Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema, SansSouciFest.org
Sans Souci at Dairy Arts Center 2026

Sep-Nov 2026
Boedecker Cinema at Dairy Arts Center
Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema is one of Boulder’s longstanding favorite arts organizations, and we’re so happy to return to one of our most beloved venues, the Boedecker Cinema at Dairy Arts Center for three separate programs this season.

Locals' Only

Colorado-based films and artists pepper this lineup, representing the diverse dancers of the Front Range and beyond, of various ages, abilities, and styles. Directly after the screening, you’ll have a chance to connect with attending filmmakers in a Q&A and interactive discussion.

Dancing on the Planet

Dancing on the Planet is a curated dance film screening featuring shorts from France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Macao, the UK, and the US, and it will remind you just how small you are, and how big this world can be. This collection of art shorts repositions the viewer in relationship to the Earth and connects our bodies to the places we call home, near and far. Through a multitude of approaches including site-specific screendance, experimental, and narrative film, this screening illustrates that the range of humanity’s expression is as vast as the range of environments on the planet.

Dancing as Ourselves

Dancing as Ourselves features shorts from Canada, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Germany, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, 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 documentary, experimental, animation, and screendance, this program illustrates that the range of humanity’s expression is as vast as the range of bodies we inhabit.


 I: Locals Only - Sep 2 & 23
 II: Dancing on the Planet - Oct 11 & 14
 III: Dancing as Ourselves - Nov 8 & 11

I: Locals Only - Sep 20 at 1pm & Sep 23 at 7pm

Necessary Sparks, 2026, United States, 5 min

Directed by Michelle Bernier
Produced by Michelle Bernier, Nicole Predki, Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema, MSU Denver Dance Program
Choreography by Nicole Predki, Jacob Mora
Featuring MSU Denver Dance Repertory Ensemble
Music Composed by Logan Wiley
Cinematography by Bruce Tetsuya, House of Kodo
Edited by Bruce Tetsuya, Michelle Bernier
A community-based dance film that explores the construction of identity and democracy through navigating everyday poetics and pressures, finding belonging at intersecting social systems, and embodying artifacts of personal and collective histories.

Occupation, 2013, United States, 4 min

Directed by Tanja London
Choreography by Tanja London
This screendance explores a state of ‘uprootedness’ in the continuing context of events following the Iraq War and the 2008 World Financial Crisis. The film utilizes the metaphor of a historic building and its astonishing relationship to its foundation to illustrate the second wave of erosion of American democracy after 9/11. The film features three movers: two dancers and one building. In 2009, this five million-pound, historic building underwent an engineering feat when it was raised eleven feet off its foundation and moved in one piece. Interleaved footage of the dancers and the building in motion illustrates their correlation—a mounting tension that speaks to democracy in the US being shaken, uprooted and redefined underneath people’s feet. Dizzying changes silence oppositional voices occupying public spaces. Pursuing everyday occupations equals prevailing war in the name of democratic values. This film raises the question if we still live in a democracy.

Now That I'm Not New, 2025, United States, 7 min

Directed by Anna Pillot
Choreography and Dancing by Anna Pillot
"Now That I'm Not New" drifts between mirrored worlds where inner youth and external perception collide. A dancer slips through shifting realities, guided by a body that remembers more than it reveals. She seeks truth in sensation—rolling through sand, plunging into cold water, chasing the versions of herself others cannot see. Woven through these moments is a sense of humor in the mundane: the quiet absurdities of daily gestures, the unglamorous in-betweens, the small misalignments that make being human strangely funny. The film is a journey through perception, presence, and the odd adventure of becoming.

A Last Sonnet, 2025, France, 7 min

Directed by Nancy Spanier, Xavier Hirissou
Produced by Nancy Spanier Dance Theater / Performance Inventions
Choreography by Nancy Spanier
Featuring Performance Inventions
Dancing by Paul Oertel
Music Composed by Kath Bruce, Lucia Lutonska
Cinematography by Xavier Hirissou
Edited by Xavier Hirissou, Nancy Spanier
Sonnet and Recitation by Paul Oertel
Administration by Peggy Wrenn, Adam Griff
A Last Sonnet is a 7 minute semi-narrative, lyrical, poetic statement shot in Venice with spoken text. The text is based on an original sonnet written for the film on the theme of aging and finding timelessness in the presence of absence. Venice is the metaphoric backdrop for this theme, with its sinking, eroding, decaying, crumbling, vanishing, intemporal grandeur. Venice with its continuously transforming tidal motion, shifting light, and multitudinous bridges and labyrinths of passageways reflects the inner landscape of a lone figure traversing the cityscape.

