I was delighted to lead the RAD’s collaboration with Scott in 2018. As a film, Danseur resonated very strongly with our Project B campaign…launched in 2017, this aims to celebrate and inspire the next generation of male dancers. We saw a collaboration based around Danseur as a great way of surfacing some of the issues that we know can exist in getting boys to the barre.
We partnered on three screenings of the film, in London (UK), Sydney (Australia) and Wellington (New Zealand), facilitating Q&A panel sessions and lively discussions at each event and reaching over 600 dance fans across the three events. The film was a great stimulus for the kinds of debate that Project B, and the RAD, are keen to promote.
Matthew CunninghamDANSEUR is a powerful film that explores the challenges and struggles of male dancers. As a board member and former Chair of the Dance Department at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, I felt strongly that the dance students needed to experience a screening of the film along with a panel discussion with professional dancers from the community. Using the film as a catalyst to open the dialogue about bullying in dance, students have been more willing to have an open dialogue with counselors, faculty, and other students.
Lily Cabatu WeissThe New Zealand School of Dance had the privilege to be a part of the New Zealand premiere of Danseur. The wellbeing of young dancers is always a priority and focus for the School and it was a rewarding opportunity to share the stories of young male dancers with a New Zealand audience.We thank Scott Gormley and his team for the work and care that has gone into raising awareness of life for male dancers.
Pippa Drakeford-CroadScott Gormley’s film, Danseur, speaks to the ongoing issues and concerns faced by young and professional male dancers in the industry. It highlights pertinent topics surrounding the stigma of the male dancer by society, the bullying by peers, and parental perception about the profession. Guests from the local arts community, Point Park University administrators, faculty from across the university and the entire Dance Department were invited to the screening of the film on Point Park University’s campus in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh. The film created a forum where students and faculty can continue the conversation in classes, with peers and with parents. Students recognize that by politicizing dance, by questioning societal constructed ‘normative’ attitudes about dance, they are excavating deeply held false notions that are at the root of the stigmas about the male dancer. The film also hits on a personal note for Gormley, the father of a young man, also a Point Park student, who chose dance as a career. Brilliantly shedding light on the continuing important and necessary dialogue that needs to take place in training institutions, with parents and in society as a whole, Danseur is a must see!
Garfield Lemonius