It was never meant to be a film. Heather Lipson Bell had asked myself and a cameraman to attend her class to document one student who was about to undergo spinal fusion surgery.
Then we saw how Heather worked with her students with various disabilities or limitations ranging from Down syndrome to cerebral palsy, from autism to anxiety, including low income students who cannot afford to take any other class. It was an electrifying experience so we decided to attend the remaining 11 classes that summer to document it all.
I had first met Heather in New York City where I was trying to make good use of my BFA in Theatre from NYU and she was working as a dancer after graduating from Boston Conservatory.
Heather had been working with the Special Needs community for over two decades at this point. The film took on the narrative shape of the class itself, opening with warm-ups, stretching, barre exercises, moving on to sequences of steps crossing the floor that lead up to Heather teaching the dancers choreography intended for public performance as well as their own enjoyment in class. Believing in the importance of traditional dance styles as well as the strength of her own work Heather exposed the students to different dance styles including the Tarantella, recreated segments from classic Musical Theatre pieces as well as original work - executed always with Heather's distinctive style.
Many of the parents and students were interviewed for the film and all were eager to be a part of it. We hear their words but never see them speaking on camera. This allows us to focus on the dancers as they move, as they struggle to learn and yet persist, and as they succeed in ways that will both surprise and move you.
Then we saw how Heather worked with her students with various disabilities or limitations ranging from Down syndrome to cerebral palsy, from autism to anxiety, including low income students who cannot afford to take any other class. It was an electrifying experience so we decided to attend the remaining 11 classes that summer to document it all.
I had first met Heather in New York City where I was trying to make good use of my BFA in Theatre from NYU and she was working as a dancer after graduating from Boston Conservatory.
Heather had been working with the Special Needs community for over two decades at this point. The film took on the narrative shape of the class itself, opening with warm-ups, stretching, barre exercises, moving on to sequences of steps crossing the floor that lead up to Heather teaching the dancers choreography intended for public performance as well as their own enjoyment in class. Believing in the importance of traditional dance styles as well as the strength of her own work Heather exposed the students to different dance styles including the Tarantella, recreated segments from classic Musical Theatre pieces as well as original work - executed always with Heather's distinctive style.
Many of the parents and students were interviewed for the film and all were eager to be a part of it. We hear their words but never see them speaking on camera. This allows us to focus on the dancers as they move, as they struggle to learn and yet persist, and as they succeed in ways that will both surprise and move you.
The film won the Jury Award for Inspiration at the 2014 South Dakota Film Festival in Aberdeen, SD.
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