We are grateful and amazed to see ever more expressiveness and sensitivity between the human dancers, and between humans and dolphins, as well as the increasing complexity and nuance in the exchanges of improvised movement. We hope the teaser above stokes interest in seeing more of what was happening in these extraordinary moments. The contributions of our supporters will make that possible.

This year, we were fortunate to be able to continue the development of our underwater dance work with human dancers Kathleen Fisher and Jillian Rutledge, as well as with the dolphin dancers. Our summer session with the Atlantic Spotted dolphins was memorable for the relationships we continue to forge with two mothers Tipless and HalfPec and their young daughters, Eclipse and Demi (the first two dolphins in the video above). We first met Eclipse and Demi as newborns in 2015, and since then, we have seen them becoming more interested and more capable of diving and interacting with us, as we are also gaining skills to dance with them. Of course, we also love seeing long-time friends like Scratchy. He’s getting older and has less time for us, but nonetheless makes regular appearances to say ‘hello’ (buzzing the camera at night in the video above). Our fall session in the Pacific Ocean was also very satisfying, particularly for the increasing richness and expressivity that we see in the dances amongst humans in the deeper waters there.

This year was particularly memorable for the premiere of “Dolphin Dreams,” produced with generous support from many of our supporters and the New York State Council on the Arts. We were very pleased for the recognition it received, winning Silver at the Our World Underwater competition in February. In October, we visited with our collaborators/advisors Howard and Michele Hall, when “Dolphin Dreams” screened as an official selection of the San Diego Undersea Film Expo. Please stay tuned for additional screenings.

Earlier this year, we enjoyed working with our first intern. In case you missed them, you can still read her “Ask Chloe” posts, where she answered readers’ questions about dolphins on our blog.

Over the summer, we participated in an invigorating retreat on improvisation hosted by Susan Sgorbati, Elena Demyanenko and Susie Ibarra at Bennington College. In the beautiful new Center for Art and Public Action building, we gathered with an intimate group of scientists, scholars and artists.. Participants offered observations and experiences from a wide range of disciplines including not only dance, film and music, but neuroscience, physics, and philosophy. Recognizing how improvisation can be such a profound and powerful antidote to the social and environmental ills of modern civilization renewed our motivation to continue investing in our project and sharing our work as widely as possible. We thank Susan and Elena for the invitation to the conference which is still energizing our thinking and learning.

Our most recent blog post celebrates a sweet and meaningful moment with Anna Halprin, with whom we had the chance to share our work this fall. We were very touched by the response of this venerable dance-maker and teacher, who – at 97! – continues to inspire dancers, choreographers and audiences to discover and rediscover the beauty of their authentic selves, and of the natural world to which we belong.

Facing the future, we are not without trepidations. It was a near miss for our Atlantic Spotted dolphin friends with hurricanes Irma and Maria this year – and it’s likely that destructive hurricanes will become more common as the oceans warm. In the Pacific, we have seen coral reefs dying, and struggling to come back. The priorities and policies of our own government hurtle us ever faster towards environmental crisis that threatens the oceans, and the wellbeing of marine and terrestrial creatures alike. We feel how precious is our time with wild dolphins and this opportunity to increase understanding about who they are. We hope it contributes to the shift in priorities on which their future and ours depends.

We welcome your support of our mission. Your donations will help us produce our next film and reach new audiences with the extraordinary images you see in the highlights from this past year.

The post 2017 Highlights appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

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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Scratchy  is part of a very special pod of Atlantic Spotted dolphins that first approached some human divers more than 30 years ago.  Since then the relationship has deepened, nurtured by a few dedicated human researchers and the voluntary interest of at least three generations of wild dolphins.

Scratchy is a very young member of this special pod.  We know this because he is just beginning to have spots, which start to appear around 4 years. This is also the age when dolphins begin to explore their world independently of their mothers or baby sitters (developmentally comparable to a 6 or 8 year old human). He may have just recently stopped nursing and he is 8 or more years from being a sexually mature adult. Scratchy is a young kid – and as he has often shown us – a very playful one.  He is the one who often pushes his way between Chisa and another dolphin when they are making underwater loops. He has a mischievous look in his big brown eyes.

