Synopsis

Claudia Gómez, Amaiur Luluaga y Montse Álvarez are three contemporary dance artists begin to create a choreography that reflects on where the limit between normality and madness lies.

With the first draft of the project in hand, they invite Alba Coll, Itziar Vaquero y Maria Manonelles, three women diagnosed with psychiatric disorders to share the creative process with them. They stay together in a house in Rentería (Basque Country), a town near the artistic creation centre Dantzagunea where they are creating the dance piece, to attend the rehearsals together.

They all stay at the house for five intense days full of questions and thoughts spoken out loud. And the experience forges six women who question what madness is like and what a psychiatric diagnosis implies. They also talk about the dreaded side effects of psychiatric drugs, what delusion thoughts look like and how a person feels when they harm themselves.

Two months later, the dancers present the final piece at a street festival and their embraces take on another quality, their expressions have another meaning and many movements have changed after having shared the creative process. Above all, the dancers have changed their gaze and the piece has included the voices of the women who have been by their side throughout the process.

We typically associate crazy with what deviates from the norm, but what is normal? Who decides what is normal? What is madness? Can it be danced?

Who we are

Marta Espar is a medical reporter and scriptwriter who has written for print and audiovisual media, such as Barcelona TV, TV3, TVE, Health Magazine of Diario EL PAIS, Diari ARA, European Research Media Centre, among others. She heads the TV production company Reporters.

Maiol Virgili is a filmmaker with 20 years experience in the sector directing documentaries for 8TV Barcelona, TV3 and TVE.

We have been working for hours in our documentary “Bailar la locura” without any salary because there is a commitment that we feel towards the topic. We would like to change viewer’s prejudices towards mental health problems, so that he/she can decide for himself where the limit between normality and madness lies.

Marta wrote “Veus contra l’estigma”, a documentary film broadcasted on TV3 in 2017 and Maiol has signed documentary films for TV8 and TV3, “A pagès”, “Sèniors”, “Rurals”, “Xoc vital", "Rar, la força del torró solidari", among others.

How will we use your contributions for?

So far we have shot almost half of the documentary and paid for the filming expenses thanks to the Grífols Bioethics Foundation Audiovisual Award 2019, but we need more funds to shoot a second meeting between the six girls in late August and stories of each separately, as well as to complete with editing and post-production.

“Dancing madness” was selected in the Industry section of the DOCS Barcelona 2020, arousing interest of several international television and distributors, but they ask us to deliver the finished documentary or a first assembly of 30 minutes to buy it.

Timeline

If we get enough funding, we will shoot a second meeting between the six protagonists and part of the stories of each character separately between August and November 2020. Then we will begin the editing and post-production process. The premiere and subsequent release of the documentary would be scheduled for summer 2021, but if it achieves international projection it could be delayed until the fall of 2021.

+ Info

Social media "Dancing madness"
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To know more about the project:
Dosier de "Bailar la locura"

To know more about the team:
Maiol Virgili
Marta Espar
Marta’s articles for printed media.