Meet a NYFA Artist: Deidre Schoo

Crew with dancer, Jay Donn
From left – Michael Beach Nichols, Deidre Schoo, Joshua Woltermann, Ryan Hancock
Photo courtesy Flex Is Kings

NYFA talks to Deidre Schoo about her film Flex Is Kings (NYFA/Artspire Fiscally-Sponsored Project, 2011), which premieres April 18 through 27 at the Tribeca Film Festival.

NYFA: Hi Deidre, congratulations on your documentary film Flex Is Kings’ premiere at Tribeca! Will you tell us briefly who and what the film’s about?

DS: Flex Is Kings is a documentary about street dance set in East New York, a highly impoverished community in Brooklyn. Despite the high crime rates, a large and growing group of young men are resisting gang life to pioneer a form of narrative dance that tells the story of their streets. Their self organized dance battle competitions involve mock gun battles as well as dream-inspired flights of fancy. The film—shot over 2 years and over 300 hours of footage—tells the story of this art form—called “flexing"—and focuses on some of its key personalities.

Bones
Photo courtesy Flex Is Kings

NYFA: How did you come to the project?

DS: I first met a flex dancer in 2008 and began photographing the flex competitions called Battlefest in 2008. Michael Beach Nichols and I began filming in spring of 2010.

Pre-battle and crowd at Battlefest
Photo courtesy Flex Is Kings

NYFA: What were some of the challenges—creative, technical or otherwise–unique to producing this film?

DS: Neither Michael nor I have done a dance documentary before. We both found the community so compelling that we dove in without much thought to the idea that we’d be filming dance. We were both fans of street culture and had an appreciation for dance – we’re now more knowledgeable than we ever would have anticipated!

We had a lot of technical hurdles to get through when we first began filming. We decided to shoot the documentary with the Canon 5D Mark II digital cameras. The quality is really great for the cost of the camera – but sound was an issue and they were very uncomfortable to use. It was also difficult to focus! It took us about a month to get through these beginning issues.

NYFA: When and how did you begin to seek outside funding for the film?

DS: We funded the film ourselves during production. We’re young filmmakers and had to prove ourselves before anyone would be willing to fiscally support the project. When it came time to edit, we ran a Kickstarter campaign – in April 2012. We just completed a second Kickstarter campaign to fund finishing the film (sound mix, color correction and music rights) and readying it for its premiere at Tribeca Film Festival.

NYFA: How did NYFA’s Fiscal Sponsorship program, Artspire, serve in its development?

DS: Whenever I had a question, NYFA was always quick to respond and point me to helpful resources.

Jay Donn
Photo courtesy Flex Is Kings

NYFA: Have your subjects seen the movie? What’s their reaction?

DS: Yes, of course! Well, our main subjects have seen the film. I’m really looking forward to sharing it with the entire flex community though it will be hard for some dancers. We followed several dancers pretty closely but were not able to include everyone in the cut of the film.

NYFA: What are your hopes for Flex Is Kingsand the future of flexing?

DS: I hope Flex Is Kings is seen by a lot of people and that it inspires youth to be creative and follow their dreams. Flexing is a beautiful art form and is only just beginning to break through and be seen and appreciated by a wider audience. Hopefully, the film brings more attention to flex, urban dance and the difference a creative outlet can make in young people’s lives.

Flizzo and Jay Donn
Photo courtesy Flex Is Kings

—Interview by Lara Hidalgo

Flex Is Kings played April 18 through 27 at the Tribeca Film Festival.