Hangar Dance is produced by the same people who made Searching for Norman: a grandson’s journey. In fact, Hangar Dance came about in large part because of some of the indirect connections it shares with Searching for Norman.

Director Luke Taylor is a Minneapolis resident and a member of IFP - Minneapolis/St Paul. Production assistant Eric Dela Cruz is a fan of swing dancing and a history buff. It was Dela Cruz who provided great historic insight on Searching for Norman, as well as writing and appearing in one of the extra items on the final DVD. Dela Cruz had been attending hangar dances for some time and helped Taylor connect with members of the Commemorative Air Force who were able to grant Taylor permission to videotape at the dance on May 14, 2005. Production assistant Phil Bogdan, who was a breakdown writer on Searching for Norman, provided audio assistance and grips during the filming of Hangar Dance. John Vance mastered the DVD for Hangar Dance, just as he had done for Searching for Norman. Vance has a broad background in performance and production.
In several sequences of Hangar Dance, interviewees can be seen speaking into an actual vintage microphone from the 1940s.

This functional microphone was provided by Kilroy’s Classic Malt Shop Supply Company. Operated by Kevin Hammerbeck and Paul Panser, Kilroy’s offers a huge selection of authentic and reproduced furniture, advertising and accessories from the early to mid 20th Century. Kilroy’s is located in the Warehouse District of Minneapolis.
Hangar Dance was shot entirely in MiniDV using the Sony TRV-33. Sound inputs ranged from the 1940s vintage microphone to a clip-on-lavollier to the Sony’s on-board microphone. The video was edited on a Macintosh using Final Cut Express. Taylor used a number of Final Cut’s effects filters to evoke a 1940s feel during some sequences. As the entire event attempts to re-create a night out in the 1940s, these effects were used discriminately to help the viewer get some sense of that atmosphere.

“As we left the dance on the night we filmed,” said Taylor, “I happened to look back at the hangar from a short distance. The night was completely dark and the only available light was emerging from the hangar entrance. Floating on that light were the melancholy sounds of ‘Moonlight Serenade’ and the ambient crowd noise. For a fleeting moment, I got a sense of what it may have been like to have been alive 60 or so years ago. It’s a feeling I attempted to carry with me while making Hangar Dance, and I hope I can pass some of that feeling, that feeling of being transported, on to the viewers.”
This production still from Hangar Dance almost looks as though it could be a 60-year-old photograph (save for the sponsorship banner).