EVERYBODY DANCE Filmmaker Interview

Many artists call their work an act of love, but few make it SHOW as clearly as Daniel Watt.

His award-winning documentary, Everybody Dance, is available on YouTube to stream for free. Watt’s film takes us into a dance studio that invites children of all abilities to join. There we meet the founder of this school and see her genius at work. We meet the families that the school has touched. And most of all, we celebrate the children whom the film showcases.

It’s an emotional ride….

Here, Picture This Post (PTP) invites Daniel Watt (DW) to share his story.

(PTP) Dan, please share your dancing background with with Picture This Post readers.

(DW) I started taking dance classes at 15yrs after being in the talent show in school. I was lucky to find an amazing teacher, Dee Hillier. Every year she would take a few of us to NYC to take classes from the best and get a taste of what it was like in the real world. I was hooked. At 19 years, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue my career and was lucky to get into a dance company called On Our Toes and was able to perform with the Joffrey Ballet in their big productions of Romeo & Juliet, Taming of the Shrew among others. After I felt my career as a dancer was winding down, I started choreographing and teaching dance classes and was made the Head of the Musical Theatre, Dance and Drama Department at the South Bay Conservatory.

You have been a teacher and a mentor to many students over the years. How did this experience impact you?

I taught all levels of dance. I loved seeing young dancers progress. In my Jazz 1 class I had two amazing girls who had autism. I did not know much about autism at that time, so I just taught the class as I always did and realized that nothing had to be changed in my teaching style and method. I did however chat with Fran, the Mom, to see if there were any specifics that I was not aware of and to educate myself. She told me that one of the girls had sensory sensitivities and was sensitive to touch, and to not worry about physically adjusting her arms, for example, but to just continue to show her. All kids will pick up certain dance steps at their own pace, so I corrected every child when needed and carried on.

Did you always aspire to produce documentaries?

I was lucky to have worked at Columbia Pictures in their film development department for five years and at SYCO, Simon Cowell’s production company for five years. I was always drawn to real stories, and I watched documentaries at home. When I decided to take the leap and become an Independent Producer I wanted to tell stories that I felt had a purpose and needed to be told.

I knew that I wanted to tell a story about how studying the arts could be applied to everyday life. I didn’t know quite what that story was yet. Then I had a dream about Fran and her two daughters, some 16 or 17 years since I taught them. I thought, why am I dreaming about them? Luckily I had another dream about them a few weeks later and I woke up thinking, “This is God poking me saying ‘THIS is your movie, Daniel’ so I trusted my gut and went for it.

I didn’t quit have the in for my film yet, so I got on the Internet and looked for schools and conservatories that offered classes in the arts for kids with different disabilities. There are many places across the country that offer this, but some felt more like a babysitting service than an actual class. As I continued to look, I found Ballet for ALL Kids. I reached out to Bonnie; we chatted a few times and met for coffee. After she felt comfortable with me and my concept, she invited me to observe a class. After that, I knew this was my film.

Bonnie teaches a full hour of ballet. The kids were at the barre doing tendus, plies, rond de jambes and all things I did when I took class. What is also so special about this studio is that everyone is welcome – there are kids who are atypical, have autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome and other different disabilities. The name of the studio says for ALL KIDS, and that was the thing that made me want to tell these stories. Everyone is -coming together with one goal – TO DANCE.