Touching Waters, 2025, United States, 9 min

Produced by David Diaz, Colorado Water Stories
Choreography by Maren Waldman
Dancing by Melinda Harrison, Shauna Hylenski, Caroline Butcher, Karen Drucker, Maren Waldman, Peg Posnick, Dana Walker, Anna Pillot
Music Composed by Dexter Payne
Filmmaker: Drummond West
"""touching waters"" film was created as part of the Global Water Dances project, an international day of dancing that raises awareness about local and global water issues. The film was derived from a performance at a community event at Ollin Farms in Longmont, CO, which celebrated water from the perspectives of spirit, science, food, conservation, and arts."

Equilibrium, 2025, United States, 9 min

Choreography by Rebecca Allen Stewart
Featuring T2 Dance Company
Synopsis coming soon.

Take Your Turn, 2025, United States, 3 min

Directed by Michael Hartzog
Choreography and Dancing by Phannie Krentzman
Synopsis coming soon.

Mirage, 2026, United States, 9 min

Directed by Rae Lewark, Bella Martin
Produced by Artemisia Productions
Choreography by Rae Lewark, Bella Martin
Dancing by Tim Grayson, Rae Lewark
Cinematography by Jordan Lawrence, William Drumm, Adam Knudson, Devon Knudson
Edited by Rae Lewark, Bella Martin
Sound Design & Special Effects by Bella Martin
Costume Design by Rae Lewark
"Mirage" is an experimental dance film exploring magical ecoism, the timeless energetic forces of ecosystems, and the human draw to return to the natural world.

II: Dancing on the Planet - Oct 11 at 1pm & Oct 14 at 7pm

La Fée Électricité (The Goddess of Electricity) , 2026, United Kingdom, 8 min

Directed by Cottia Thorowgood
Produced by Charles Haswell
Choreography and Dancing by Viola Pantuso
Featuring The Royal Ballet
As daylight falls, La Fée Électricité (The Goddess of Electricity) awakens beneath Paris, charged to bring light to the streets above. As she begins to move, she galvanises her power and emerges onto the streets of Paris, illuminating the city with electricity. By dawn, having danced all night her electric powers are overwhelmed by the daylight. By morning, her powers are extinguished. This is a short dance film filmed on location in Paris, featuring Royal Ballet soloist, Viola Pantuso. The story is built on the concept of "La Fée Électricité" - the personification of electricity in France in the late 1800s, as a woman, or fairy, who brought light and power to the people and streets.

Soil, 2025, France, 5 min

Directed by Arnaud Lin
Produced by Julia Fougeray
Choreography by Mathilde Lin
Dancing by Mathilde Lin
Music by Sébastien Forrester
Being tied to the land is not only a matter of geography, but of culture. "Soil," inspired by SheHuo, a Chinese folk celebration, traces the movement of tradition through migration — what is carried, altered, or remains.

(Un) Common Ground: Munich, Tanz Für Immer, 2026, United States, 6 min

Directed by Ana Baer, Michelle Nance, Heike Salzer
Produced by WECreate Productions
Choreography and Dancing by Michelle Nance, Caroline Ribbers, Heike Salzer
Featuring WECreate Productions
Filmmaker: Ana Baer
Composer/Audio Designer-Mixer by Richard D Hall
Synopsis coming soon.

Grape Maestro, 2025, Italy, 20 min

Directed by Alla Kovgan
Produced by Alla Kovgan, Enrica Viola, Piera Leonetti, Alberto Danelli, Derrick Tseng
Choreography by Oleg Stepanov
Dancing by Ophelia Young, Doumbia Siaka, Roberto Luigi Mauri, Patrizio Ratto, Samuele Barbetta, Divine Witnelle Nguimatsa, Sangala Salimata Kone, Oleg Stepanov
Music Composed by Saba Anglana, Fabio Barovero
Cinematography by Miko Malkhasyan
Edited by Alla Kovgan
Sound Design by Fabio Coggiola, Oleg Stepanov
Original Idea by Alla Kovgan, Piera Leonetti, Alberto Danelli
In the vineyards of Northern Italy, at harvest time, cultures clash, and a wine commercial shoot goes astray, until dance, music, comedy — and the magic of a harlequin — intervene.

Jinshan: Seams of Gold, 2025, United States, 12 min

Directed by Megan Lowe, Rose Huey, Nino Fernandez
Produced by Megan Lowe, Rose Huey
Choreography and Dancing by Megan Lowe, Rose Huey
Featuring Megan Lowe Dances
Music Composed by Megan Lowe, Nino Fernandez
Cinematography by Nino Fernandez
Rigger by Michael Rogers
Set against a majestic outdoor rock wall, "Jinshan: Seams of Gold" is a site-specific vertical dance film that reimagines gravity as a partner in storytelling. Harnessing the power of rock climbing technology, dancers are lifted into the air—not just to defy gravity, but to awaken a sense of flight, freedom, and deep connection. Suspended in space, they soar, tumble, and reach across stone surfaces, turning sheer rock into a canvas for memory, imagination, and transformation. Inspired by the courage, creativity, and resilience of ancestors and elders, the film honors the strength it takes to rise—literally and metaphorically. As bodies float and cling, release and return, the film evokes a sense of wonder and reflection, expanding what we believe is possible when we move together. This is a dance of flight, of legacy, and of the golden seams that bind us through time and across space.

