Was That Choreographed?

The Dolphin Dance Project is well embarked on developing its next film which will feature multiple human dancers.  We have been scouting for talented improvisers who can dance exquisitely underwater while maintaining relationships with dolphins and fellow humans at the same time.  We have been honored to be joined by some very talented dancers (and some very talented dolphins too) for practice sessions, and we look forward to more rehearsals in the coming months.

On a recent trip, we fortuitously met Matisha who has years of experience with wild dolphins, and a website of his own (www.SongofHome.com) where he shares videos, music, and other inspirations he has received from these extraordinary fellow creatures.  Having met Matisha underwater, already in the company of dolphins, it was amazing to see – with almost no words exchanged – everyone naturally begin to dance together.

In this clip ‘Dolphin Choreography’, we see a beautiful set of changing relationships.  A dolphin leaves his pod, approaches a couple of human dancers, engages one of them, as the other human joins the ‘chorus’ of the pod.  Dolphins negotiate like this with each other all the time, understanding who wants to be with whom, joining in, separating, coming back.  But in this case, a dolphin invites the humans to participate.  It is a remarkable example of mutual understanding that these intuitive humans and (dare we say) ‘open minded’ dolphins can participate actively in this exchange.

(as always, this video will look better if you choose 720p and press the fullscreen button in the lower right hand corner, or watch on Vimeo – http://vimeo.com/21578920 )

As dancers, the humans have trained their abilities to perceive and understand shifting relationships as they are expressed through movement.  This is one of the essential building blocks of human choreography.  In a sense, dolphins are natural choreographers – and dancers have the training to engage with them intelligently.  In future posts, we will look more closely at these parallels between human ‘terrestrial’ dance and the natural way dolphins communicate as they move together.

We are actively developing this work, but we still have a long ways to go to finance it.  Working hard writing grants, we know that many foundations are in difficult economic situations. Do you know any dolphin lovers who might consider supporting our work? We would be grateful for an introduction.

We have a number of ways to thank you for donations you make, including our new poster  (below)… you can see them all on our ‘Donate’ page.  For no cost at all, you can do a lot to help us expand the project by simply tweeting or facebook ‘liking’ our website or forwarding links to your friends.

As much as anything else, however, we value your appreciation.  Thank you for your continued interest in the Dolphin Dance Project.

Please check our website for a list of upcoming screenings of our first film “Together: Dancing With Spinner Dolphins” – there are two screenings in NYC in April, one in May, one in LA, CA in June …