece.  There’s something lovely in that. 

"Pat Meller crafted the piece beautifully, his lighting was key to creating the world as it progressed into dreams, aided by George K’s amazing grade, and Ellie Johnson's sensitive edit, these lot are geniuses. 

"The work of Cherry Cherry VFX is mind bending,  They helped to finish this piece to the highest quality and part of the beauty is not knowing how we achieved this effect (there is, however, a fantastic making-of on their website that reveals all) but I can say that they have helped to produce some of my favourite images.  Wonderful work.  

"Lastly to Chief Productions; Colin Offland, Matt Clyde and Marc Ingham, a family who embarked on this silly idea and strived to make it beautiful."