The short film “Together: Dancing with Spinner Dolphins”, depicting the tender dance between New York choreographer/filmmaker Chisa Hidaka and wild dolphins premieres on 6 November, 2010 at two film festivals: The Big Apple Film Festival at Tribeca Cinemas in New York, USA and the Colorado Environmental Film Festival in Golden, Colorado. The film can also be downloaded.

First Time on Film: Humans and Wild Dolphins Communicate Through Dance

Set in the deep blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, ʻTogetherʼ portrays a human and a wild Spinner Dolphin forging a tender relationship through the language of dance. Conceived and directed by Chisa Hidaka, “Together” is the début film of the Dolphin Dance Project which she founded in December 2009 to bring together talented human dancers and wild dolphins to co-create unique works of inter-species art. Inspired by the similarities between how dolphins play among themselves and how human dancers improvise, the Dolphin Dance Project is dedicated both to making exceptionally moving films and to exploring what can be shared and expressed when two species meet as collaborative equals.

“When we interact with dolphins as our collaborative equals, we suddenly realize in a profound way that we are not the only intelligent and aware species on the planet,” says Chisa. Dolphins are one of the rare wild species to approach humans voluntarily without any incentive other than their own curiosity and joy to interact with another intelligent animal. The film highlights the creativity, intelligence, and spirit of wild dolphins with the hope of inspiring audiences to protect them and their ocean habitats. To reach a global audience, a trailer in Japanese, Spanish, French, and English has been published to Vimeo on the Dolphin Dance Project channel.

This first film will generate momentum for a longer composition featuring multiple human dancers and an accompanying documentary that will integrate the latest dolphin science to help a wide audience appreciate what they see. Dr. Chisa Hidaka trained as a dancer, but spent the last decade running a research laboratory at the Hospital for Special Surgery, providing her with the necessary and rare combination of creative and analytic ability. Born in Japan and a U.S. citizen, Chisa hopes her work will help the two countries find common ground to improve the well-being of dolphins in the wild.