Pittsburgh International Dance Film Festival
2026
March 19-29
Note from the Artistic Director~
Welcome to the Pittsburgh International Dance Film Festival (PIDFF)!
PIDFF has morphed into Pittsburgh's only International dance film festival and began in 2020 as a response to the pandemic
with our program Constructed Sight. Myself, Brady Sanders and Jamie Erin Murphy put our heads together and came up with
developing individual solos either on, in, in front of, or under Pittsburgh's wide variety of public works of art.
This festival began to slowly open up into a wide array of International submissions!
With this inclusion of a broader approach to screendance, we have kept the Constructed Sight Category unique, opening it up to films that either
a) focus or blend public works of art into screendance or
b) focus their film around a specific site or piece of architecture in a unique way dedicated to that dance film.
At Shana Simmons Dance, it is one of my missions to aim to inspire people to appreciate the arts through movement experiences.
We are honored to host International films and hope you are amazed by the fantastic artistry from other cultures.
If you have a good time tonight and would like to see more of this style of programming, please consider a donation to Shana Simmons Dance as a thank you and shout out to continue PIDFF. This project is our labor of love with no outside funding to support. We are aiming to create this program to be sustainable in an effort to put Pittsburgh on the map and bring outside countries' artists to Pittsburgh. www.shanasimmonsdance.com/donate
Thank you so much for your curiosity, your passion for the arts, and your support! SSD could not thrive without public support!
Enjoy the show,
Shana
Welcome to the Pittsburgh International Dance Film Festival (PIDFF)!
PIDFF has morphed into Pittsburgh's only International dance film festival and began in 2020 as a response to the pandemic
with our program Constructed Sight. Myself, Brady Sanders and Jamie Erin Murphy put our heads together and came up with
developing individual solos either on, in, in front of, or under Pittsburgh's wide variety of public works of art.
This festival began to slowly open up into a wide array of International submissions!
With this inclusion of a broader approach to screendance, we have kept the Constructed Sight Category unique, opening it up to films that either
a) focus or blend public works of art into screendance or
b) focus their film around a specific site or piece of architecture in a unique way dedicated to that dance film.
At Shana Simmons Dance, it is one of my missions to aim to inspire people to appreciate the arts through movement experiences.
We are honored to host International films and hope you are amazed by the fantastic artistry from other cultures.
If you have a good time tonight and would like to see more of this style of programming, please consider a donation to Shana Simmons Dance as a thank you and shout out to continue PIDFF. This project is our labor of love with no outside funding to support. We are aiming to create this program to be sustainable in an effort to put Pittsburgh on the map and bring outside countries' artists to Pittsburgh. www.shanasimmonsdance.com/donate
Thank you so much for your curiosity, your passion for the arts, and your support! SSD could not thrive without public support!
Enjoy the show,
Shana
Opening Night Event Program:
Pre-Show Screening:
6:50pm-7:00pm
Panelist Picks: Women of Water
Austria
Directed by: Editta Braun
A play about showing and concealing, moving and being moved. A ballet for isolated limbs, a trio for dancers flowing, floating, swimming and gliding.
Carried by Thierry Zaboitzeff's marvellous sounds and tones, breathtaking through unprecedented perspectives,
the piece writes a new, purely female story of creation out of the water.
6:50pm-7:00pm
Panelist Picks: Women of Water
Austria
Directed by: Editta Braun
A play about showing and concealing, moving and being moved. A ballet for isolated limbs, a trio for dancers flowing, floating, swimming and gliding.
Carried by Thierry Zaboitzeff's marvellous sounds and tones, breathtaking through unprecedented perspectives,
the piece writes a new, purely female story of creation out of the water.
Pre-show: Shana Simmons Dance
7:00pm-7:30pm
Dancers: Tyler Anderson, Autumn Bulebush-Clouse, Madisyn Montgomery, Brittany Nettles, Abby Breznak
Body Language
Choreography: Brittany Nettles
Music: Queen, "Body Language"
Black Heart
Choreography: Shana Simmons
Dancer: Autumn Bulebush-Clouse
Music: Melody Gardot, "Your Heart Is As Black As Night"
Camilo
Choreography: Shana Simmons
Music: Michel Camilo, "On The Other Hand"
7:00pm-7:30pm
Dancers: Tyler Anderson, Autumn Bulebush-Clouse, Madisyn Montgomery, Brittany Nettles, Abby Breznak
Body Language
Choreography: Brittany Nettles
Music: Queen, "Body Language"
Black Heart
Choreography: Shana Simmons
Dancer: Autumn Bulebush-Clouse
Music: Melody Gardot, "Your Heart Is As Black As Night"
Camilo
Choreography: Shana Simmons
Music: Michel Camilo, "On The Other Hand"
Act 1:
Panelist Picks: The Oath
United States
Directed by: Alla Kovgan
Both communal and monstrous, the human urge to move in a large mass in unison –
to bond, to battle, to promise, to intimidate, to gather, to dance; this is THE OATH.
---
G E M I N I
United States
Directed by: Ian Plouffe
This screen-dance explores themes of becoming and making terms with oneself.
A reflection of Haley Heynderickx’s song Gemini- a young woman travels through her own internal landscape
to emerge embracing her shadow and unclouded by self doubt.
