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.

If you were following our previous blog, please subscribe anew to continue receiving updates about the Dolphin Dance Project.

Here are some new pages to check out. To see all the video, watch on a desktop or laptop:

=> New homepage with never-before-seen video

=> New page for our soon-to-be-released film “Dolphin Dreams”

=> New page introducing some of the dolphins who appear in our films

… and much more …

Our new website is only one of the things we are celebrating as we look back on 2016:

• we posted our most-often viewed video, “Daydreaming”.
• our second short film, “Amongst,” won Best Live Action 3D Film at the Stereoscopic Displays and Applications XXVII conference.
• our third film, “Dolphin Dreams” is now available as a private stream to the donors who supported its production. With gorgeous cinematography by Howard Hall and an original score by David Darling, the film features charismatic Atlantic spotted dolphins Notcho and Jalapeno among others and the dream of creating harmonious interspecies relationships through dance. We expect a theatrical release in early 2017.

Please consider supporting the continued development of our work. We are more committed than ever to increasing awareness and respect for dolphins, their ocean habitats, and all the creatures with whom we share our planet.

• Your donation will help support the completion of our trilogy of 3D short films.  “Amongst” is just the first part! There is much more human-dolphin dancing we want to share with you in 3D.
• Even if you didn’t participate in the Dolphin Dreams campaign, a donation of $35 or more will give you access to the streaming version of the film during the month of January. You will also gain access to a ‘sneak peek’ preview of never-before-seen video featuring charismatic Atlantic spotted dolphins and all our beautiful human dancers.

Thank you in advance for supporting the Dolphin Dance Project through your generous contributions, by watching our films and by spreading the word.

The post New Designs 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”.

The post Amongst 3D appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

Come See Dolphin Dance in 3D

on The Big Screen in NYC!

Sunday, December 7th at noon and 2pm

Tickets HERE

We are excited to announce a unique opportunity to see our most recent 3D work projected in a big screen theater!

The program will include a pre-release preview of  Dolphin Dreams* shot by Emmy Award-winning underwater cinematographer Howard Hall with an original score by Grammy Award-winning composer and cellist David Darling.

We will also preview several short 3D films featuring our full cast of beautiful dolphin dancers: Kathleen Fisher, Yuki Kusachi, Jillian Rutledge and Kayoko Sawamura.

Several talented members of our ‘pod’ of NYC dancers – Carly Czach, Elise Knudson and Tim O’Donnell – will grace the stage for a live performance amongst virtual dolphins.

Let’s fill the house! One of the most valuable things you can do to support us right now is to share this event with anyone you think might enjoy the show.

The one hour program will be presented twice:

SO CLOSE 3D: DANCE WITH WILD DOLPHINS

Sunday, December 7th
Screenings at NOON and 2 pm

SVA Theater
333 West 23rd Street

TICKETS are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. FREE for children under 16 when reserved in advance.

*It’s not too late to support the finishing of “Dolphin Dreams”. Even if you can’t join us at this screening, for a donation of $50 or more, you will receive a DVD of the film, when it is completed. Donations can be made at checkout when you purchase your ticket, or at our website, where you can also see a full list of perks. Thank you!

Co-produced with Dance Films Association, with support from Artist as Citizen.

So Close 3D is made possible in part with public funds from the Fund for Creative Communities, supported by New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, as well as funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. LMCC.net

The post So Close 3D: Dance with Wild Dolphins appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

If you have a pair of good old Red/Cyan 3D glasses, you can watch this video right on your computer (and if you don’t have a pair, we can send one to you).  If you have a 3D TV it will look even better. There are instructions for 3D viewing at the end of this blog post and in the comments under the YouTube video.

Dolphin Dance in 3D: Sample

We make our films to provide an experience where you actually feel what is being exchanged and communicated between the dolphins and the dancers. The 3D effect seems to enhance that feeling substantially by providing the sensation of actually being under the water with them.

We’d love to hear what you think.  Feel free to post a comment below or on our FB page.

If you don’t have 3D glasses, or you just want to compare and contrast, you can watch a high quality 2D version here:

Ultimately, our ambition is to share this experience and its story on giant screens in educational venues like discovery centers, natural history museums – all of these almost exclusively screen 3D films. So we decided to see for ourselves, how it might look … and we built our own custom 3D rig, with two high definition cameras, some optimistic thinking, and a fraction of what we would pay to use a commercial system.

After seeing the results, we are more enthusiastic than ever about seeing this work in giant screen venues. While we build the financial support we will need to do a feature shoot with a commercial system, we are also considering how we can share this 3D experience using our custom rig, perhaps by creating installations using 3D televisions.

We recorded this footage during our rehearsals this summer (see our last blog post). In addition to Hugs and Kisses, we were joined by a mother dolphin – who we refer to as Flower – and her less than one year old baby, Buds. In the close up shot, as Hugs hogs the camera, you can see Buds making a successful loop with Yuki by staying very close to mom.

(To learn more about how dolphin babies learn to dance with humans from their moms, see our previous video – Introducing Jalapeño.)

