Boston Conservatory Dancers Light Up Coldplay’s Gillette Stadium Shows
Boston Conservatory commercial dancers served as the sole planet operators at Coldplay’s Gillette Stadium shows on July 15 and 16.
Photo courtesy of Sophie Reynolds
Boston Conservatory’s commercial dance students are no strangers to high-profile gigs. Whether it’s dancing with the Boston Celtics during their whirlwind 2024 championship season or opening for K-pop superstars at the Crypto.com arena at KCON LA for the last four years, these dancers know how to move audiences en masse.
So when Coldplay needed planet operators—dancers harnessed to giant, inflatable planets—for their sold-out Gillette Stadium concerts in July, their reps called on Boston Conservatory commercial dancers to literally move the spheres—and the crowd of 66,000. “As commercial dance majors, we train and prepare to perform in stadiums that large,” says recent graduate Sofia Pargas. “[It] felt both surreal and like a dream finally being accomplished.”
“As commercial dance majors, we train and prepare to perform in stadiums that large. [It] felt both surreal and like a dream finally being accomplished.”
—Sofia Pargas
That surreal feeling was the perfect match for the dancers’ task: to help transform a massive stadium of concertgoers into the vast cosmic dreamscape that Coldplay shows are known for. Scattered throughout the arena floor, they performed freestyle while tethered to floating illuminated globes, beckoning the audience to move with them to songs including “A Wave,” “GOOD FEELiNGS,” and “feelslikeimfallinginlove.”
@bostonconservatory Congratulations to all commercial dance students and alums who performed at @coldplay's sold-out concert as planet operators. 🤩🪐 #coldplay #bostonconservatory #coldplayconcert #dancetok #musicofthespheresworldtour 📹 captured by Yulia Maede
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Adding to the epic proportions of the experience, not only can these dancers claim the distinction of performing in the highest-grossing rock tour of all time, they can also say they were there for the viral cultural moment of the summer of 2025: the notorious kiss-cam scandal on July 16. But unlike the two Astronomer executives who were caught on camera, Boston Conservatory’s commercial dancers didn’t shy away from the spotlight.
Learn more about Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s commercial dance BFA program.