And then I got to meet these two amazing dancers and they vastly changed the way I see dance, their commitment, passion and love towards dance can’t be said, you would just need to be present in any of their performances. Greg is living in Cartagena where he’s focused on his project ‘Apsara’, dances from India, and Walter in Paris, he recently received a master in dance.
Modern dancer
Everything started right here with Genna, we sat a couple of days before and talk it out, she was hooked from the very first moment. Even the first dance photos I ever shot was here in NYC, I wasn’t even sure which lens I had to attach to the camera; my first idea, and because of my skateboarding background, was to try out and be safe with a wide angle, in this case a 14mm as you can appreciate in the picture.
I remember it was a cloudy afternoon, our last sunlight in NYC and we were in a rush trying to find a spot to shoot the video. Finally we found this rooftop in Brooklyn where Genna improvised this marvelous choreography.
Modern dancer
We had a perfect weather that afternoon, trying to catch the golden hour. The spot was a private parking lot, but we didn’t know until the security guard showed up and told us we had to leave. We shot this video in about 30 minutes and this one sets the transition from color to black and white in the project.
It took us around 6 days from 6AM to 8AM to have this shooting done in Cartagena.
Eli & Ricardo own a speechless, beautiful and inspirational vibe. When they dance together, it seems that the world stumbles and stops just to see them perform pure human magic.
Jazz dancer
Right after the photo session with Anthony and Lucía, Anthony wanted to improvised a quick choreography, so we thought we could make it down this particular ‘rue’ in Paris. Passage Taillandiers.
I, particularly, found it a little uncomfortable due to the fact that I wasn’t carrying the proper equipment for such a task, but in the end, we managed to have a cool, smooth session.
The activity was carried out in Olaya Herrera neighborhood, the biggest in the city of Cartagena, Colombia, also storing extreme poverty over several areas. The intention was to conduct a pilot test of a dane workshop related to the project.
We had the collaboration of Huellas del Mar Foundation (Xiomara Monroy – Cedrick Contrera). The dancers, part of the iDp project, are Carolina Orozco and Greg García.
It was a special moment where we were able to share with the community part of the process we’ve been working on these last 3 years.
‘What’s Beyond Dance’ marks the first exhibition by insightDproject. It took place in the city of Cartagena, Colombia on August 30th, 2018. We’d like to thank to the Alianza Francesa Cartagena de Indias for this opportunity to share part of the process.
Also, we’d like to thank all the people (Dancers, choreographers, producers, consultants, musicians, coaches) involved with the project, and the ones who showed up on this special day for making this possible.
One step at the time. Dance helps to change lives!
It was a 2-years-in-the-making video; an amazing experience. Days waking up early, getting to know amazing people, dancers, locations and cultures. Here’s the outcome of an amazing journey.
Dancers
– Gladia Marchetti (Italy). Location: Paris, France.
– Carolina Orozco (Colombia). Location: Cartagena, Colombia.
– Ofelia Omoyele Balogun (Italy). Location: London, United Kingdom.
– Robert Prein (Netherlands). Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands.
– Annaloes Van Schuppen (Netherlands). Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands.
– Maurice Causey (United States). Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Assistant Producers
– Cécile Jaouen
– Glenn Westphal
Contemporary Dancers
It took us over a week to set it all, get the right spot, check on every detail of the choreography. The first day we shot, the energy was high because of the outcome we were having; the next day, when the second shooting session was in progress, we were all disconnected because we decided to use another location, I guess due to this the vibe was much different than the first day. By the time we finished the production day, early in the morning, we felt that we had to make some arrangements to feel the vibe we were experiencing the day before.
So the decision was to shoot all the performance on the bridge. What Greg, Darlyn and Ronald did, was to get back to the bridge spot that very same night, under the drizzle, after their working day and they adapted the choreography to the reduced space. The next morning (5:40AM), they were on time, excited and ready to call it a wrap. This video is the result of committed and passionate dancers giving it all to express what their bodies claim to feel.
Hat off for these amazing perfomers.