We want to give a big shout out of thanks to our dancers. We so appreciate their talent and commitment. It is thanks to their extraordinary ability to establish a moving relationship with the dolphins and with each other, that we are able to see a connection between species we might otherwise think impossible. We also want to thank Sophie Ellen for contributing a track from her debut album as our sound track.

We are immensely grateful to our donors who helped to make this experiment possible (and also to the extraordinary high seas skills of Captain Scott).

HOW TO WATCH IN 3D:

You can watch on your computer wearing Red/Cyan glasses, but the quality of the 3D effect and the image will be much better on a proper 3D TV.

To watch on your computer with Red/Cyan glasses (If you don’t have a pair, we can send one to you: donate through our online store):

1) Open the Youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrLsn7vIlrY

2) Go to the pop up menu in the ‘cog wheel’ at the lower right hand corner and choose 3D

3) Under ‘Options’ choose ‘Full Color’ and ‘Red/Cyan’.

4) If your internet connection and computer are reasonably fast, you’ll want to view in 1080HD.

5) Be sure to watch in Full Screen. If the image is too small, you won’t see the 3D effect.

To watch on a 3D Television with the specific glasses it requires:

1) If your TV is connected to the Internet, you can use the YouTube app to watch the video. Open the YouTube app on your TV and type in the identifier: UrLsn7vIlrY.

OR

2) Otherwise, you can connect your computer directly to your TV and play the YouTube video in Full Screen. Choose the 3D option ‘side by side’ rather than Red/Cyan.

3) Use the TV remote to choose to convert 2D ‘side by side’ to 3D.

posted by Ben Harley

The post Dolphin Dance in 3D appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

Recently, we submitted a brief documentary profile of our work to the Focus Forward film competition, a Vimeo-sponsored initiative to promote the people and ideas that promise a “quantum leap to human progress through innovation”.

“All of a sudden, you realize there are these persons in the ocean.”  Founder and choreographer Chisa Hidaka describes how amazing it is that wild dolphins are able to collaborate in these improvised dances, conversing with us through movement and showing us their tremendous intellectual capacities, curiosity, and generosity.  She also explains that just by watching, the audience is able to experience a profound moment of intimacy and mutual understanding with another species.  As one student relates, after attending one of our lecture presentations, “our traditional perceptions of the dolphin-human divide are just completely … gone.”

Although the film was not selected as a finalist, and will not be one of the films that is being screened this week at the Sundance Film Festival, we are confident that this work is “making a difference to help sow the seeds for a brighter tomorrow.”

The documentary uses excerpts from our upcoming short film, “Dolphin Dreams”.  To learn more about the project, our past and future films, please visit http://dolphin-dance.org.

The post Dolphin Dance Project Profile appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

Jalapeño and her mom, Notcho, are part of a group of Atlantic Spotted dolphins who have been instrumental to the development of my choreographic approach. Although this pod lives far from shore, they initiated a relationship with a few scientists and naturalists more than 30 years ago; and humans and dolphins continue to deepen this relationship today. I have returned for yearly rehearsals with these dolphins, who first inspired the initiation of the Dolphin Dance Project. As you see in the video, both humans and dolphins continue to learn  about how we can dance together.

The triple loop you see in the video is new for Jalapeño this year … it is also rather new for me. You haven’t seen such sustained interactions before partly because of the breath hold training that was required for me to achieve them. Jalapeño, on the other hand, has had to develop the coordination for and interest in sustaining an interaction with a human. Doing three loops together is an example of how, through years of observing each other and working together, we are developing a movement ‘‘language” that humans and dolphins can share to express our mutual interest in playing and making dance together.

Doing multiple loops with humans is clearly not a stereotyped reaction; not all dolphins engage us in this way, even when we are dancing and playing together. Jalapeño had to learn how to do this … most likely from following along with her mother the previous year. This is consistent with the scientific research of Richard Connor and others that have reported on wild dolphins learning specialized behaviors from their mothers. I wonder what new skills Jalapeño will have learned next year?

Jalapeño’s mother, Notcho, was a youngster, about 4 years old – and with just a few spots – when she first met humans in the 1970s. Decades later, and now a mature mother with many, many spots, she brings her daughter to meet her human friends. It was a great privilege to be introduced to Jalapeño last year… incredibly heartwarming to see her growing up this year … and a joy to imagine how things may progress in the future.

Among the first humans Notcho met was Hardy Jones. A journalist and film-maker so dedicated to cetaceans he is known as ‘the Dolphin Defender’. We are very fortunate to have Hardy as a new advisor to our project. You can read more about Hardy’s discovery of Notcho’s pod – and much more about protecting dolphins – in his new book, “The Voice of the Dolphins”. (We recommend it.)

We endorse the work of Hardy Jones’ BlueVoice and other organizations that endeavor to protect dolphins and whales. Families like Notcho and Jalapeno’s are ripped apart when dolphins are hunted, killed as bycatch in fishing gear, or captured for aquariums. We hope that the attention our films bring to these amazing creatures inspires respect and protection for all wild dolphins and their habitats. To learn more about the threats that dolphins face and how to mitigate them, please visit our Protecting Dolphins page.

Thank you for your support of the Dolphin Dance Project.

