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“We All Danced Together” | Laura Casabé, The Virgin of the Quarry Lake
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Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why?
We had gone through some very difficult days during the shoot. The assistant director had to leave the production, and several other issues arose that made us, as a team, rethink how to organize ourselves. The day after the assistant director left went very poorly—we didn’t even manage to film a scene.
That’s why my favorite day on set was when we filmed the group dance scene at the Nicky Novak. We had to reevaluate ourselves as a team and learn to understand one another again. It seemed like it could end up being one of the hardest and most tedious days: a long dance scene that plays a pivotal role in the main storyline. It involved choreography, extras, 40-degree temperatures and a very small location we had only just secured.
The day before, the entire team got together. I wrote the complete choreography and decided I wanted to film it in one long take. We discussed how we were going to work—like parts of the same organism. First, we rehearsed with the actors. Then the camera and cinematographer joined in. After that, the rest of the crew followed the camera, and finally, the extras joined. Everyone thought it was going to be a very complex day, but instead, it was pure joy. It became the best day of the entire shoot—a celebration of collective work as a creative force, the playful energy of dance, and the synergy that unfolded. We all danced together: the group over individualities, the entire crew dancing to the furious rhythm of electronic music.
It was the best day of the whole production.
See all responses to our annual Sundance Question here.