Bravery, fierce determination, and strong spirits are all things the cast of Unbound showcases in this documentary. Unbound explores the abuse that the cast and many others have suffered in the ballet industry.
Coming together as a defiant group of dancers, the team strives to create a diverse company that allows other industry survivors a place to fight back against their abuse on the stage.
Led by Chase Johnsey, who had never directed before, the dancers have no money and no fame as they begin an uphill battle to make themselves known and battle their own traumas.
John English, co-director for this documentary, is thrilled that the UK premier takes place in Scotland – his home country. Currently, he lives in Barcelona, Spain, and is the co-founder of OTOXO Productions which create documentaries to give voice to the voiceless.
He kindly agreed to speak with Brig to tell us a bit more about Unbound and OTOXO Productions’ INto INdustry programme – a programme that helps creative young people learn about the industry through training and professional filmmaking opportunities.
“Reclaiming the stage”
Desperate to hear about the process that went into Unbound we started off by talking about why they chose this topic to document.
“We always look for stories that find lightness out of the dark. Defiant joy is something that’s really important to us,” said John.
“We found this company where abused dancers were stepping up and ‘reclaiming the stage’ as they called it, creating their own company with their own values.
“It just felt like it had all the ingredients, it was a chance to explore a very important issue and at the same time see this vibrant, artistic, brave struggle going on in front of us.”
“A culture of silence”
Shooting documentaries requires a lot of time spent with who or what you are documenting. Naturally, emotional bonds can sometimes form. Brig asked John just how emotional things got behind the scenes of such a personal documentary.
“Right from the start you realised the passion, grit, and bravery that these dancers had, but once we start sitting down to interview them, we started to realise that they were telling us stories that they had never told anyone before,” John remarked proudly.
“There’s a culture of silence within ballet – if you talk, if you complain, you don’t get cast. It has suppressed a lot of really important stories from coming out.
“We became really connected to these dancers and really inspired by them.”
The team grew to care for the casts’ future, especially knowing what they had been through. John, to this day, is thankful that they chose OTOXO to tell their story.
“I feel so grateful to those dancers for sharing so much for us when it can’t have always been easy for them.”
Passion, vision, and drive
Of course, we had to hear more about the inspirational leader and first-time director Chase.
“[He is] a really, really inspiring person,” John said.
Chase was sensitive to the struggle but also hardened by the industry.
“Sometimes he couldn’t help his own training [which] made him quite a complex character and an incredibly talented artist as well.
“There was this vision that Chase had of this new company that was, of course, the centre of everything he wanted to do and at times we could be an inconvenience to him and we could be in the way,” admitted John.
He had “a clear vision, a passion, a drive” according to John, something that comes across in the trailer.
Yet amid Chase’s very busy schedule, he made time to help the crew with whatever he could.
“What was really great was at the end of each day we would always talk with chase and he would always share his support for the project and we were so grateful for that support.
“That belief and inspiration that he provided [the dancers] with also rubbed off on us,” John smiled.
Unbound’s UK Premier
With the days counting down until Unbound’s UK premier we asked John how he was feeling about it.
“I haven’t started getting nervous yet,” John said, but he is sure that the nerves will come eventually. Instead, excitement has taken over. Especially with the premier being held in Scotland, something “incredibly exciting” to John.
John sings praise for CDSF and gratitude that Unbound is premiering at “such a cool festival” as it shares the screen with so many “incredible films by incredible filmmakers.
“I feel really privileged and grateful,” John said.
INto INdustry
Another nice tie Unbound has to its premier location is that two of the INto INdustry students that worked on this documentary are from Scotland themselves and a third has ties to Scotland.
Alongside his filmmaking John also helps run the INto INdustry program.
INto INdustry is a program that John co-founded alongside Tom Garner. For eight and a half months those in the program will receive creative training and practical training. The practical training involves students working on a project like Unbound with John and Tom
While bringing along inexperienced filmmakers to shoots can have its fair share of bumps along the road, John said that it is “more than worth it” to have such inspired new voices coming to them each year.
“It’s brilliant to be able to bring emerging talent and new voices into the production unit.
“We wanted to make sure that we are nurturing their creativity and their talent but at the same time preparing them [for the industry],” he said.
Brig asked John if he could share a favourite success story with us.
“We see graduates from the program from various years now collaborating with each other, developing projects together, and connecting with each other. It’s the fact that through the program they don’t just build success – they build community,” he answered.
Unbound’s UK premier is happening at Stirling University’s very own MacRobert Arts Centre on Saturday 2 November. Tickets are available here.
Featured Image Credit: Macrobert Arts Centre/ Unbound
Fourth year student journalist studying Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Journalism Studies.
Words at Brig, The Daily Evergreen, Alloa Advertiser, Discovery Music Scotland, and The Mourning Paper.