Atlantic Spotted dolphins can often be recognized by distinctive patterns of their spots, which increase in density as they age.  Sometimes, accumulated nicks and bite marks on fins and flukes can help to distinguish individuals as well.  With new spots appearing all the time, youngsters like Scratchy can be hard to identify by physical markings.  So far, he has a freckle on his left chin (rostrum), five recognizable spots in a little constellation over his left flipper, and a characteristic dark steak of grey on the left side of his neck. But it is never hard to recognize his personality.

Scratchy’s personality has also given him more than a young dolphin’s share of scratches around his head.  This mischievous youngster doesn’t hesitate to jump into a rumble with older males. He doesn’t hesitate to get close to humans, either – dancer or camera person, alike.

As you can see in the video clip, Scratchy even makes attempts to ‘talk’ to us – making sounds that seem to be meant for us to hear and understand.  This is quite a low sound for dolphins.  There is no mistaking his gestures (both physical and vocal) that he wanted us to put down the camera and give him more attention.

We’ve seen Scratchy make his way from one person to another as we float at the surface, pausing in front of each person as if to make make sure he met every single human.

We often encounter Scratchy with Itchy, a young female who, although she has almost no scratches, also likes to come very close to the human dancers. Gliding past us side by side, they are often in gentle physical contact. Touch is clearly an expression of affection between dolphins, and Itchy and Scratchy demonstrate their fondness for each other and their taste for similar adventures.  We believe they were already inseparable a year ago when they had no spots at all …

Whether Scratchy and Itchy’s behavior is a sign of youthful curiosity and playfulness or over-enthusiastic risk-taking, they certainly demonstrate incredible trust…not only on their part, but on the part of their mothers and/or babysitters.  We know that when groups of youngsters like Itchy and Scratchy are at play, there is always an adult female around…sometimes nearby, sometimes at a slight distance…making sure all the kids are safe. Adults will round up the kids and hurry away (usually when they’ve dallied long enough and need to keep moving towards dinner) …  the fact that the ‘babysitters’ never seemed to intervene when we danced with Itchy and Scratchy says a lot about how much wild dolphins trust us.

Beyond trust, there are sometimes gestures that seem to signal affection or appreciation.  On a recent night, we entered the water to watch Scratchy and other adult members of the pod, fishing for squid, a staple of their diet.  All the dolphins intermix moments of socializing with feeding – and Scratchy, true to form, was one of the more enthusiastic.  Ben, in particular, had a sweet interaction with Scratchy, during which he darted away only to return a moment later to drop a stunned fish in front of his face, as if offering it as a gift.  This is a common behavior between dolphins – but it was exceptional and very touching that he included a human in the pod with the gesture.

Each wild dolphin that chooses to dance with us has a distinct personality.  We know from decades of research that they have an internal life of emotions and thoughts at least as rich as ours.  We see it expressed in the way we dance together. We see it in the way some choose to dance, while others do not.  Dolphins deserve all the rights that we would feel obliged to give to a human community – a right to freely determine how they live without humans imposing burdens on them.  Pollution, hunting and capture, and fishing gear that turns dolphins into ‘bycatch’ impose a terrible cost on dolphins worldwide (see dolphin-dance.org/protect for a review of threats dolphins face).  But dolphins have no legal representation in our human society, no legal standing to defend themselves.  We hope that sharing these dances with a wide audience will raise awareness and understanding that each individual dolphin is precious just like each individual human.

Scratchy (and his babysitters) express such trust in us and so much generosity in sharing their lives (and the occasional fish) with us.  We would like to inspire everyone who watches our dance to recognize that dolphins are people too, and to be considerate, respectful, and generous in return.

We thank Steve Ando and Takaji Ochi for allowing us to use their beautiful photos in our blog!

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