We'll Always Have Dance

We'll Always Have Dance is an insightful, warm-hearted documentary depicting a day in the life of five extraordinary ballet dancers, interviewed by six neurodiverse filmmakers, celebrating their shared passion for dance.  

Director's Statement About The Film

This short documentary celebrates our neuro-diverse students’ passion for dance and performance as they meet their mentors - five elite ballet dancers within Queensland Ballet.

Shot entirely in one day, within the walls of QB’s training facility, we’ve taken an observational approach, featuring interviews between the dancers and the filmmakers, and capturing the point of connection between the two. It will make you smile, and make you want to dance.

About The Music:

Music can make or break a project. And I appreciate ‘Ballet Documentary’ might not scream ‘Hip Hop’ music at a glance, but this is not your average dance documentary. Our students LOVE ballet almost as much as they LOVE hip hop. Early on we all fell a little bit in love with Baker Boy’s track Cool as Hell for the opening minute and a half of our film. This is when we set the tone, we score the students arrival, their styln’ dance moves outside the building, and their exploration of the space as the group enters the building.

About The Talent:

The five dancers we feature in this documentary film include a mix of two passionate, promising up-and-comers: young, ambitious, and at the start of their journey. And at the other end of the spectrum, we also feature two accomplished principal dancers in the peak of their career; dancers who have achieved the much sought after title of excellence, revered by the younger cohort, spoilt for choice with entertaining anecdotal career highlights.
We want to know what it feels like to be them, to step out onto the stage as a company, and what it takes to maintain their craft. What has been their most memorable moment of glory on stage, and what is the biggest challenge behind- the-scenes?
And finally, our fifth featured dancer, tying it all together with her wisdom and experience is Ballet Mistress Mary Li who observes, nurtures and inspires her troupe of dancers with her passion for dance.

About The Interviewers:

At Bus Stop Films Brisbane, our six wonderful, neurodiverse filmmakers are extremely passionate about film and dance. To make this dance-documentary was a dream come true and something they took great pride and care in co-creating. We featured our students alongside the Ballerinas as they interviewed the dancers, and responded to their answers as it happened in the moment. Both parties are ambitious and passionate artists, and we captured many golden moments of connection, of mutual understanding and gratitude between subject and interviewer.