A Pesquisa Global para a Educação: A dança de Andrea Mangano é uma história comovente de identidade própria e construção de autoconfiança

Postado por C. M. Rubin em novembro 2, 2021

Cineasta andrea (Andy) Mangano nasceu em Maryland, mas cresceu na Sicília, onde estudou Filosofia, História, Gramática, e literatura, and also won various regional dance sport competitions. She was a self-taught artist until she moved back to the States in 2016 to study animation in California.

Andy is the director and animator of Dança!, selected for Best of the Fest 2021 por KIDS FIRST! em associação com a Rede Planet Classroom. Dança! is the story of a young girl who, after seeing a video of a beautiful dancer, decides to become one too. No entanto, the girl is very shy… will dancing help her gain more confidence in herself?

A Pesquisa Global para a Educação is pleased to welcome Andy Mangano.

This video focuses a lot on role models who inspire us. Did you have any childhood heroes who inspired you?

I clearly remember spending the summers at my grandma’s house, and there I would love to stare at the sparkly dresses my aunt used for her dance competitions. Eventually I grew up to join her dance school, and the experience helped me gain more confidence and become a responsible adult. I spent a lot of time with her when I lived in Sicily, so I wanted to make a video dedicated to that experience and connection I had with dancing.

I love the animation style you selected with its deeply water-colored features and jewel-toned colors. Given the primary target audience of the video, Eu me perguntei o que fez você decidir selecionar este estilo de design em oposição às cores primárias mais tradicionais?

Eu tenho formação em pintura a óleo, e a pintura com espátula é meu meio favorito fora da animação digital. Eu realmente queria trazer aquele mesmo visual texturizado no short, que é visto principalmente em segundo plano. Em termos de personagens, Evitei cores excessivamente saturadas para tornar o estilo mais coeso.

Quando a menina entra pela primeira vez no estúdio de dança, as cores são brilhantes e tendem a ir para um amarelo muito claro. Isso está em oposição ao início do filme, quando a garota se sente confortável. No meu filme, cores excessivamente brilhantes são mostradas em momentos em que nosso protagonista está com medo, e a escuridão deve ser sentida como um cobertor protetor. Conforme ela cresce, a garota se esforça para ficar mais confortável com coisas assustadoras, como um holofote, e ela faz.

Esta subversão do simbolismo em luz vs. escuro também é uma nota sobre racismo, and how in our history and media we have consistently associated white and light with purity and superiority, and how we have used that association to create systems of suppression for people.

In the scene where the little girl arrives at the dance studio, she is very scared. Is this based on the idea that taking new chances is scary for every child or was it more to do with the self-confidence and identity of this particular character?

For this particular character, it’s about self-confidence and identity, since that is a trait I share with her. The idea was that she is spirited, curious, and enthusiastic, but she is shy and needs time to open up to new environments.

What influenced your creative decision to produce this story without any dialogue?

I love taking on a challenge, and being able to express without words is one of my favorite things about art (and dancing!). The short, the whole story, would not be the same with dialogue. Think about that scene at the beginning of UP, the Pixar film: would have it been as impactful with dialogue, or isn’t it exactly the lack of dialogue that makes it more emotional?

What do you hope will be the audience’s key takeaways from your film?

You never know how your efforts, your struggles, and your personal story have influenced others! We as people are connected in ways that can be hard to imagine, but that link between the self and your community is something that not only we need to be aware of, but also fight for.