SSF @ Blue Sage: A Fresh Take

an in-person screening highlighting standout youth, students, and first time filmmakers

A Fresh Take

  • October 2, 2021
  • 7 p.m.
  • free and open to the public

In our first collaboration with Blue Sage of Paonia, Colorado, we’re highlighting the work of some of our emerging artists, as well as youth films, whose primary creative roles are filled by artists age 18 & under. Films on the program hail from the US, Netherlands, Mexico, Switzerland, Costa Rica, and France, featuring contemporary, hip hop, and indigenous dance forms.

Partially supported by the Office of Outreach and Engagement and the Department of Theatre & Dance at University of Colorado Boulder, we bring you highlights from our 18th Annual Festival Selections – including films from around the world, plus two films created in Paonia.

Blue Sage Center for the Arts logo
Blue Sage Center for the Arts
228 Grand Ave
Paonia, CO 81428

Presented in collaboration with
CU Department of Theatre and Dance logo
This project is supported by
Office for Outreach and Engagement logo

program of films

This screening runs approximately 75 minutes plus one 10-minute intermission. A strobe light is present in one film.

a young dancer with brown hair and glasses throws water up to the sky

Together to Gather

2021 / United States / 3 min

Directed by the students of Paonia Experiential Learning Academy
Dancing by Tyler Delbaugh, Odessa Shenk, Matt Delaney, Sage Koppan, Aiya Schwartz, Ellie Feder, Rosie Catinella, Lirah Harrter , Krimzin Black, Bird Catinella, Cayden Matuszak, Nikoya Schevene, Mia Stolmeier
Music composed by Nctrnm, Mello C, Ketsa
Edited by Rick H M

A collaborative dance film by students of the Paonia Experiential Learning Academy. It was created as part of a workshop facilitated by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Theatre & Dance Department graduate students, and filmed in Paonia, Colorado.

four dancers dressed in black - three blindfolded - stand in front of a brick wall

Colorless World

2021 / United States / 3 min

Directed by Theresa Fortner
Produced by Theresa Fortner, Emily Hoch-Windus
Choreography by Theresa Fortner
Dancing by Theresa Fortner, Caleb Luzovich, Anna-Rose Hallowell, Natalie Doan, Alethea Pope, Scarlett Kuchera
Cinematography by Emily Hoch-Windus
Written by Theresa Fortner

A future where color and creativity is banned. Everyone is expected to follow the patriarchal norms of wearing all black and not expressing one’s self. To resist the temptation to use their creativity, people have covered their ears, eyes, and mouths. They do this to prevent any creative expression of themselves. But what happens when one person breaks the mold?

a young male dancer steps toward the sun, his shadow long behind him

Chasing

2021 / United States / 3 min

Directed by Caleb Smith
Produced by Dance Art Media Entertainment
Choreography and Dancing by Caleb Smith

This is choreography created by a 14 year old artist named Caleb Smith. In this piece he is chasing to be safe, and free from everything going on in his life.

four people in hoodies and jeans at night

Paonia Boyz

2021 / United States / 3 min

Directed by Bodhi Gilroy, Theo Zimmer
Produced by Bodhi Gilroy
Dancing by Jackson Bookout, Theo Zimmer, Amaru Pineda, EJ Zamora, Judah Fisher, Tair Hanby
Edited by Bodhi Gilroy

This film was created by students of the Paonia Experiential Learning Academy. It was created as part of a workshop facilitated by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Theatre & Dance Department graduate students, and filmed in Paonia, Colorado.

several iterations of the same dancer on a stool populate a black screen

Circles

2021 / United States / 2 min

Produced and Directed by Caleb Luzovich
Choreography by Caleb Luzovich
Music composed by Michael Wyckoff

Time itself is just an abstract concept, constructed in the midst of reality. This film was made to convey that sense of timelessness.

many dancers of diverse races and genders huddle closely together

The Broken Phone Project

2020 / Netherlands / 4 min

Directed by Sara Europaeus
Produced by Athina Liakopoulou
Choreography by Sara Europaeus
Cinematography by Niels Lockhorst
Spoken Word by Lin An Phoa

watch the trailer

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the streets of Amsterdam have changed, and so have the people. A group of international dance artists through a common movement task reflect the time of the pandemic – how has it affected them? A common experience but an individual interpretation. Each with their unique story, filmed individually, untouched. When so much has changed, how can we connect again?

three sets of light skinned hands undoing buttons on a person's shirt

To Dress a Body

2020 / Mexico / 7 min

Directed by Lissette Armendárizáriz, Daniel Luisáriz, José Olivaresáriz, Fe Rangel
Produced by Enrique Beas
Choreography and Dancing by Lissette Armendáriz, Daniel Luis, José Olivares, Fe Rangel
Music composed by Anastasia Vronski, Sergey Cheremisinov
Cinematography by Enrique Beas
Edited by Lissette Armendáriz
Styling by Lissette Armendáriz, Daniel Luis, José Olivares, Fe Rangel

In contact with the garment. In contact with the wind. The body in contact with another body? To dress a body. The wind catalyzing the movement where the body reacts to the garment. Body – garment. Body – wind. Body – body. The static results in movement. Between stability and the action of bodies, the movement is modified. Sometimes simultaneously. The skin’s color and texture is present in the steadiness, in the garment and in the space.

