III. Dancing as Ourselves

Dancing as Ourselves features shorts from Canada, China, Finland, France, Iran, and the US, and will remind you how similar we all are as humans across the globe, yet how different we can be. This collection explores the various aspects of being human as reflected by the body and movement. Through a multitude of film styles including narrative, experimental, animation, and screendance, this program illustrates that the range of humanity’s expression is as vast as the range of bodies we inhabit.

This screening runs approximately 84 minutes, including a 10-minute intermission.

Bolero.S

2025 / France / 16 min
Directed by Mehdi Kerkouche
Produced by Bénédicte Buffière
Choreography by Mehdi Kerkouche
Featuring CCN de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne I EMKA

Ravel’s Bolero, thanks to its universalitý and contagious energy, transcends generations and cultures. Conceived for dance, it continues to inspire artists. Mehdi Kerkouche brings us his version of Bolero.S choreographed in keeping with his inclusive and visual universe, recounting the life of a youth in different scenes in Créteil.

Corralling of Circles

2024 / China / 4 min
Directed by Siye Tao
Produced by Siye Tao, Qingwen Yan
Choreography by Siye Tao
Co-Choreographer Theo Qu
Dancing by Siye Tao
Cinematography by Qingwen Yan
Edited by Qingwen Yan
Music Composed by Kevin MacLeod
Sound Design by Kevin MacLeod

This short film is a far cry of the impulses to escape from a suffocating but all-too-familiar setting, which erodes our souls. The circular shapes, repetitive tasks, swirling movements seem to carry the lady into a sinking hole. Can she finally break free and find her way out?

Dust

2025 / United States / 10 min
Directed by Noelle Kayser
Produced by Open Space, Portland Regional Arts & Culture Council
Choreography by Noelle Kayser
Featuring Open Space
Dancing by Audrey Wells, Bree Kostelnik
Cinematography by Matthew Tomac
Edited by Matthew Tomac
Music Composed by Andrew Bird, Julianna Barwick
Costume Design by Amanda Gladu

Dust is a dance film that explores themes of legacy and mortality in the cycle of intergenerational caregiving. It pays tribute to the compassion, reciprocity, and unconditional love present as we guide one another into and out of this life. It depicts the experience of caring for my father as he died of cancer.

Ballerina

2024 / Iran / 11 min
Directed by Soheil Babaei, Farima Khalili
Produced by Morteza Mazloumi, Raw Company
Dancing by Rosha SamadZadeh
Written by Soheil Babaei

Ballerina is the story of an 8-year-old girl who is about to have a dance performance but due to the Iranian rules, her father and other men are prohibited to watch the ballet…it is vital for Mana, the ballerina, to have her father watch her cause she has lost her mother…the ballet starts and children bloke on the stage but they see no men between spectators…Mana refuses to start the dance and unites with other children to go outside to perform for her father…it is a portrayal of a united civil protest.

Kielo

2025 / Finland / 5 min
Directed by Janina Rajakangas
Film Directed by Sinem Kayacan
Produced by Zodiak-Center for New Dance / Zodiak Visions
Choreography by Janina Rajakangas
Dancing by Kielo Kivinen

Kielo finds it hard to sit still in class. She takes a break venturing into the corridors of her imagination. The film Kielo touches on the subject of love, support as well as contempt between young people in the school environment, with a focus on the convergence of neurodivergence and sisterhood/peer-hood. We all have a poetic body that dances when‬ encouraged. It just needs to be given a chance to exist alongside the body that goes by the‬ rules and is used to shy away from expression.

Wormwood

2025 / United States / 4 min
Directed by Kate Fleming
Choreography by Kate Fleming
Dancing by Jordan Prough
Cinematography by Kate Fleming
Edited by Kate Fleming
Sound Design by Colin Kemper, Kate Fleming

Wormwood explores themes of depression and the inner dialogue of someone navigating suicidal ideation. AUDIENCE WARNING: This film references suicidal ideations.

Your Love: ‘Walking’ Beside Me

2025 / United States / 4 min
Directed by Ali Kenner Brodsky
Choreography by Ali Kenner Brodsky
Featuring ali kenner brodsky & co
Performed by Jessi Stegall + Ilya Vidrin
Cinematography by Rich Ferri
Music Composed by MorganEve Swain

Your Love: ‘Walking’ Beside Me explores the dichotomy of love being in our past and supporting our steps forward. This new film work series is based on Brodsky’s live duet ‘walking’ and challenges the stigma around grief by giving audiences a moment to be present with their personal experiences of loss.

Anything With a Switch

2024 / United States / 5 min
Directed by Charli Brissey
Produced by Charli Brissey
Dancing by Charli Brissey
Written by Charli Brissey

A short movement study on sapphic longing and obsession.

From Jazz to Jackboots

2025 / Canada / 15 min
Directed by Justin Stephenson
Produced by Andrew Burashko
Choreography by Guillaume Côté

From Jazz to Jackboots is an experimental animated dance film exploring the Nazi regime’s methodical restriction of jazz through their “10 Rules for Dance Bands.” The film reimagines itself through progressively censored variations of jazz standard, “Minnie the Moocher,” transitioning from freeform expressionist painting and collage to statuesque perfection. Through sophisticated animation techniques and meticulous visual design, the work unfolds as simultaneously joyful, lyrical, ethereal, surgical, horrific and funereal — a timely reminder that the battle between artistic expression and authoritarian control remains urgently relevant today. AUDIENCE WARNING: This film references Nazi propaganda and may be unsuitable for some viewers.