By Dov Kornits
Dance is my life…it’s my heart,” Dani Swan tells FilmInk. “I always say that it’s like a red ribbon that threads all my other skills together.” Those threads, by the way, measure in the many, with the young performer clocking up work as an actress, voice over artist, motion capture performer, and creative director. “My parents say that I literally crawled in the splits,” Swan laughs. “I was literally born to dance. You know how there are children that cry when they go to ballet lessons? Well, apparently, I was like, ‘See ya, I’m off to class!’ It’s always been my dream. In the beginning, it was to be a dancer, and now I work as a choreographer as well. I love working both in front of and behind the scenes.”
Born in Tamworth in rural NSW, but raised in the beachfront city of Newcastle, Swan’s love of – and striking facility for – dance saw her scouted at the age of just seventeen by Detour Management in Sydney, a diverse talent agency specialising in providing the entertainment industry with actors, dancers, singers, models, and choreographers. Swan later trained in aerial art and trapeze in Europe, but it was a friend who ultimately suggested that Swan’s unique sense of movement could be a major asset in motion capture work for video games. “They rarely get someone who can move like a dancer,” Swan explains of this career move, which saw her relocate to the US. “They rarely get actors who can move aesthetically like an avatar, and who you can hire for all roles. For a lot of roles, gaming producers have to hire four different girls to meet all of the requirements. But I can do the movement and the acting, and they can use me as a model. So I fell organically into that world. I don’t feel boxed in in the motion capture world. The world of motion capture is endless. Look at the gaming world and all of the animated films coming out…the technology is going to keep growing. The gaming and sci-fi world is huge; film is wonderful and I love it, but people forget how much games gross. I feel like I’m on an amazing wheel that keeps on spinning.”
That wheel has spun in interesting directions, with Swan recently enjoying a stint as a guest judge and mentor on the TV series, Caribbean’s Next Top Model (“With all of those skills that I have, I was able to speak confidently as a mentor to the girls on the show”), and then taking the lead role in the science fiction project, Cerulean, which will start life as a graphic novel, before being expanded outward first into a short film and then a full blown feature. The debut directorial effort of Tani Kunitake (an accomplished illustrator and storyboard artist whose work has appeared in The Matrix, I Am Legend, Man Of Steel, The Avengers, Edge Of Tomorrow, and the upcoming Star Wars: Episode 8), the project will be anchored by Dani Swan, who stars as the title character, an interstellar combat pilot in control of the sentient AI-controlled starship, Hecate. Not just providing the motion capture model this time, Swan will portray the complex character herself. “I’m very excited with Tani directing,” she says. “He’s got the support of The Wachowskis [The Matrix, Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas]…they support him all the way. My character does aerial ops and she’s a fighter, and I’ve done a lot of training in that. Tani needed a woman that could look the femme fatale with a strong presence, but who could also do a lot of the motion capture and movement – it was certainly the right timing for me. We’re looking to be at Comic-Con next year. I’ll be there in my outfit from Cerulean, but I won’t be there as the actress…I’ll be there as the actual character.”
A fierce physical presence, Dani Swan is more than happy to join the conversation when it comes to the subject of women taking charge of their destinies and careers in the entertainment industry. “Women are just going out and making things happen,” she says. “I believe in being a strong female who wants young girls to look up to her. You can go for your dreams and work really hard. You don’t have to dumb yourself down; it’s about being beautiful and smart, and working hard. The funny thing about it is that people just see the glamorous lifestyle of Hollywood, but I train thirty hours a week. I’m up at 5:00am running around, going to auditions, and it’s hard work. You have to love it, and what I love about this industry is the amount of women standing up and holding their own. I honestly believe that’s why we’re getting a place in the market, because we’re making a stand. We’ve sold ourselves short for so long. Some of the best, most talented people that I’ve worked with, not just in front of the camera but behind the scenes here, are some of the strongest women that I’ve ever met. They’re really doing it all!”
Photo By Brett Stanley (www.brettstanley.com).
