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!

The post Available Now: “Together: Dancing with Spinner Dolphins” appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.