Sheltering Gestures, 2026, Colombia, 11 min

Directed by Adrián Villa-Dávila, Andrés Prado
Produced by Tragaluz
Choreography by Javier Serpa
Featuring Danzas y Enseñanzas de Mis Abuelos
Written by Adrián Villa Dávila
“Sheltering Gestures” is a videodance that traces the ritual and spiritual movements revived by a group of young dancers who witnessed the gradual disappearance of the traditional Danza de las Tabliteras. Determined to bring it back to life, they learned its rhythms and choreography from the four remaining elders who still carried the dance in their bodies. Once again, these gestures echo the movements that decades ago filled the community of San Antonio, Bolívar, with pride, vitality, and collective spirit.

A Snake in the Grass, 2025, India, 20 min

Directed by Fu Le
Choreography by Fu Le
Dancing by Tara Tarasia, Mukul Kumar
1st Assistant by Gobinath Mounissamy
Tara leaves in a traditional rural village where a construction program of new houses takes place. She meets a worker and will escape with him on a romantic journey, at the risk of creating jealousy in the village. The film struggle with the social yoke about marriage and the danger of a forbidden love in South India, the land of snakes.

III: Dancing as Ourselves - Nov 8 at 1pm & Nov 11 at 7pm

Résonance, 2025, Canada, 5 min

Directed by Nicholas Castel
Produced by Sandrine Vachon
Choreography by Fannie Côté
Dancing by Mireille Baril, Dominic Caron, Micael Morissette, Sandrine Vachon
"Résonance" explores the themes of presence, vibrations, and echoes of our sensitiveness. Through the simple yet profound ritual of reconnecting with others, with the environment, with the body, and with the essence of what it means to be fully present, we believe we can ground ourselves, heal and enter a deeper communion with the world around us. In Résonance, the danse becomes the medium for "The Circle of Presence," where the physical and emotional connections between individuals, can lead to deeper consciousness. Self-awareness in a chaotic world. An empty industrial space filled with empathy. Art, through movement, as a ritual of resistance.

The Broken Cycle, 2025, Hong Kong, 3 min

Directed by Andreas Guzman
Choreography by Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa
Featuring Hong Kong Ballet
Dancing by Xuan Cheng, Renjie Ma
Cinematography by Tsun Man Silas Chow
Edited by Justin Ho
Story by Andreas Guzman, Zachary Babrowsky
Color by Daryl Leng Jun
An endless cycle. A dance of stagnation. A relationship's rhythm, caught in a relentless tide, is about to break.

The _____ Between Us, 2025, Germany, 9 min

Directed by Maayan Reiter
Choreography by Maayan Reiter
Dancing by Jacqueline Krell, Hojoon Moon, Maayan Reiter,
Music Composed by Kevin MacLeod
Cinematography by Jens Pussel
Video Editing, Motion Design, Special Effects by Maayan Reiter
Sound Editing & Music Remastering by Adaam James Levin-Areddy
Set beneath an open sky, "The _____ Between Us" tells a story about connection through dialogue, dance, and AI-generated imagery. It invites viewers to reflect on how we relate to one another, to ourselves, and to the world around us. Through contact improvisation technique and digital compositing, a narrative unfolds. Movements draw from physical principles such as responsiveness, weight-sharing, touch, and momentum. Digital transformations fluidly alternate between the dancers, continuously reshaping their visual identities. This shared dance with a partner shows how we perceive others through our own inner states of longing, fear, acceptance, resistance, curiosity, and more. The film encourages us to notice our emotional state and how it shapes how we interpret and project ourselves onto others. It calls our attention back to what is already present: our bodies, our awareness, and the _____ between us.

Loca, 2024, Canada, 5 min

Directed by Véronique Paquette
Produced by Christine Noel, Marc Bertrand
Choreography by Marika Landry
Dancing by Leïla Afriat, Francis Cloutier
Written by Véronique Paquette
A female silhouette, sketched with fine white lines, disintegrates. A few bars ring out from “Loca”—a classic tune from the golden age of Argentinean tango. The spellbinding music sweeps the woman into a dance. As she whirls, a duo forms, their bodies intertwined in black and white. Their complete abandonment to the music is expressed in abundant waves of ink, creating a mesmerizing visual spectacle.