one young woman emerges from a pile of bodies, inside an art museum

Out Of Ordinary

2020 / Switzerland / 9 min

Directed by Luca Signoretti, Tobias Buchmann, Alicja Pahl
Produced by ZHdK
Choreography by Luca Signoretti

watch the trailer

This film is from the everyday viewer’s perspective. It explores what it might be like to travel through the frames and screens, that otherwise keep a voyeur and his or her fanciful ideas and longing experiences at a distance and, instead, turn them into a real-life journey.

a dancer stretches an arm forward and leg back, twisting toward the sunset

Hope is Just a Memory of the Future

2021 / United States / 5 min

Produced and Directed by Andrea Bracamonte
Choreography by Andrea Bracamonte
Dancing by Andrea Bracamonte
Cinematography by Jake Lane
Written by Andrea Bracamonte

I heard once that hope is just a memory of the future. What a beautiful perspective on something that offers so much light throughout life. To challenge the normal flow of time and acknowledge that we somehow have already experienced the future shows us that the present moment will soon give way to what we hoped for. Our choice to follow a path that leads us to our biggest dreams is just retracing our steps. Memories of the future. How magnificent.

10-minute intermission

several Native American dancers raise a hand holding a red flag

Ozhigaabawi (One Stands Ready)

2021 / United States / 7 min

Directed by Jamie Kalama Wood
Produced by Scott Cook, Jamie Kalama Wood
Featuring BYU Living Legends
Jingle Choreography by Tyra Tsosie, Mari Tsosie
Fancy Choreography by Naakaii Tsosie, Patrick Willie, Naataanii Tsosie

Female Jingle Dancers and Male Fancy Dancers offer a combined piece in honor and recognition of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (specifically amongst Native American and Alaskan Native women). “Ozhigaabawi” means “One Stands Ready.” As a group of indigenous dancers, we feel it is important that we not only represent the beauty of our communities, but also the realities of our people. It was important to me to create a work that empowers both our female and male dancers to show that they stand ready to make a change for the better. Traditionally, Jingle is a dance of healing and strength. Men’s Fancy is a dance of agility and strength. Our hope is that by putting them together, we offer strength and healing to those who have been harmed by sexual and physical violence–not just the individuals but also the families and communities at large.

a dancer in a flowy shirt reached an arm out to the side, in front of a sculpture of abstract lines

Kismet

2021 / United States / 9 min

Choreography by Emily Kessler
Featuring POGO Dance
Dancing by Sienna Blaw, Xin Yi Pang, Kathryn Taylor, Connor Speetjens, Larissa Asebedo, Madeline Robertson
Music composed by Jacob Sachs-Mishalanie
Cinematography by Kyle Cottier
Edited by Jeremy Kinney

Kismet offers windows into happenstance meetings in a surreal dancescape. Dancers flit through whimsical attempts to connect with each other and their expanding container. Kismet is intimately designed around three seminal works by artists Mike and Doug Starn.

a dancer's silhouette in mid-jump at the far end of a hallway

Startle

2020 / Costa Rica / 7 min

Directed by Hazel González Araya, Esteban Richmond
Produced by Universidad de Costa Rica, Universidad de Guayaquil, Danza Universitaria, Carolina Valenzuela
Choreography by Hazel González Araya
Dancing by Elian López, Evelyn Ureña, Mainor Gutiérrez, Dayana Araya, Iván Saballos, Jimena Muñoz&cocomma; Verónica Monestel,
Music composed by Andrey Astaiza
Edited by Esteban Richmond
Musical Production by Diego Benalcázar

watch the trailer

Starting with a startle, a series of emotions are triggered that lead the interpreters to ask questions and seek answers to solve the crisis they experience. The work confronts us with the enigmatic nature of our subjectivities and with the forms through which we have organized our relationship with the world. Startle occurs between polarities, at the midpoint between them, and at the same time in the spectrum of possibilities between one thing and the other. Startle, is a collaboration of Danza Universitaria, IIARTE and the University of Guayaquil and is part of the Latin American Art Research Network.

a dancer holds a leg above his head, looking down at a freeway

Respite

2021 / France / 6 min

Directed by Anatole Chartier
Choreography and Dancing by Stanley Menthor
Cinematography by Maxime Bonan
Written by Anatole Chartier, Stanley Menthor
Sound Design by Théo Arramon

A young man, oppressed by the density of the city, decides to flee. He finds himself in a clear, calm space. He starts dancing, more and more intensely. Little by little, the sea will join the dance, sonically, accompanying his movements. After a crescendo ascent, close to trance, we will find him far away from urban buildings, in a clear, liberated aquatic setting.

a young dancer stands in water, cupping some as it falls from her hand

Samskara

2020 / United States / 7 min

Directed by Angela Rosales Challis
Produced by Chelsea Alley, Heather Francis
Dancing by Joseph Run Through, Delfine Uwimbabazi, Jyothsna Sainath, Jamaika, Sebastian Forbes, Akiko Kaneshiro, Joshua Perkins, Presley Fewkes, Sheyenne Utai
Written by Angela Rosales Challis, Conor Long

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.