See “Amongst”

at American Dance Festival, Movies by Movers

Friday, July 8 at 7 pm, The Shed Jazz Club, Durham, NC

and

at the Triskelion Arts Dance Film Feastival

Thursday, July 14, at 7 pm, Triskelion Arts, Brooklyn, NY

“Amongst” draws the audience ever deeper into the world of wild dolphins and features extreme performances of grace in the deep waters of the open ocean by talented dolphin dancers Yuki Kusachi and Kayoko Sawamura.  Set to Po-Chun Wang’s mashup of gamelan and spoken word (excerpted from “Rice Combo“), “Amongst” delivers an immersive experience of a radically different environment and culture. Watching in 3D and surrounded by wild dolphins chattering, squawking, swirling and dancing in ways familiar and unfamiliar, you will discover the glorious disorientation of losing yourself in the dolphins’ world.

This short 3D film premiered as part of our program, “So Close 3D: Dance with Wild Dolphins” in December 2014 in NYC, and was awarded “Best Live Action Film in 3D Theater Session” at the Stereoscopic Displays and Applications XXVII conference in San Francisco in February, 2016. “Amongst” has also screened at the Topanga Film Festival, LA 3D Movie Fest, Dance Films Association Annual Holiday Party, BCN Sports Film Festival, and the New York Japan Cinefest.

The Dolphin Dance Project is looking for partners to help us bring “Amongst” and the entire “So Close 3D: Dance with Wild Dolphins” program of live dance, 2D and 3D films to communities around the United States and beyond.  Please let us know if you are interested, so we can bring you “as close as being there”.

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“Surge” is a single take, a 60-second screen dance that highlights the internal experience of dancing underwater as we hold our breath.  One minute is the average length of our active dives.

“Surge”

Performed by Chisa Hidaka and Jillian Rutledge
Underwater Videography by Benjamin Harley
Music by Loren Dempster

Premieres at Topanga Film Festival:  July 18th, 2014

Filmmaker Notes:

Dance improvisation skills are essential to the collaborative work we do with each other and with wild dolphins, but the first requirement for dancing underwater is to master the techniques for being comfortable in the deep ocean while holding your breath, which is an art in itself: the art of free diving.  Jillian Rutledge, featured in this film, embodies this technique so beautifully.  She is an instructor with Apnea Academy, and her insight and sensitivity have enhanced the capabilities of our entire team of dolphin dancers.

“Surge” is a special film because it showcases how much the movement of the camera can contribute to the viewer’s experience of ‘participating in the dance just by watching’; it co-creates the choreography.  It was this video clip, shot in 2012, through which we discovered the approach we continue to develop.  The camera is a dancer, and the choreography is fully integrated into the way it shoots this duet, which offers a very immediate experience of what it is like down there – participating in the surge of forces so much bigger than ourselves – weightless, effortlessly revolving and spiraling, tuning to the movements of another.

When I observe wild dolphins, I am still always inspired. To me, what makes their interactions so dance-like is how hydrodynamic and communicative they are. So we want to embody a dance form that is hydrodynamic and communicative, too. In our training and rehearsals, we are always looking for ways to work with (rather than against) the supportiveness and resistance we find at different depths of the ocean, and fine tuning our capability to ‘listen’ to and interact with each other through our bodies and movements and eye contact. It isn’t easy: we are always exhausted and freezing by the end of our rehearsal sessions. But we also feel a kind of bliss, having focused so intently on our harmonious connections to the ocean and to each other.

It is our continued hope that our work will inspire increased protection and respect for all dolphins and their habitats.  With thanks to the dolphins, our fellow dancers, and everyone who so generously supports our work!

Visit our website to learn more about the Dolphin Dance Project, and see more of our videos on our YouTube channel.

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When your friends hear you answering the call of the dolphins (your phone) they will know how important cetaceans and the oceans are to you.

This is an example of a ‘signature whistle’, a whistle sound associated with a bubble stream.  Scientists believe that these whistles express self-identifying information, much like a human name. Mother and baby dolphins often call and find each other using ‘signature whistles’. Wild dolphins have also been observed to make ‘signature whistles’ towards other dolphins when they meet after a separation or for the first time. As you see in the video, in our experience, dolphins will greet our dancers with their whistles at the beginning of a rehearsal, and frequently stream them again before they leave.  Like saying, “Hello” and “Goodbye”. What a special gift!

Combining our own observations with those of scientists, we are exploring the extent to which we can communicate with dolphins through movement and dance. “Dolphin Dreams” is our next film on this theme and will be a big step towards developing our IMAX feature film, which will not only feature the human-dolphin dance, but many scientific and other insights that underscore the importance of this remarkable inter-species co-choreography.

Please help us spread the word about “Dolphin Dreams” and the Dolphin Dance Project by downloading the dolphin ring tone and letting your friends know that you answer the call of dolphins!

The post Dolphins Are Calling appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

Cooperation between pod members is essential to wild dolphin culture. Wild dolphins help each other fish, raise their young, protect each other and more to survive and to thrive. We humans also depend on communities more than we may often recognize.  In that spirit, the Dolphin Dance Project  is intent on creating a community to support and appreciate this new film.

