Matt just did an AMA on reddit and someone asked him about the dancers in Syria. Here's what he said:
"It was a sticky issue that I agonized over for months as I watched the news in Syria get worse and worse. I filmed those clips back in July of 2010, about 6 months before the Arab Spring.
At the time, the dancers were fine with appearing in the video. When things turned bad, I was unsure whether contacting them would put them in jeopardy, and I couldn't find any other way to reach out to them.
In the end, I decided to use the footage but keep them thoroughly blurred for their safety.
I made the decision not to cut the footage out, because it spoke so directly to what the video is about for me.
To be clear, it's not a matter of religious conservatism. As I understand it, Syria is relatively liberal about things like men and women dancing together. It's more of a political issue. Their government is just killing people willly nilly at this point."
"It was a sticky issue that I agonized over for months as I watched the news in Syria get worse and worse. I filmed those clips back in July of 2010, about 6 months before the Arab Spring.
At the time, the dancers were fine with appearing in the video. When things turned bad, I was unsure whether contacting them would put them in jeopardy, and I couldn't find any other way to reach out to them.
In the end, I decided to use the footage but keep them thoroughly blurred for their safety.
I made the decision not to cut the footage out, because it spoke so directly to what the video is about for me.
To be clear, it's not a matter of religious conservatism. As I understand it, Syria is relatively liberal about things like men and women dancing together. It's more of a political issue. Their government is just killing people willly nilly at this point."