SSF @ Dairy Arts Center 2024

At Tutu Academy, where tutus are the uniform, students of all characters (geeks to goths) express themselves through ballet—and bizarro hair. One odd day, a UFO lands and an alien enters the classroom. Eager to connect with the visitor who doesn’t speak earthly language, the teacher starts a dance conversation—followed by the entire class. At first, the alien struggles to learn the artful language, until he’s gifted a magical tutu. With fresh confidence, the green-hued stranger joyfully joins the dancing crew.

In a deserted city thats seems to have escaped time, two solitary beings dance with the wind. From dust to dust, their encounter gives life to the elements. A physical and metaphysical tale on the origins of the wind.

In the crystal-clear waters of the Bahamas, underwater performer and professional dancer Arianda Hafez conducts a choreographed dance routine at depth on a variety of sunken shipwrecks while holding her breath. Directed and filmed underwater by Bahamian filmmaker André Musgrove, he combines his years of local knowledge and underwater expertise with the skills of Hafez from Spain to bring this performance of underwater mastery to life.

Phuong is released from prison and returns to her native village. She finds Khang, her childhood sweetheart. Khang runs a brickyard, but everything has changed, modernity is shaking up the world of his memories. Urban Genesis is a journey to the last brickyard of An Hiep Island in the heart of the Mekong Delta.

Once a person is a foreigner, she never ceases to be a foreigner. No place is hers, except her shadow.

A full body artist, Gregory Maqoma, navigates his own identity through a deeply personal narrative performed at House of Slaves on Goree Island, Senegal, a landmark to one of humanity’s most horrific journeys. Yearning for a way to move through past and present complexities, Gregory’s artistry breaks down walls and reframes history.

In a surreal dance video, a dancer is melting into a landscape of palm trees, rocks and ocean waves.

Filmed on a remote island in Thailand, The Evolution of Algae is a captivating exploration of life’s journey, tracing the origins of cyanobacteria and our interconnectedness with the natural world. Experience the beauty and complexity of existence in this thought-provoking film.

In Plain Sight is the result of months of exploring urban movements on a boulevard in Tehran, Iran. In a society where many questions and restrictions exist around the concept of “movement”, three performers interact with their surroundings and thus become an integral part of the flow of the city. They accompany each other to find the power of collective movement. The journey is the destination.

A short and stirring dance film shot at sunset in the Fens of East Anglia, Fenland Elegy is a collaboration between filmmaker Dan Canham, Krump dancers Katie Boag and Ash Goosey and composer Benji Bower (Terra Collective). The film combines heart-rending symphonic music with the immense technical and expressive form of Krump dance to lament the passing of a landscape, made as part of a residency through Norfolk & Norwich Festival.

As our lives get mutated by different lands and cityscapes, what stays persistent? How do body memories get recycled / shared and where does the body-as-archive is practised to become a refuge to root ourselves during a migratory experience? The last film of the MDFP series draws from the corporeal memories of 10 dancers-singers who are engaged in a “movement through journeying process” of converging individual practices in a nomadic and rhythmic chorus of togetherness and home seeking/finding.

It is a search and recognition of the identity of fraternal twin dancers. We share similar genes, but we are also searching for our own unique identity. We have both harmony and conflict, similarities and differences between us. We Feeling the complexity of identity and the importance of finding one’s unique position. This is our dialogue with the environment, as well as our dialogue with our own souls.

This short screendance work takes its title In Silence is the Offering Presented from a quote attributed to Chinese philosopher Confucius, which is instructive of peace over violence. Looking across the body of water, memories of homeland and feelings of displacement merge as the two main characters, mother and son, find themselves as refugees. Home, hope, dreams, safety, security, and love can be found in the silence. With choreography and direction by Li Chiao-Ping, cinematography, editing, and sound design by Christal Wagner, music by Byron Au Yong, and performance by Li Chiao-Ping and Jacob Li Dai-Loong Rosenberg, the evocative images in “in silence is the offering presented” reflect their experimental and collaborative approach to this expressive work.

A girl bored at home is transported into a fantastical world overcome with love.

Sonia works for a cubicle rental company. Her passionless job chains her to a soulless screen where she mechanically executes tasks under the trance of neon lights, lost in the shadows of corporate servitude. When a fraudulent call triggers the void of her work station, Sonia’s pent-up frustration erupts, unleashing a storm of chaos, It’s the breaking point she’s been waiting for. Fraudulations humorously explores her descent into madness, through the endless, winding corridors of her workplace propelled by an uplifting soundtrack.

The pavilion space flashes for a moment with the music of Bach and the dance of ballerina Diana Vishneva.

[Ship of Fools] is a dance-film created as a ritual of embracing chaos and absurdity of daily lives. Four performers travel through a multitude of spaces, in an empathic “sailing boat,” that allows them to encounter their complex inner worlds with patience and understanding, softening expectations and breaking down stereotypes. They embrace the diversity of feeling and behaviour, finding in movement creative and poetic ways that nourish their ability to embrace the unknown and to come at peace with the all-surrounding absurdity. Dance becomes a way to survive as a soul and to dive safely into your depths.

From a dream. Self portraits of my emotional states to process the experience of going through breast cancer during the pandemic.

Kitsou Dubois, choreographer of weightlessness, has always been inspired by gestures and body movements outside the dance world. She wants to share with the public a new vision of the gesture in football. Kitsou Dubois invites two renowned circus artists to take inspiration from the most beautiful gestures and passes. She plunges them under water for the filming of an artistic film, Aquafoot.

This is a one minute dance film interpretation of a woman experiencing the confusing and schizophrenic nature of loss. Confronting many versions of herself and the beginning of the healing process.

The worth of a dancer’s career is often measured by the time spent in the limelight. Yet a dancer’s experience of their career extends beyond the stage. Outside In reveals unspoken values that are often difficult to articulate and easy to forget, creating a unique living archive of untold stories. This animation is a poetic portrait of dance artist Katherine O’Malley and is part of an innovative series of multimedia films focused on 8 women in dance in Ireland. “Dancers have notoriously short careers. The dance artist and director Laura Murphy graciously offers greater longevity by noting them in this film. A collection of multimedia portraits, this welcome exploration challenges notions of what we view as success” – The Irish Times

A short documentary centered on Madaline Riley’s poem, reflecting her journey through dance and art. As a multi-faceted artist, Madaline blends her movements in krump, dance, and painting, seeking an expression that elevates the soul.