Producer/Co-Director Eirene Houston talks to Fest Track about tone, music and relatability in regards to her feature documentary "Life Is Dance" playing the "Crowd Pleasers" section of the 2025 Waco Independent Film Festival in Waco, Texas.
00:47other little bits so that you would get to know
00:49each character, because we do have quite a lot
00:51of things filmed, yeah
00:52but in this stage it's just
00:55you know, that kind of
00:57that kind of part
00:58I think
01:00I think it's the most fast
01:02because it's my life
01:04and it's the dance
01:06for me, it means
01:08I like the show, I like the
01:10the casino, I like the
01:12I like the
01:13that's
01:14that's
01:16so I would say to Hugo, who's the co-director
01:26I mean, Hugo and I found the characters together
01:28and then
01:42and then we
01:44we were just a small team
01:46we worked with Roberto Chile
01:48who's a very famous
01:50cinematographer, wonderful cinematographer
01:52you'll have noticed how beautiful the cinematography is
01:54and of course we had to shoot like in the morning
01:56it feels
01:57old school
01:58it feels like
01:59timeless
02:00yeah, timeless, that's it
02:01so you want that
02:02timeless to go on
02:03and then the young ones aren't
02:04doing it some more
02:05so
02:06so you're just going
02:07what's
02:08what's gonna
02:09you know, what's gonna happen
02:10but the interesting thing about
02:11Cuban reggaeton
02:12it does
02:13and you'll know this
02:14if you
02:15it does have quite a lot of salsa elements in it
02:17and actually what I'm noticing
02:19if you listen to the Cuban reggaeton
02:21now
02:22there's more salsa in it than before
02:24it's a bit old
02:25it's new again
02:26I think
02:27you know, I think that could
02:28I think that could happen
02:29you know
02:30and that's like
02:31so that's
02:32you know, cause
02:33and actually the funny thing was
02:34Hugo and I
02:35once we'd made the film
02:36and we were doing it
02:37we actually started to quite like
02:38some of the reggaeton
02:39the reggaeton
02:53This activity
02:54is called
02:55The Peña
02:56of Blanco
02:58Everyone is dressed
02:59as a white
03:00and
03:01his
03:02hat
03:03his hat
03:04his hat
03:06his hat
03:07his hat
03:08his hat
03:09his hat
03:10his hat
03:11his hat
03:12and a funny interest
03:13that my son-in-law is a musician
03:15he's in
03:16cause
03:17one of the hardest things
03:18when you're doing a dance film
03:20is the music
03:21and it costs a fortune
03:23and we're very
03:24you know
03:25we're a low-budget film
03:26live
03:27we're using some live music
03:29or
03:30yes
03:31the
03:32Bam Bam songs
03:33at the end
03:34they were live
03:35and they got permission from Samuel
03:36from Bam Bam
03:37eventually
03:38so
03:39that was so important
03:40to get permission for these
03:41but the other ones were just going to be too expensive
03:43wow
03:44so
03:45but they
03:46that
03:47so we
03:48I just got a lot of my musician friends
03:50to do
03:51different music
03:53to what you already shot
03:55to what we shot
03:56wow okay
03:57and I was very lucky
03:58cause I, you know
03:59I had a lot of friends
04:00a lot of people that trusted me
04:02because there are steps
04:03that you're going to see
04:04as if it were a casino
04:07the moment
04:08that the orchestra is playing
04:10and there
04:11there are pieces
04:12that do not dance
04:14but the pieces are playing
04:16and then it starts
04:17we greet them
04:18we greet them
04:19we give them
04:20the welcome
04:22and the woman
04:24with their neck
04:25and arms
04:26with the
04:28that is dancing
04:29but it sounds like
04:30you know
04:31obviously
04:32you talk down there
04:33it sounds like you live down there
04:34quite a bit
04:35you know
04:36you've seen
04:37Havana like most people haven't seen
04:39absolutely
04:40we don't see
04:41so I
04:42that's how I built that
04:43that trust
04:44you know because it's like
04:45and you got
04:46one of the nicest compliments
04:47somebody
04:48it was a Canadian
04:49friend
04:50that had seen the film
04:51and she's a director
04:52and she's worked in Cuba before
04:54like
04:55and she was going
04:56how
04:57and it was what I wanted to do
04:58but it was
04:59her noticing it
05:00was that
05:01you know
05:02just my relationship
05:03with the
05:04and what you notice as well
05:05the relationship we had
05:06with the young people
05:07and you could
05:08you don't hear
05:09when
05:10when the boys are walking along
05:12and they make
05:14they're taking the piss out of me
05:15you won't know that
05:16but they're going
05:17and that's me
05:19so they're taking the piss out of me
05:20as they walk along
05:21or when he goes
05:22we're going to be old like you
05:23do you know what I mean?
05:24Do you know what I mean?
05:49and of course we did it for over a year and a half you know like
06:00I would be going back and kind of you know and so it's building that kind of relationship and
06:07then with Marta we became good friends and we still keep in touch you know just to make sure
06:14everybody's okay and so that meant an awful and she was saying you can tell that you're there
06:22but you're not you're there but you're not there you're there as a as a friend and I call but people
06:28have complete trust in you yeah and that was that was almost you're kind of visible but invisible
06:34it's like I didn't want to be in it I didn't want but I don't want to pretend it's not through
06:41my yeah so it's a very difficult it's a you know it's something that I think
06:47it wasn't difficult but I think that's that was good that's it's still I it's still a skill but
06:54it's not difficult if you see what I mean but it's not anything I try it's just my natural way
06:58life deals not what you want sometimes it's sort of watching what happens to them too yeah you
07:19talk about that because you can't affect what they do but you have to be a witness to it exactly and
07:25the funny thing for for us was like suddenly they did go and learn to dance and then they were trying
07:30to learn to dance and then and they just actually found it too hard and they just couldn't and so
07:36then from saying we're going to learn the dances and we're going to do it all the next time we went
07:40back they're going nah we're going to do all this stuff again we're not going to do it you're like
07:44and you went yeah because it's too bloody hard to try and learn salsa now and you know and it was quite
07:49funny you know it's like um uh but yes and but one thing obviously we didn't know what was going
07:55to happen that they lost the competition in the first the first competition we didn't know that
08:00was going to happen like it was great but I knew when I was watching them I knew they weren't going
08:06to win so I'm like oh my god because we didn't know how the film was going to go through or how long
08:12we're going to shoot for if I was going to get any more you know what I mean and so so when they
08:17I said they're not going to win they're not going to win um and uh and then they didn't win I could
08:23tell they weren't going to win but for the drama of the documentary it was really good that they
08:27didn't win because they're you know and then chili's there and it's quite you know there's people
08:32running around and I'm like chili chili quick quick get them get over there because you know like
08:37we've got to film their their reactions you know and and of course you're in a competition
08:41and you've just got one camera you know you're just like so well we had a set we had a camera set
08:47and then we got you know another one moving
08:50and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you know and then we got you
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