SSF @ Lafayette: Dance is Like a Fine Wine

Rebirth takes us on one man’s journey through the evolution of consciousness by connecting with the elements and Nature’s metaphysical powers.

In WECreate Spaces: Morelia the artists explore the urban landscapes of Morelia, Mexico, a city that exemplifies the dichotomy found in colonial places featuring the eclectic richness of their architecture and the dilapidated parts of the town. Tuning into the environment through improvisation, the dancers, camera-person and musician create a collaborative knowledge that illuminates their multi-layered sensibility of understanding the world through the body. Generating affective spaces, highlighting the artist’s relations to environment, artist to artist and artist to locals. The serendipitous encounters with the passers-by add a flavour that transforms the usual into extraordinary, portraying the tonality, mood and atmosphere of this joyful and vibrant place.

A tale of lost letters & paper boats. From acclaimed Irish dance company CoisCéim Dance Theatre, the film delves into the mysteries of the sea – as events of Dublin Bay’s past collide with the present, bringing history to life in a bold, physical short film. Hundreds of lives and letters were lost at sea when mailboat RMS Leinster was torpedoed in Dublin Bay. In How to Sink a Paper Boat this devastating past collides with the present when two people meet. Out for a walk along the sea wall, Cora comes across a letter in the water that beckons her to a lighthouse and its keeper, Michael. Her arrival propels the historical event into our time in an emotional embodiment of a tragedy at sea.

A tree on the banks of the Mississippi: What stories does it hold? Multiple branches embedded in our environment, Listening Tree affirms our relationality with life-forces of our world.

Wake is a short dance film which explores and responds to modern attitudes around loss and grief, taking inspiration from different rituals and funeral traditions from around the world. Filmed on the stark and shifting terrain of Dartmoor, Wake steers us through one woman’s journey of grief.

What would compel you to go against the status quo and bring up your family as Irish speakers in English-speaking Ireland of the 1950s to 1980s? In I Modh Rúin (in secret), Ríonach Ní Néill blends film, dance, interviews and music to tell the story of five women who did just that.

The choreography and natural movement of twelve physically and neuro-diverse dancers, ages eight to seventy-four, blooms, flys, and flows on a journey through the Idaho Botanical Garden. This heartwarming story unfolds with poetic descriptions that create an accessible experience for all viewers, including those who are blind.

Sans Souci’s Community Dance Film Project was created to engage Boulder artists of many genres and to inspire our local community with all we have to offer. Each dancer was paired with one of the city of Boulder’s most iconic outdoor sites and asked to create movement responding to that location along a theme: “The first fresh breath in a long time.” Emerging from their spring 2020 quarantines, dancers reconnected with their own dance-deprived bodies, and brought their unique presence to each space, activating it with movement. The film encompasses ballet, tap, contemporary, house, waacking, aerial dance, samba, and poetry; collaborators include BIPOC and LGBTQ performers, those with disabilities, and dancers on the older end of the age spectrum.

A ballerina dreams a dream in which familiar spaces are not sadly empty, but joyously open, ready to be filled with movement. She dances for a fraction of a moment in time where hope can be felt.

Charmed dancers observe their own duet in a magical street art fantasy.

An impromptu tap routine in a graffiti-covered abandoned warehouse in downtown Memphis.

The choreography and natural movement of twelve physically and neuro-diverse dancers, ages eight to seventy-four, blooms, flys, and flows on a journey through the Idaho Botanical Garden. This heartwarming story unfolds with poetic descriptions that create an accessible experience for all viewers, including those who are blind.

A dancer in a poetic, kinetic dialogue with an equine partner (filmed in Elizabeth, CO).

An abstracted film to contribute to the fight against racism. As an immigrant, I have experienced it first hand. This film showcases the beauty and richness of humanity. Nine cultures unite to make art. The dancers will tell you what brings humanity together. We must come together. This project was funded by the Utah Film Commission, Utah Division of Arts and Museums, and BYU Arts Partnership.

I involuntarily question myself about my limits and limitations. I provoke myself to feel them, respect them and often cross them.

The present has long been no more important than the future. Without two kisses, without punching the clock. Everything is far, everyone is far, but the hug soon comes.

A claymation screendance short film about that terrible every day struggle to get out of bed for that first delicious cup of coffee.