The Year of the Green Snake, 2025, United States, 5 min

Directed by Ioulex
Choreography by Xin Ying
Dancing by Ying Xin
Music Composed by The Grand Hotel
Costumes by Christian Joy
Martha Graham Company’s principal dancer Xin Ying embodies the spirit of the snake in a fluid metamorphosis. Drawing on themes of rebirth and reinvention, the dichotomy of repulsion and seduction, Ying’s dance improvisations evoke the Snake-woman motif in Chinese folklore and the Sorceress Medea in Graham’s “Cave of the Heart.”

Dance is a Language, Isn't It?, 2024, Switzerland, 11 min

Directed by Schneider Susanne, Jürg Koch, Steven Vit
Produced by Alexandra Heini, Cie BewegGrund
Choreography by Susanne Schneider & Jürg Koch
Featuring Cie BewegGrund
Dancing by Irene Andreetto, Ibado, Patrick, Ettore Serge Isnard, Karin Minger, Maira Lou Nett, Lukas Schwander, Dawit Seto Gobeze
Music Composed by Philipp Moll
Cinematography by Lukas Gut
Eight dancers meet in movement in a space filled with light and shadow, sound and silence. They come together to explore with each other and the audience the question of how we communicate through movement and what connections are created in the process. They find a dance language that knows no right or wrong. Commissioned by the Museum of Communication in Bern for the exhibition DANCE!, the film shows the beauty of movement and a touching language that is created through human encounters.

In Person Only, 2025, Czechia, 15 min

Directed by Tereza Vejvodová
Produced by Martina Knoblochová, Ondřej Beránek
Choreography by Martin Talaga
Dancing by Jan Cina
Music Composed by Džian Baban
Cinematography by Antoan Pepelanov, Kristina Kůlová
Edited by Tereza Vejvodová
Sound Design by Šimon Herrmann
Production Company by Punk Film
A lonely programmer must leave his digital shell to experience that true connection cannot be programmed. An unexpected glitch forces him to confront his repressed anxieties about human contact and prove that even in the age of automation, human closeness is irreplaceable.

The Flight of the Shawl, 2026, Spain, 6 min

Directed by Jaime Dezcallar
Produced by Sara Rollón Morillas
Choreography and Dancing by Manuel Liñán
Edited by Javier Baztán
Manuel Liñán is a flamenco dancer and choreographer who has transformed the art form, making it freer and more contemporary. Intellectual and deeply expressive, he combines impeccable technique with a vivid imagination. Recipient of Spain’s National Dance Award, he performs to sold-out theatres around the world, yet he feels most alive in the tablao: a space of barely twelve square metres, with the audience pressed close, where every breath can be heard and where he is compelled to sustain extraordinary focus and honesty. Without them, he could not move an audience. "The Flight of the Shawl," filmed somewhere between documentary and dreamlike journey, is a soleá performed with a bata de cola—the traditional flamenco dress with a long train—and a shawl, elements historically associated with women’s flamenco.

Mushi , 2026, Japan, 6 min

Produced and Directed by Saya Shinohara, Mai Kuremoto, Yu Ikegami
Choreography and Dancing by Saya Shinohara, Mai Kuremoto, Yu Ikegami
Featuring Elevenplay
"Mushi no shirase” is a Japanese expression that describes a subtle, often unexplainable feeling or intuition that something is about to happen, especially something negative or unexpected. From an insect’s point of view, try to sense that presence yourself.

Whiteout, 2019, United Kingdom, 11 min

Directed by Natasha Gilmore, Andrew Cumming
Produced by Belinda McElhinney
Choreography by Natasha Gilmore
Featuring Barrowland Ballet
Dancing by Jade Adamson, Sean Graham, Vince Virr, Nandi Bhebhe, Kai-Wen Chuang, KJ Clarke-Davis
Music Composed by Luke Sutherland
Cinematography by George Cameron Geddis
"Whiteout" gives resonance to the complexities of bi-racial relationships. Informed by her personal experiences as a white European who married a black African and as the mother of bi-racial children, Natasha Gilmore explores this issue with honesty and humour. Powerful, and touching, this film stimulates conversation about race and racism, even within a family unit, while celebrating human connections beyond racial difference. Featuring an interracial cast and original composition by Luke Sutherland.

Barre, 2026, United Kingdom, 6 min

Directed by Andrew Margetson
Produced by Bona Orakwue
Choreography by Valentino Zucchetti
Featuring The Royal Ballet
Dancing by Melissa Hamilton
Cinematography by Arran Green
A ballerina warms up at the barre. As the music develops her movement becomes inspired, and, joined by two male dancers, she is taken on a choreographic flight of fancy, transported onto the main stage of London's Royal Opera House.
Copyright 2004-2026 Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema • email us