A collection of short dance films.
CLAIM
Directed by Keely Song
CLAIM is a screendance honoring pregnancy and labor as a place of motion and power.
End of the Rope
Directed by Sibel Guvenc
Rachel Victoria Drummond, a famous dancer who had to quit dancing after an accident, wants to succeed as a choreographer. One day, she visits Dr. Petr Zimmermann, a genius neuroscientist who has invented a creativity-sharing machine called N.I.C.E. (Neurological Interchange Communication Equipment), a machine that taps into peoples’ talents and consciousness. As Rachel continues to use the machine, her relationship with Dr. Zimmermann dissolves into one of seduction and abuse. Lines between ordinary reality and N.I.C.E. reality blur as Rachel is torn between the life she has always wanted and the sacrifice she must make to keep it.
End of the Rope is a futuristic drama about an injured dancer's journey towards self-empowerment that powerfully engages with questions of creativity, desire, sexual harassment, disability and the lures and limits of new AI technologies.
https://www.kybelefilms.com/end-of-the-rope
GOLDEN
Directed by Kate Mitchell
GOLDEN is a wordless screendance in which a woman discovers, after years of domestic life, that her independence, intellectual curiosity, and sexual vibrancy are as powerful as ever. In dream-like sequences, she encounters the self she has been and the self that she can become. From her musings emerges a passionate self-declaration, elucidated by repeated choreographic motifs, flashbacks and flashforwards, and the evolution of color and set decor. By extension, GOLDEN affirms a woman’s right to define herself- rather than be defined by others. At the same time, it also rejects the notion that aging women have an “expiration date” in terms of inherent value. In all, GOLDEN is a unique alchemy- from drudgery to sparkling beauty.
Her Mother's Daughter
Directed by Alejandra Cadena-Perez
“Her Mother’s Daughter” is an emotional portrait of a volatile and challenging mother-daughter relationship, explored through dance and motion. Mother and daughter live together, yet lead separate lives, each in their own isolated world. In these separate lives, each finds a degree of satisfaction and contentment, in strikingly parallel ways – through the purity and joy of natural things. However, when brought together, echoes of past pain and loss haunt the pair and expose their vulnerability, leading to cycles of conflict, fear and even violence. Ironically, they each crave the same thing from the other – understanding and acceptance. Can resolution be achieved and love restored? It’s possible, but only through forgiveness, communication and grace.
HEY GIRL
Directed by Haley Geffen
Imagine someone walking down the street - going about their daily life. Now imagine that we could see the effect of every micro aggression, false assumption, unwanted sexual advance, undervalue, body shaming, relationship corrupting, overlooked love that happens in our heart invisible to those around us.
What does it look to get through the day?
What does it look like to finally learn to walk with our head high, secure in who we are, in a body we love...
In this film we use modern dance choreography to make visible the invisible forces that prevent women from reaching their full potential and best self.
JoAnn
Directed by Meredith Slifkin, Emily Yue
A woman working in technology learns to dance.
Pulling
Directed by Carolyn Paine
A dance film that looks at domestic violence.
SHADOW
Directed by Francesca Jandasek
While I have created some film projections for live performances, this is the first short film that I have created. It all started while researching the Romanian Legend of the Argeș Monastery for a full evening length show I created in 2018. In this legend, a pregnant woman is immured to make the walls of the monastery stand. After further research, I came across the belief of the “stahie,” or shadow, an ancient Eastern European belief and practice that in order for the walls of a building to stand, someone has to be built into the walls either physically (i.e their body), or metaphysically (i.e their shadow).
As I delved into the legend and this belief, I found myself questioning Who is the shadow? Is the shadow real? What if shadows were real? What is reality? Does it even matter, if we all fade away from memory and existence, leaving nothing behind?
Ultimately, I was questioning whether, as a woman, it was more important for me to create, or to reproduce. And, why do I have this need? Is it to achieve a sort of immortality, a way to exist beyond my existence, whether through the creation of offspring, or art creation? The shadows represent the struggle of a woman artist - art creation vs. procreation. It is a question with no satisfactory answer.
Besides the central theme being a female dilemma, this film is female created (directed, composed, performed, and edited by women).