The idea that a trash truck could dance to music seemed absurd to the employees of Austin's sanitation department.

"This lady's crazy. Trucks don't dance," said Don Anderson, a bulky item collection worker for the City of Austin, in the documentary "Trash Dance."

One year after pitching her idea to the department, choreographer Allison Orr of Forklift Danceworks in Austin proved these clunky machines, and the workers who drive them for hours on end, do have the ability to create movement through music.

Local filmmaker Andrew Garrison was intrigued by Orr's idea and created a documentary about her experience in producing the Trash Project, as the dance became called.

"I only knew I liked very much the way she worked and how she captured the people and their movements," he said.

"Trash Dance" premiered March 10 at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival and received special recognition from the festival's jury during the awards.

Orr spent months with the department's employees, riding their trucks, picking up trash—even dead animals—getting to know their lives and listening to their stories. In her research and interviews, she asks what the different vehicles can do, how they move and what are all the duties in the sanitation department.

One of the pivotal scenes in both the documentary and the dance is the crane solo, where Anderson maneuvers the crane while a violin plays near the audience. She collaborated with Anderson on what he could do with the crane and with composer Graham Reynolds.

"[Anderson] can't hear the music," Orr said. "He is just totally flying on his own, and the violin is following him."

Many of the workers in the department are single parents and have second jobs to support their families. Many are college-educated.

"You have to be skilled and know what you're doing, be a professional," Anderson said in the film.

Two of the workers featured in the film, Tony Dudley Sr. and Orange Jefferson, answered audience questions after the March 13 second screening.

"I got a little teary back there," Jefferson said. "I've never seen a truck as being emotional."

Both said the film brings to light how the workers are more than just trash collectors.

"A lot of people are stopping [on our routes], and the whole department is loving this right now," Dudley said.

Because the documentary involved two different productions—the documentary itself and the dance with the workers—Garrison and Orr did discuss their ideas but mostly kept to their own productions.

"I want to have distance with the subject," said Garrison, who did most of the filming for the documentary.

After completing all shooting, Garrison said they had about 200 hours of footage, including 100 hours from filming the dance because there were 12 cameras involved. The first thing he edited was the one-hour dance production so the department could view it.

The final screening is March 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Stateside Theater, 719 Congress Ave.