---
Constructed Sight: VOID
Australia
Directed by: Claire Marshall
Taking an experimental approach, Claire became interested in exploring the performer/ location relationship...
Drawing from iconography associated with the location, Void was an investigation into how cinematic elements of the
lens, editing, and the location itself can be furthered to realise the sense of story and subvert experiences in dance film.
---
Constructed Sight: Living Landscapes
United States
Directed by: Shana Simmons
Living Landscapes is an experimental documentary-dance film (a docu-dance?) aiming to straddle the line
between documentary style filming and artistic expression through dance films. The project highlights two local environmental organizations
as inspiration for Pittsburgh environmental concerns and what people are doing about them.
---
Slight Pause ~ 5 minutes ~
Act 2:
Panelist Picks: Herbarium
Poland
Directed by: Iwona Pasińska
Choreography composed to a suite by Edward Grieg and presented by the artists-dancers of the Polish Dance Theatre takes the audience
into the world of flora. It allows to explore a day in the life of a plant from the moment it blooms to the end, drowned in warm nostalgia.
---
Student/Emerging + Panelist Picks: Whiplash
United States
Directed by: Andrew Van Allen
“Whiplash” is centered around grief, loss, and shifting relationships with a higher power.
The film explores the “unsettlingness” and confusion that comes from losing a loved one, and learning how to cope
with visceral life-events that continue to shape as humans.
---
Constructed Sight: When the lights are on
France
Directed by: Paul Flé
---
Panelist Picks: ElleX/ElleY
Canada
Directed by: Valeria Galluccio
ElleX, an androgynous being with a slender body, moving through a suspended world beneath a shower of bright comets.
As the ground tilts, her body releases glowing pearls, a hidden vital substance.
Unbalanced, ElleX embarks on a pilgrimage through the confined space of her world, with the pearls transforming into ElleY, her clone.
---
Résonance
Canada
Directed by: Nicholas Castel
Résonance started as an inquiry into what we consider sacred in our lives, outside of religion. We, dancers and artistic team, agreed that sensing energy, connection to self, others and the environment were a way to feel alive with a particular wisdom. Self-awareness in a chaotic world. An empty industrial space filled with empathy. Art, through movement, as a ritual of resistance.
Panelist Picks: The Oath
United States
Directed by: Alla Kovgan
Both communal and monstrous, the human urge to move in a large mass in unison –
to bond, to battle, to promise, to intimidate, to gather, to dance; this is THE OATH.
---
G E M I N I
United States
Directed by: Ian Plouffe
This screen-dance explores themes of becoming and making terms with oneself.
A reflection of Haley Heynderickx’s song Gemini- a young woman travels through her own internal landscape
to emerge embracing her shadow and unclouded by self doubt.
---
Constructed Sight: VOID
Australia
Directed by: Claire Marshall
Taking an experimental approach, Claire became interested in exploring the performer/ location relationship...
Drawing from iconography associated with the location, Void was an investigation into how cinematic elements of the
lens, editing, and the location itself can be furthered to realise the sense of story and subvert experiences in dance film.
---
Constructed Sight: Living Landscapes
United States
Directed by: Shana Simmons
Living Landscapes is an experimental documentary-dance film (a docu-dance?) aiming to straddle the line
between documentary style filming and artistic expression through dance films. The project highlights two local environmental organizations
as inspiration for Pittsburgh environmental concerns and what people are doing about them.
---
Slight Pause ~ 5 minutes ~
Act 2:
Panelist Picks: Herbarium
Poland
Directed by: Iwona Pasińska
Choreography composed to a suite by Edward Grieg and presented by the artists-dancers of the Polish Dance Theatre takes the audience
into the world of flora. It allows to explore a day in the life of a plant from the moment it blooms to the end, drowned in warm nostalgia.
---
Student/Emerging + Panelist Picks: Whiplash
United States
Directed by: Andrew Van Allen
“Whiplash” is centered around grief, loss, and shifting relationships with a higher power.
The film explores the “unsettlingness” and confusion that comes from losing a loved one, and learning how to cope
with visceral life-events that continue to shape as humans.
---
Constructed Sight: When the lights are on
France
Directed by: Paul Flé
---
Panelist Picks: ElleX/ElleY
Canada
Directed by: Valeria Galluccio
ElleX, an androgynous being with a slender body, moving through a suspended world beneath a shower of bright comets.
As the ground tilts, her body releases glowing pearls, a hidden vital substance.
Unbalanced, ElleX embarks on a pilgrimage through the confined space of her world, with the pearls transforming into ElleY, her clone.
---
Résonance
Canada
Directed by: Nicholas Castel
Résonance started as an inquiry into what we consider sacred in our lives, outside of religion. We, dancers and artistic team, agreed that sensing energy, connection to self, others and the environment were a way to feel alive with a particular wisdom. Self-awareness in a chaotic world. An empty industrial space filled with empathy. Art, through movement, as a ritual of resistance.
Special Thanks:
Jayme Pawlowski
Chrisala Brown
Scott Andrew
Anthony Alterio
The Kelly-Strayhorn Theatre
Jayme Pawlowski
Chrisala Brown
Scott Andrew
Anthony Alterio
The Kelly-Strayhorn Theatre