Bryan Senti Shares "Ascesa" Video, Danced by Alex Clair in Shanghai
What's out
Bryan Senti, the BAFTA-winning Latin American composer, has shared the official video for his new single "Ascesa." The Terrorbird release lists the single as out now.
The video's description bills it as a "Film by Alex Clair and Jiarong Wang." Clair performed and choreographed it, Wang shot it as cinematographer, and it was filmed on location in Shanghai, China. Nicolás Andrade handled color and finishing, with Daniel Andrade producing that work at Cuartoblanco in Quito, Ecuador. April Cuneo is the executive producer.
Bryan Senti: "Ascesa" (Official Music Video)
How Senti found his dancer
Senti met Clair on the road. "I joined Balmorhea for a tour in China in 2025 and there I met Alex Clair after one of our concerts in Shanghai," he said in the release. "She was performing in a Punchdrunk show at the time," he added. "With her dance pedigree and her unique Punchdrunk experience, I knew she was a unique performer."
"So when I had the idea to do a movement music video for Ascesa, I wanted to work with her," Senti said. He calls Wang, Clair's directing partner, "an incredible photographer," and says the pair "opted to shoot through the streets of Shanghai which created a unique dichotomy with the Neo-baroque vibe of Ascesa." The piece, in his words, was "originally inspired by a Giovanni Lanfranco fresco in Rome."
Per the release, Clair worked and performed with Punchdrunk's Sleep No More in Shanghai until its closing. Wang was a member of Beijing Modern Dance Company for nine years.
Who plays on "Ascesa"
The video credits list Senti as producer and on "Violin, Viola, Violincello Da Spalla." Eric Shetzen plays bass. The string orchestra is the Czech National Symphony, conducted by Vlad Martinka, with Cenda Kotzmann credited as CNSO engineer. Francesco Donadello mixed the track, and Bo Kondren mastered it at Calyx Mastering in Berlin, Germany. Wise Music Group is listed as publisher.
Senti's background
Senti released the album La Marea on October 10, 2025, per Apple Music. Per the release, his music has also been released on Deutsche Grammophon, Naïve and 7K!, and he earned a BAFTA for original music for Nicôle Lecky's "Mood" on the BBC. He received his master's in music composition from the Yale School of Music in 2009.
The release also names collaborations with Mark Ronson, Rufus Wainwright and Feist. Feist also shows up in the credits of Sam Smith and Jacob Lusk's "My Guy", where Apple Music lists her as additional producer. Senti also performed and arranged on Friendship Survival Guide by Adam Wiltzie and Jóhann Jóhannsson, and arranged and played strings on Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn's Quiet in a World Full of Noise on Merge Records.
My read
Screen work and records keep feeding each other: MANAS's latest album began as the score for the film 100 Sunset. "Ascesa" runs the other way, a composer's single given a short film of its own. The detail that sticks is Senti's own pairing: a piece inspired by a Giovanni Lanfranco fresco in Rome, set against Shanghai streets, with a dancer he met while she was performing in a Punchdrunk show.