Please help us spread the word about this project far and wide, not only so that we can raise the funds we need to amaze you with a spectacular experience of the human-dolphin dance, but also so that we can raise interest in a wide audience to see it when the film is released.

Many of you already know about “Dolphin Dreams” which features two human dancers and a very charismatic pod of wild Atlantic Spotted dolphins. In our recent clips and videos you have already seen how gorgeously the dance was captured in super high resolution video by the eminent underwater cinematographer Howard Hall. Some of you also know that we have a grant from the New York State Council of the Arts that is supporting the composition of the original score by Grammy Award winning cellist and composer David Darling. Now we need your help to put music and dance footage together into a unique and beautiful film we can share with you and viewers around the world.

To be successful we need many, manypeople to find out about us, get excited and support the project!

Please ‘join the pod’: support us with a financial contribution if you can, and spread the word about our IndieGoGo campaign ( http://dolphin-dance.org/dolphindreams/ ) through email, Facebook, Twitter … or just old fashioned word-of-mouth.

Thank you so much!

The post Help Make “Dolphin Dreams” A Reality! appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

We are thrilled to share our very first film with you!

Every download supports the production of our next film…please download a copy and forward the link (tweet it, like it, buzz it, etc. too) to any of your friends who might enjoy this short, beautiful film of a tender relationship forged between a human and a wild dolphin, dancing together as equals.

On the “Together” page, you can also watch the trailer, edited and written by producer Benjamin Harley, translated into three languages (so far) thanks to our friends: Leina Sato (French), Marion Ramirez (Spanish), Chiho McBennett and Kiori Kawai (Japanese).  The trailers have been published to our channels on both Youtube and Vimeo.

Trailer looks best in high definition, click HD and fullscreen.

If you want to see, “Together” on the big screen, please join me and producer Loui Terrier at the Big Apple Film Festival in NYC or join producer Benjamin Harley at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival in Golden, CO on Saturday, November 6. Tickets are available at the festival websites.

There will be more screenings in the Spring of 2011 at the 25th annual Performance Mix and as a finalist in the Ocean Inspiration celebration of the 100th anniversary of Jacques Cousteau.  Please join our mailing list for regular updates about where to see “Together” and other video we produce.

On this celebratory occasion, I am so grateful for having had the opportunity to work on this special project, which has given me the chance to work with many wonderfully talented and dedicated people and make many new friends – both human and dolphin. I’m bursting with excitement about the next project already!

“Together: Dancing with Spinner Dolphins” was shot over 5 days in January 2010 in the Pacific Ocean with wild Spinner Dolphins. Bryce Groark is our amazingly talented cinematographer, and additional footage was shot by Brett LeMaster and Loui Terrier. Brett is a champion freediver, holding the North American record for the deepest dive on one breath. He and Leina Sato, who run Mele Nai’a Dolphinsong as well as production coordinator Richard Osburn were instrumental in facilitating our wild dolphin encounters. Kimio Wheaton did the original location research that took us to those beautiful blue waters.

Following the shoot, it took many months to edit the moments caught on camera into a true expression of the spirit of the dance that actually happened when I was underwater with the dolphins.  Tremendous thanks is due to Loui for sitting at my side for many hours and the inspiration from “The Sea VIII”, a soulful composition by Ketil Bjornson and performed with David Darling (courtesy of ECM). My mentor, Marta Renzi looked at lots of ‘versions’ along the way, and helped greatly with her experienced critical comments. Ben has also provided valuable advice and direction from the very first days of the project.  He asserted himself in the post-editing stage to ensure that we produced the most beautiful, highest quality film we could; the radiant look of the final film is, in large part, thanks to his efforts. The hard working post-production team also included Gisburg (sound) and her assistant Felipe, as well as Justin Grazioli. Post-production was supported by a finishing fund award from Dance Films Association. And this doesn’t begin to mention all the friends from whom we asked advice, or depended on for moral support!

The DVD available through our website features “Together” in its full 3 min+ format as well as the version that will be screened at the Ocean Inspiration event. It also includes “Reverie” another take – more whimsical and fast paced – on the dance with Spinner Dolphins. “Reverie” was edited by Todd Sali with post-production at his solar powered Sandbox Productions. The original score for “Reverie” is by Jonathan Beaudette.  As a bonus track, the DVD also contains a PSA-style video I shot to encourage the protection of dolphins.

With the support of so many generous supporters, our first film demonstrates the beauty and value of documenting these extraordinary co-creations between humans and wild dolphins. Less than one year after the we initiated the Dolphin Dance Project, we are well on our way to producing the more extensive film and documentary that these dances deserve. Hooray! It is only a shame that the dolphins can’t watch (…although Ben is working on changing that!)

Thank you, dolphins! Thank you, everyone!

Please enjoy the film…and leave comments about it on this blog.  I look forward to any thoughts you might like to offer!

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