Dan Watt says the idea came to him in a dream — a dream about two girls with autism he taught as a dance instructor 20 years ago.
Watt, a transplant to Los Angeles originally from Cleveland, had been thinking about producing a documentary about the arts, but he wasn’t sure what his angle would be. Then he had a dream about the two girls and recalled a memory of the time he promoted one of the girls to the class’s front row. Surprisingly, she started crying.
“I went out because I thought I did something wrong and talked to Fran, the mom,” Watt says. “I said, ‘Oh my gosh, what did I do wrong?’ and she said, ‘Nothing, she’s just happy because her goal was to get to the front row and you put her in the front row after so many years.’”
Watt had his idea. Not only was it about dance, an art form he was incredibly passionate about, but it supported one of his firm convictions: that studying the arts can benefit anyone, anywhere.
Watt’s documentary, fittingly titled EVERYBODY DANCE, will premiere at the Cleveland International Film Festival on April 3 at 4:45 pm. It tells the story of five children with differing abilities from a dance studio outside Los Angeles called Ballet for All Kids.
Founded in 2008 by Bonnie Schlachte, the studio “teaches classical ballet and other dance styles using the Schlachte Method — a certified curriculum developed to accommodate all abilities, body types and learning styles,” according to their website.
Watt began talking with Schlachte about making the film in August 2019 before beginning production in September of that year. Watt says Schlachte told him she was preparing to announce that the studio would be planning a recital, and wanting to capture the kids’ reactions to the announcement, he began filming right away.
“I didn’t have time to think about it; I just had to get a film crew together,” Watt says. “I thought, what a way to open the movie, is her saying, “Hey kids, we’re going to do a recital.’ ”
After 10 months of filming and another round of follow-up interviews with the kids and their families, Watt says the film was ready to be edited down to its final version showing the dancers’ journeys from learning the dances through to the recital.
Watt’s own journey as a dancer and his fierce passion for the arts inspired him to make the documentary. A former professional dancer in Cleveland and Los Angeles, Watt also worked at Columbia Pictures and with Simon Cowell’s production company after moving to Los Angeles. Watt says he’s excited that his film will be premiering at the State Theater in Cleveland, where he once worked as a server.
Watt’s experiences inform his worldview. He says he believes every child in America should take lessons in some type of art — whether that be music, painting, or dance — for at least two years.
“The dedication and the determination and the discipline of studying something like that, you can apply that in any part of your life,” Watt says. “I thought, Well, I want to do something about how art can help anybody, and then I just connected the dots.”
The festival will take place from March 30-April 17. EVERYBODY DANCE will be shown at 4:45 pm April 3 and at noon April 4, with an option to screen it online for $10.00.
