CLEVELAND — Dance is a universal language, and with each movement, a thousand stories are told. It's also been a part of Brunswick native Dan Watt's makeup for his whole life.
"I always loved dancing," Watt says. "There's actually photographs of me in kindergarten dancing."
His passion peaked in high school, when a teacher saw him shine at a variety show.
"And she said, 'Dan, you have something special,'" he remembered. "'You carry yourself and you move very well.'"
Watt trained under his teacher Dee Hillier for years, then took a job at Playhouse Square, marveling at productions and meeting big celebrities like Chita Rivera. In the early 1980s he took a leap of faith, heading to Los Angeles to try and make it big in the dance world.
"Back then, there were the open call auditions where there'd be 500 people waiting in line to go in," he said. "So I did those auditions and got into a few videos."
Dan would go on to produce musical productions and work with major stars like Bea Arthur. Then, it was time for him to take another leap.
"I decided to look into film and television," he told us. "After five years with Columbia Pictures, I was approached by Simon Cowell for his production company he was starting. It was right when One Direction was a big hit."
But decades in the business led him to something else.
"I'd never put a limitation on me with my age; I just did the next thing," he said. "It just seemed like the next logical thing to me was to tell a story that I wanted to tell, so I just went for it."
The result? "Everybody Dance," a documentary of inclusion, passion, and acceptance. It follows the every day challenges of five children with developmental disabilities, and how ballet has changed them.
"It might take one of these kids or the families five more minutes to get out of the house because they have to put a wheelchair in the back of the car, but it's still the same," Watt described. "Their lives are just like us. They wake up in the morning, they have to make their breakfast."
This weekend, Dan's film will debut at the Cleveland International Film Festival. It's a full-circle moment for him, as he hasn't been back home in 20 years.
"To have your first movie premiering where your first job was is, I know it's going to be emotional for me to actually go back and see that place and to see my friends," he said.
Dan hopes the film will reach local studios and beyond with its powerful message.
"Our job as teachers is to try to figure out how to help kids, any kid, and pull out the best in them," he explained. "We all have a special light in us, and that's what we should look for in everybody."
"Everybody Dance" is showing at the Cleveland International Film Festival on April 3 and 4 and is also streaming on April 10 and 17. For more information on showings, click HERE.