The Dolphin Dance Project has enjoyed an amazing first year. We look back on 2010 with deep gratitude, and forward to 2011 with much excitement. The next phase of our project is just beginning – a feature length dance film and documentary with multiple human and wild dolphin dancers and interviews with leading scientists, the dancers themselves, and more to give viewers a deeper appreciation of these profound and beautiful interactions.
In January 2010, we spent a week shooting our first footage of dolphin and human dancing… and after many months of work, in late October, we released our first film, “Together: Dancing with Spinner Dolphins,” which won ‘Best Experimental Film’ at its world premiere at the Big Apple Film Festival! At two more festivals, the Colorado Environmental Film Festival and the International Underwater Film Festival of Beograd, the film was an audience favorite; it was given extra screenings due to popular demand!
Online, the trailers – in four languages on Vimeo and Youtube – have been viewed over 3000 times already (and all our clips combined have been viewed more than 15,000 times)! The film itself can be downloaded and watched from our website – a higher quality (HD) version can be ordered as well, and received on a DVD, for a more substantial donation. There is even an option to send a download of the movie as a holiday e-card for Christmas, New Year’s, or whatever occasion you want to celebrate with a gift.
Thank you for helping us spread the word by continuing to forward the link for our trailer to your friends, tweeting it, facebook sharing it, liking it etc …. or sending the movie itself as a holiday gift.
In 2011, there will be more screenings of “Together”. On January 27th at 6 pm, it will screen at the Big Screen Project, as part of the Dance on Camera Festival. The Big Screen Project is visible from the street between 28th and 29th Streets near 6th Avenue or the FoodParc or Eventi Hotel. The best viewing will be from Bar Basque, which will be hosting the Dance on Camera short film celebration. We will also have screenings at Ocean Inspiration, a celebration of Jacques Cousteau’s 100th birthday, and at Moviehouse (Brooklyn) in March. We are also on the program for the 25th anniversary of Performance Mix in April. We will continue to submit to other festivals – so please stay tuned for screenings in your city and/or country!
For the next phase of our project – the creation of a feature length dance film and documentary ‘Sharing the Dance‘ – we need a substantial amount of financial support. We are actively seeking major donors – so please let us know of anyone who might be interested in supporting this important project. They will not only help to create a uniquely beautiful work of inter-species artistic collaboration but also contribute to the conservation of wild dolphins and to a sea change in how humans think of their relationship to the natural world.
Over the next year, we will be publishing clips related to the development of this new work. You will see clips of more human dancers, introductions to Spotted dolphins, interviews with scientists and dancer/choreographers, and insights that enrich one’s experience of watching human-dolphin interactions.
As this year comes to an end, we want to say ‘Thank You!!’ to everyone who contributed to the Dolphin Dance Project in its first amazing year, to all of our supporters and to the small but dedicated team that made “Together” happen. And we express our deepest gratitude to all to the dolphins – on camera and off. The more I learn about our cetacean friends, the more I am awed.
Wishing you wonderful holidays…and a healthy and happy new year!
P.S. As a holiday offering to our supporters, we have published a short children’s story about a lovable and adventurous dolphin who likes to go dancing everywhere. ‘Can a Dolphin Dance There?’ was written originally for my little dancing friend Ari, but now you can read it online and share it with any little ones you think will like it. You can also receive a printed copy (dedicated to whomever you would like) as a thank you for donations of $100 or more.
