Waak an Danz
At the seashore, a body sprouts between sand and cement. His dance guides us on a journey through the ancestral afromestizo heritage and the various ways to experience dance in the city of Puerto Limón. A place where when people walk, they dance.
Interview with Writer/Director Esteban Richmond
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I'm not from Limón, I don't live in Limón, but I feel part of it. I'm a dancer too. I feel part of that community of sense that feels the rhythm resonate in our pelvis, that we vibrate with the music and that we simply cannot stop dancing. In 2013, the seed of Waak Danz started. At the National Dance Workshop, they offered an Afro-Caribbean dance workshop. I enrolled in it and it was just me and two other people, while the ballet and hip-hop courses were saturated with unsatisfied quotas. Is it that very few people are interested in afro-costa rican dance?
In the first class of the workshop, I met Claudio Taylor McKenzie, a dancing body in its purest form that reacted to the vibrations of the drums. A total, honest and full presence: a state of happiness. Claudio immersed us in an atmosphere where we let our bodies respond naturally to the stimuli of percussion and rhythm. I discovered that there is a body memory, something stored in ancestry and genetic inheritance that is activated by movement. It was a revealing experience. Information from our remote and recent ancestors is imprinted in our cells, and accompanies us at all times. It’s activated by the rhythm and movement in our bodies. With this revelation, I got inspired to start the creative process of the film.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Waak an Danz is the first Central American documentary-screendance ever and the only. It is the only film in this genre filmed in the province of Limón and starring artists from Limón.
This film highlights the transformative power of art, offering a portrait of Limón's culture and sensitivity, its potential, its wealth and its contributions to building harmonious communities. A portrait through poetry, dance and music that cross the way of speaking, doing and walking.
The film presents an exploration of the bodily identity of the people of Limón and their very particular movement: a cultural and historical construction of multiple influences, which must be understood as a constant and living process that is transformed every day.
Rhythms, bodies and movement are mixed with the reflections of the performers/dancers and demonstrate the transmuting power of dance to heal and resignify an ancestral bodily identity. and of movement, marked by historical movements of great oppression.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
My approach to the body and dance has made me realize that movement is a transformative experience of individual and collective growth. I believe that the integrating power of dance is a vehicle for social development for communities.
Art in society is a space that congregates and unites people from an authentic place as long as there is a sharing based on self-expression, and accepting what one is and what one brings. Dance is a form of socialization, it has a healing and transmuting power in the communities. Movement allows energy to be channelled that could be diverted into violence and other social problems. I did this film to express this, especially from a historically marginated area in Costa Rica: Limón.
In each story, in each artist, the reality of dance is explored; a creative force that has historically been resistance and liberation for the Caribbean peoples, as well as a vehicle for the constant development and reconstruction of both social and individual identity, a sense of community and the opening of spaces for collective encounters and creative processes.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
We (the crew) moved to Limón and started a creative and community-based process with the artists and collectives of the area. We did five versions of the script, it was quite challenging because we were mixing two very different genres: documentary (in a traditional sense, with interviews, etc.) and screen dance language. The script writing and the postproduction process took 4 years.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We have received very positive feedback. The first screening was made in the community of Limón, with the cast and their families. It was very important to us as a crew to hear comments like: "This is the first time that I can relate to the images and representation that I'm watching, because many others have filmed in Limon but always from an outsider look, this feels like we are, feels like home". We've also received comments regarding the innovative language for a documentary film.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I was very very nervous, especially regarding the screening to the community of Simon, I was very surprised about the incredible response and positive comments they made.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I would really like that more people in the world could watch Costa Rican narratives, especially from Limon. Hopefully, this opens new connections to screen the film in many other areas.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Film festal directors distributors and journalists.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
A message of empowerment of Afro-Latina culture, of community bounds and art as a vehicle for society.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What does the way you move express about your identity and the place you came from?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I'm specialized in screen dance pieces. I'm developing a project with an elderly woman, who receives dance classes with me.
Interview: May 2023
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Waak an Danz
At the seashore, a body sprouts between sand and cement. His dance guides us on a journey through the ancestral afromestizo heritage and the various ways to experience dance in the city of Puerto Limón. A place where when people walk, they dance.
Length: 55:00
Director: Esteban Richmond
Producer: Paola Jinesta
Writer: Esteban Richmond and Paola Jinesta
About the writer, director and producer:
ESTEBAN RICHMOND is a filmmaker from Costa Rica, movement artist, researcher and multimedia creator. His artistic works focus on the body and its multimedia potential. Esteban is a director, screenwriter, editor, dancer and choreographer. His work emphasizes the genres of dancefilm, documentary and expanded video.
PAOLA JINESTA is an audiovisual producer from Costa Rica. Her cinematography focuses on the development of ecofeminist processes and narratives.
Key cast: Claudio Taylor, Kendall Cayasso, Rhythm Nation, Family Familia Callimore, Limon Revolution Movement, Cana Squad Mad & bad boys.
Looking for: journalists, film festival directors and distributors
Facebook: Waak an Danz
Hashtags used: #waakandanz #limon #costarica #caminabaila
Other: YouTube
Funders: Self-funded