The post Introducing “Jalapeño” appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

The first morning, the two adults at the beginning of this clip – Lucky and Pristine, as we call them – joined us for an extended underwater session of dance improvisation and play.  In this clip, they make space for a youngster for whom they were caring to have a solo opportunity to connect with the humans.  As we dive down, the calf loops around to meet us and then leads us to the surface, spiraling into the sunlight.

Often, dolphins this young seem too impatient to pay attention to the body language of humans and go slowly enough for such an extended interaction.  But this young one had been watching us move with the adults all morning.  He keeps his eye on us, going as slowly as he can, occasionally wobbling to stay at our slow pace.  We human dancers stayed in unison too – realizing what we had been working all summer to achieve in our rehearsals – humans and dolphins all listening to each other and moving in coordination.

That entire morning session was a beautiful dance where dolphins and humans collaborated as if creating choreography together. Loops and swirls unfurled themselves one after another in front of the camera. Our friends, Christine and Wendy, who had joined us, marveled at the cooperation between humans and dolphins and also between humans working together for the first time.

Working with Howard and Michele was a privilege and a pleasure.  They have over 30 years of experience making underwater films, including IMAX features such as “Into the Deep” and “Coral Reef Adventure” among many others, not to mention seven Emmy awards for their television productions. Their expertise and utter competence meant that we returned with an order of magnitude more amazing clips and stills than we had expected.  Furthermore, Howard was shooting with a RED ONE camera (in a Gates underwater housing) which means that everything was captured in super high definition and stunning rich colors.

Howard also has a special relationship with this particular pod of Atlantic Spotted dolphins.  In the late 1970’s he was one of the first cinematographers to collaborate with Hardy Jones (who continues to be a leading advocate for wild dolphins around the world) to investigate their personalities and behavior.  Since then, more than 30 years of consistent observation and the longest scientific field study of wild dolphins provide us with unprecedented insight into their relationships and the implications of their participation in these human-dolphin dances.  We look forward to sharing these insights in our upcoming feature documentary.

At the same time, we are also editing this summer’s video footage into our second short dance film.  Thanks to Howard’s high definition camera – in full resolution you can see the expression in the eyes of the dancers – the film will be suitable for projection on giant IMAX screens.

You can learn about the work of Howard and Michele Hall and see some samples from their extensive 4K video library by visiting their website: http://howardhall.com/

The post Up and Coming appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

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!

The post Introducing ‘Scratchy’ appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.

The precise coordination of the dolphins movements never ceases to amaze me, not only because it is so thrilling to experience, but because it speaks so clearly of the intentionality of the dolphins’ participation and also of the cooperative relationships between the individuals. Amid a group of beautifully synchronous dolphins, I wonder – can humans join together in this way? Can humans be harmonious and unified enough so that a second, even third human dancer could join in the swirl as elegantly as two or three dolphins might join in?

This was the challenge for Kathleen, Ben and me during a recent rehearsal week.

Working with a resident pod of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins, we explored how to move in synchrony with the dolphins and with each other. We were fortunate to be on this trip with talented photographers Yukiyo Sakai and Takaji Ochi, a highly regarded nature photographer in Japan.

Kathleen, Ben and I all have experience dancing with dolphins. Yet joining another human dancer in a swirl of dolphins was not always easy…or even possible. Just keeping track of each other in the water was often difficult, with masks limiting our view. How do we keep our bodies aligned with each other when we are too close to see the other person fully? or when the other person is above, to the side, or otherwise out of view?

As we worked, we experienced what we already knew – that the dolphins are much more expert in this dance than we humans are. With eyes on the sides of their heads, their field of view is much, much wider than ours…their bodies are streamlined with no arms and legs to dangle this way and that…their skin is exquisitely sensitive to the flow of water all around them. For them to stay in sync seems much easier than it is for us.

For dolphins, it seems, unison is not only a skill for which they are anatomically and physiologically well-equipped, but an activity that is necessary for survival and full of social meaning.

The smallest calves are expert at following their mothers’ every move, maintaining ‘baby position’ under mom’s belly everywhere she goes. By necessity – mother can’t hold the baby’s hand or strap him on her back or in a stroller. Slightly older, juvenile dolphins tumultuously swirl around but then suddenly transform into an orderly unit as one of the moms or older siblings –  a babysitter – rounds up the troops.No doubt that moving in synchrony helps keep the pod – and especially its youngsters – safe from harm amid the ocean’s vast expanse. Perhaps through its lifelong practice, synchronous movement even becomes an expression of unity that gives the dolphins a sense of belonging or safety.

To think that the dolphins willingly invite humans into this dance of inclusiveness seems incredibly generous and trusting. It is hard not to feel grateful, being allowed to join the dolphins in this intimate way. It gives us motivation to learn to communicate through this important ‘dolphin idiom’ of synchrony as we work towards an ever-more communicative interspecies dance with them.

[See more of our rehearsal photos in a Flickr slideshow]

To support the development of future dance films and an upcoming documentary, please visit our Donate page, download our first film “Together“, and share our project with all your dolphin loving friends and family.

The post A Pod of Spotted Dolphins and Three Human Dancers appeared first on Dolphin Dance Project.