New Year, New Perspective

As a new year rises on the horizon, we are as eager as ever to bring a new perspective to audiences around the world.

This year we explored a point of view that reveals in a new way one fundamental theme of our work.  Viewed from the air, our meetings with the dolphins appear in their true context. In the vastness of the ocean, we are small parts of a vast system on which we all depend.

Help us share this new perspective! With your support, we can continue to use this cutting edge technology and integrate it into our productions.

Looking back to 2015, we are grateful for what we accomplished this year thanks to the generous support of donors and the contributions of time and talent from all our collaborators (dolphin and human).

• “Amongst” – the first short film of our 3D Trilogy “So Close 3D” -screened at several festivals and events including Topanga Film Festival, LA 3D Movie Festival, and at the Dance Films Association.
• The MAP fund invited us to submit a second round application for a 3D immersive installation and would support up to one third of its development costs over the next 2 years.
• We continued giving talks, including a presentation at Lawrence University where we also taught classes on dance improvisation and filmmaking.

Above all we are grateful for the time we had in the ocean, continuing to investigate the possibilities of humans and wild dolphins dancing together underwater. This year’s fall rehearsal was challenging. Warming oceans brought in big waves and murky water. We were saddened to see widespread coral bleaching, the impact of our massive human civilization reaching distant shores. Still, it was wonderful to have all of our current dancers together – from Japan, Canada and Bimini.  The Spinner dolphins danced with us in ways we had never previously imagined or experienced. It was a new level of aesthetic engagement – an exciting challenge for us to keep working!

Our 2016 calendar already has some exciting events:

• An academic presentation at “Form in Question: Ensemble Improvisation Performance” is open to the public at  NYU in January.
• “Amongst” continues to screen at 3D festivals including the 27th annual Stereoscopic Displays and Applications conference in San Francisco in February.
• The imminent release of “Dolphin Dreams” will follow as we hear from film festivals around the world.

The new year promises to be very busy: applying for grants, talking to production partners, expanding our collaborators, incorporating new technologies, making films, and deepening our underwater practice.  Most importantly, we will continue to work towards inspiring more audiences with new perspectives as we pursue our ambition to share these extraordinary relationships between dancers and wild dolphins through giant screen productions and more intimate, immersive installations.

Thank you to so many of you who support our work – your generous contributions matter so much, and so do all your efforts to spread the word by sharing videos and telling your friends.