SSF @ MSU Denver 2023

  • November 2, 2023
  • free and open to the public
  • 2pm screening in the PE/Events Center (room PE 215)
two dancers on a pole reach high and wide, set against a mountain backdrop

Sans Souci is teaming up with Metropolitan State University Denver for our first ever collaboration! The screening is open to the public, and features some of our favorite films from our 20th Anniversary Showcase. These works were submitted from around the world and represent numerous dance forms and film styles, making for a beginner-friendly program that’s a great first step into the world of dance cinema!

Metropolitan State University Denver logo
PE/Event Center room PE 215
1255 10th St Plaza
Denver, CO 80204

program of films

This screening runs approximately 47 minutes.

a brown-skinned, Black male dancer leans to the left looking upward

This Breath Together

2021 / United States / 12 min

Directed by Michelle Bernier
Produced by Michelle Bernier, Thomas Wingerd
Dancing by Danielle Garrison, Keith Haynes, Sarah Harrison, Bridget Heddens, Vivian Kim Gina Medina, Emma Michaux, Alex Milewski, Peg Posnick, Jessica Riggs, Gwen Ritchie, Marla Shultz, Luciana da Silva, Alfred Smith, Briana Smith, Nancy Smith, Miah Yager
Edited by Michelle Bernier
Music Composed by Kristen Demaree, Sean Connolly, Dudu Fuentes
Director of Photography Jesse Rarick
Poetry by Brooke McNamara

watch the trailer

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 woman in a tank top and no pants reaches her right arm behind a stone pillar; her hand, enlarged, emerges from the other side of the pillar

HOME ALONE

2013 / Israel / 2 min

Directed by Adi Halfin
Produced by Tamir Eting, Noam Eidelman, Adi Halfin
Featuring Batsheva Dance Company Ensemble
Dancing by Tamir Eting, Noam Eidelman, Rani Lebzelter, Shane Scopatz, Mario Bermudez Gil, Eduard Turull, Keren Lurie-Pardes, Shani Licht, Ayelet Nadav, Mariko Kakizaki, Oz Shoshan, Gil Shachar, Or Schraiber, Maya Tamir, Shaked Leibzirers, Ron Matalon, Ori Kroll
Cinematography by Roman Linetsky
Edited by Shahar Amarilio
Music Composed by Locust

Combining choreography with improvisation, a company of young dancers creates an atmosphere of “parental absence” in an abandoned building.

T.I.A. (THIS is Africa)

2015 / France / 7 min

Directed by Matthieu Maunier-Rossi
Produced by Matthieu Maunier-Rossi
Choreography by Aïpeur Foundou
Dancing by Aïpeur Foundou
Cinematography by Matthieu Maunier-Rossi
Music Composed by Jon Hopkins

Aïpeur Foundou is a Congolese dancer and choreographer. Amidst some popular areas of Brazzaville, he shows us one possible way to freedom.

a cutout photograph of a boy dancing, superimposed on a dumpster in front of a mountain city landscape

Erêkauã

2021 / Brazil / 1 min

Directed by Paulo Accioly
Produced by Estranha Força
Choreography by Ernane Ferreira
Dancing by Kauã

Kauã dances in the hill, like a bird of prey.

cut-out photos of dancers sit atop a desk as though they are miniature people

Stopgap in Stop Motion

2016 / United Kingdom / 5 min

Directed by Stephen Featherstone
Produced by Stephen Featherstone
Choreography by Lucy Bennett
Featuring Stopgap Dance Company
Dancing by Amy Butler, Laura Jones, Nadenh Poan, Chris Pavia, Hannah Sampson, David Toole, David Willdridge, Tomos Young
Cinematography by Stephen Featherstone
Music Composed by Dougie Evans

Performers in disabled and non-disabled dance company Stopgap move in and out of photos and across tabletops until the whole company meet and perform in unison.

ballet dancers in neon-colored clothing and sneakers leap high in the air

Never Standing Still: Hong Kong Ballet’s 40th Anniversary

2019 / United States / 2 min

Directed by Dean Alexander
Produced by Mikyung Kim
Choreography by Septime Webre
Featuring Design Army
Dancing by Hong Kong Ballet
Music Composed by Squeak E Clean Studios
Creative/Art Director Pum Lefebure
Executive Producer Jake Lefebure

After successfully redefining Hong Kong Ballet’s brand last year, our goal this year — their 40th anniversary — was to establish Hong Kong Ballet as an institution of national prestige and reach new audiences with the Ballet’s vision. the people of Hong Kong needed to see themselves reflected in the Ballet. Our strategy led us to blend traditional and pop-culture colors, tutus and street clothes, Chinese opera-inspired and contemporary makeup, and a backdrop of iconic Hong Kong landmarks to celebrate the Ballet’s heritage and its spirit of innovation. Hong Kong Ballet, like the city itself, is “Never Standing Still.” The film went viral and earned more than 2 million views.

a young dancer sits in front of an older dancer in a chair

Off Ground

2013 / Netherlands / 12 min

Directed by Boudewijn Koole
Produced by Iris Lammertsma
Choreography by Jakop Ahlbom
Featuring Jakop Ahlbom
Dancing by Louise Lecavalier, Antoine Masson
Cinematography by Melle van Essen
Edited by Boudewijn Koole
Music Composed by Alex Simu

Woman and boy, table and chair, wall and water – a simple, powerful duet.

clay-mation dancer in a white tutu with a coffee cup

Groggy Grugg

2018 / United States / 4 min

Directed by Conor C. Long
Produced by Conor C. Long
Choreography by Brianna Lopez
Featuring University of Utah Screendance
Dancing by Grugg
Cinematography by Conor C. Long
Music Composed by William Cannon

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

two dancers on a pole reach high and wide, set against a mountain backdrop

Axis Mundi

2020 / France / 2 min

Directed by Patrick Foch
Choreography by Céline Garbay, Loriana Lorenzon
Dancing by Céline Garbay, Loriana Lorenzon
Cinematography by Benjamin Ziegler

The “axis mundi” is a connection between heaven and earth, between the divine and the material. With this gravity-defying choreography, imagined and performed at the top of a mountain and on the verticality of a pole dance bar, I wanted to deliver my own vision of this “axis mundi.” Two bodies merge and evolve precisely between earth and sky, in a quest for physical and spiritual elevation along this invisible thread.

That’s all, folks! We hope you enjoyed the screening. If you have a moment, please take our audience survey to tell us which films were your favorites.