“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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During our second week, we met a couple of delightful young Spotted dolphins whom we named ‘Hugs’ and ‘Kisses’. They had come for a bow ride with adult dolphins – their mothers or perhaps babysitters. But by the time we entered the water, the chaperones were out of our visual range, and although the youngsters were only 4 or 5 years old, it seemed the adult dolphins willingly trusted them to play with us. On that first meeting, we danced until twilight. We finally left the water when it became too dark for us to see. Young dolphins like Hugs and Kisses are at the age when developing alliances – best friendships – is important. So it wasn’t surprising that we saw these two together several days in a row. Eventually, they danced and twirled with us in such close proximity, we felt they were offering us hugs and kisses!

We were very happy to make new dolphin friends and happy also that our human ‘pod’ was able to rise to the challenge with grace underwater and above. We were pleased to see how all our rehearsal training – which we do in placid, tranquil bays – paid off in the chop and strong current of the open ocean. Even amid the challenges, we were able to hold our breath, keep our form, flow with the dance – so we could enjoy our new dolphin friends.

We were a ‘pod’ of human dancers: Jilly, Kathleen, Yuki, Kayoko – along with Ben and me. We’re so grateful to the talented group of dancers who are volunteering their time, and giving so much of their passion, energy and talent to developing the human-dolphin dance with us. Jilly is from Canada, Kathleen from Bimini, and Kayoko and Yuki from Japan. The last time this group worked together was in December, as seen in this video clip. We so appreciate the opportunity to continue our ongoing rehearsal and development process with this international cast.

Rehearsal dance featuring (in order of appearance): Chisa Hidaka, Kathleen Fisher, Kayoko Sawamura, Yuki Kusachi and Jillian Rutledge. Videography by Benjamin Harley.  Music by Loren Kiyoshi Dempster.

Our main work over the last few months has been to complete our next film, “Dolphin Dreams‘”. We captured one last critical clip on the most recent trip, so now we can finish editing and soon hand over the film to David Darling to create the original score. At the same time, we have also been busy keeping up with our outreach and education efforts.

In April, we made a presentation to the Dance MFA program at Smith College. Our presentations at universities, schools and other venues is an important part of the outreach/education component of our work. We really enjoyed our presentation to the advanced dance students such at Smith, and to colleagues such as Chris Aiken, the program director who extended us the invitation, as they gave us the opportunity not only to educate, but to participate in a high level of discourse about the artistic and other implications of making dance with non-human collaborators.

In a concert in NYC in May, Ben and I had the opportunity to experiment with presenting live dance (a duet we performed) with our underwater video footage of dolphins. We are grateful to the NYC Chinese Cultural Council for having given us the opportunity to present our work in this way. And we were pleased by how using live dance allowed us to show the connections between the human dance (contact improvisation) and the movement of dolphins and to demonstrate how the human-dolphin dance develops from there. We were also very pleased to share the evening with talented emerging choreographers Kevin Ho, Ching-I Chang and Nico Li.

Following our recent presentations and our challenging, but fruitful recent trip, we are more inspired than ever to share our stories of our dolphin partners and the dances we are able to create together. Join our mailing list, and you can stay tuned for our next film, and many new clips to come!

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