Fiction Adaptation: Casting Update and dancer search process


After posting my listing on Dancers Pro, I realised that time was running out or me to find the dancers who fit the profile of the poem (1 white male, 1 black female) After browsing the site for dancers and sending lots of personal messages, I received no response from any.  I then had to make do with what I had so I went through and looked at the profiles who provided show reels. 

 I decided to message; 
Anna said she was available on the production day that I selected and was ready to go ahead with the production. I really liked her showreel as well so that was a bonus.  

 Michael was the only male dancer to apply but he was not a contemporary dancer. However he assured me that he would be able to give me the movement that I required. However, upon talking, he requested that I pay him £100 when I was already giving £30 a day and paying for their travel. This was all noted down in the application as well so I was a little outraged when I heard this and so I decided not to use him.
It was now a week before the shoot date and Anna dropped out so I was left with no one. 
I emailed the rest of the applicants and the only person who was keen to do it and available on the day was; 
Yanitsa Dimitrova





Yanitsa was extremely lovely and was very keen to do my project as she said she loved the idea. It was really nice having someone on board who seemed just as passionate about my project as me. I explained the situation about my male dancer and asked her if she knew anyone who would like to be a part of it and politely offered to look.

 In the mean time I had a facebook status asking for dancers and a few people shared it. I was in Slovenia at the time and could not go to any dance studios to find anyone so I became very worried that I would only have one dancer and would need to change the story of my adaptation. With one dancer I believed the adaptation would be very limited, dull and wouldn't fit the narrative of the poem. However, The next day I received a message from a very polite individual who wanted to be a part of the project; 
Joseph Belleh


He showed me videos of his previous work and I immediately fell in love with it. Not only was it lovely to watch, I knew it would fit the style that I was going for.  He found me through my facebook post as he had searched for "contemporary dancer" and my post came up. (Lucky!) He was available for my chosen date as well so that was a bonus. 

Changing the Narrative of the poem.

 The line in the poem was; "I will never know what its like, To be black, to be a woman"and so at first I thought that it would need to be a black woman and a non black man since the original poet is not black. However, I then had an idea to combat this in order for the story to make sense; I would have to get Joseph to mime "to be a woman" and get Yanitsa to mime"to be black" then it shifts who the speaker is but it will make so much more sense. I was really happy that I was able to find dancers in time for my project and I had confidence because I knew that both of them would be able to complete the moves I wanted as well as expand on them.
Next Steps;
  • Create a mock soundtrack for both dancers to refer to and practice
  • Send over all relevant paper work such as call sheets and shot lists so they can prepare
  • think about extra important parts such as costume 
  • continue to develop the shot list to support the new change in the poem

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