Pittsburgh International Dance Film Festival
2025
March 27-April 6
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: Shana Simmons Dance
Choreography: Shana Simmons
Dancers: Tyler Anderson, Autumn Bulebush-Clouse, Madisyn Montgomery, Brittany Nettles
Piece 1: Preview: #janet
Full piece will be presented at the Spring MISHMOSH show on May 10, 2025.
Music: Janet Jackson
Piece 2: Untitled
Previously a solo, this piece uses imagery of the grasslands, ponds, and wheat fields.
Music: Yo-Yo Ma, The Silk Road Ensemble
Piece 3: Preview: i am a dancer
Currently being set in its first iteration on Seton Hill University dance program, premiering May 2-4 at the Dance Spectrum show.
Music: Andy Hasenpflug, text from Martha Graham's Blood Memory
---
Choreography: Shana Simmons
Dancers: Tyler Anderson, Autumn Bulebush-Clouse, Madisyn Montgomery, Brittany Nettles
Piece 1: Preview: #janet
Full piece will be presented at the Spring MISHMOSH show on May 10, 2025.
Music: Janet Jackson
Piece 2: Untitled
Previously a solo, this piece uses imagery of the grasslands, ponds, and wheat fields.
Music: Yo-Yo Ma, The Silk Road Ensemble
Piece 3: Preview: i am a dancer
Currently being set in its first iteration on Seton Hill University dance program, premiering May 2-4 at the Dance Spectrum show.
Music: Andy Hasenpflug, text from Martha Graham's Blood Memory
---
Act 1:
Panelist Picks: ODEON
Canada
Directed by: Meghann Michalsky
Odeon comments on survival, evolution, mutation, human extinction, environmental devastation,
water crisis, capitalist mindset, apocalyptic warnings, grappling with our place in this collapsing world, and the spectacle of control.
---
Constructed Sight: Les Coeurs Simples
France
Directed by: Maxime Mathieu Quiroga
Les Cœurs Simples is a short dance film that presents an encounter.
Filmed in a magical place, it shows the intimate bond of two beings in an abstract and evanescent setting.
---
Constructed Sight: Kucha
China
Directed by: Chenglong TANG
Kucha, an ancient oasis city dating back to the 3rd century BCE in the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang, China, was a significant cultural crossroad of the Silk Road, renowned for its Buddhist heritage and distinctive music and dance. Drawing from Chinese ancient literature and historical and archaeological records of the Kuchean dance, Kucha adapts the artistic imagery from the murals of the Kizil and Kumtura Caves in Xinjiang as the foundation for its dance movements.
---
Panelist Picks: LUCE
Canada
Directed by: Valeria Galluccio
This film invites us to follow LUCE, the film's protagonist: a mysterious creature with aquatic, alien and humain traits. After landing on planet Earth, she must learn to live in a wooded area near a lake. Isolated, without any contact with other individuals of her species,
she documents her presence on our planet using a video camera.
---
Constructed Sight: STOP at Strawberry Way
USA - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Directed by: Jennifer Keller and Shana Simmons
Shana Simmons Dance aims to produce at least one Constructed Sight film each year blending a Pittsburgh public work of art with screendance. The SSD dancers skip, play, and explore Strawberry Way, a colorful alley in downtown Pittsburgh. The mural, "Rainbow Road," was created by lead artists Shane Pilster and Max GEMS Gonzales and was inspired by the surrealist movement technique known as the “exquisite corpse,” the piece features 12-foot sections painted by individual students, strung together over a rainbow gradient.
—-
Constructed Sight: Beyond the Plaques
United Kingdom
Directed by: Coade- Catherine Sleeman
Burney- Hannah George
Barett Browning- Amy Groves
Maunder- Joeley Anne
Commissioned by English Heritage and National Youth Ballet, Beyond The Plaques is a dance film inspired by the lives of four female Pioneers; sculptor Eleanor Coade, author Frances Burney, poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and astronomer Annie Maunder. These women's overlooked achievements provoke a contemporary response from four young female artists, weaving themes of cultural ephemerality, societal expectations of women, and exploration amidst isolation.
Slight Pause ~ 5 minutes ~
Act 2:
Witches Cradle
USA - Chicago, Illinois
Directed by: Nejla Yatkin
Witches Cradle is a short dance-on-camera film that pays homage to Maya Deren's unfinished work, weaving a new narrative of transformation, thread, and embodied memory. Through movement and delicate strands of thread, the film honors untold stories and the silenced voices of women across history, symbolizing their resilience amidst oppression.
---
Student/Emerging + Constructed Sight: Delirious
Germany/Sweden
Directed by: Hanna Kortus, Felicia Nilsson
A portrait of the struggle to maintain balance in the face of mental diversity. A self-revolving journey into the world of an individual with ADHD.
Shaped by the constant distraction of each moment, where every stumble affects self-perception and self-evaluation.
The answers lie in the middle of the bridge, on the thin line that connects the inner world with reality.
---
Panelist Picks: W.O.M.B.
France
Directed by: Julienne Doko
Becoming a mother entails many changes: the relation to your body, to time and material things, the sense of identity and legacy.
W.O.M.B. (Worth of My Body) is a piece that embraces all the poetry, compassion and pain that comes from creating life.
The performance invites a reflection on the body's ability to change through the different cultural perceptions of motherhood.
---
Panelist Picks + Constructed Sight: Carrying Wood
Ireland
Directed by: Linda Schirmer
This film reflects on our connection and dependence upon resources drawn from rural geographies. It explores the cultural practice of collecting firewood and touches on the complexities of the energy crisis. As part of the artist’s research practice, she walked the Western Way in Connemara, Ireland, - through a landscape - strongly impacted by humans, thereby asking questions about managing & apportioning land, but also celebrating the access of green space.
---
Panelist Picks + Constructed Sight: Ruins Within Ruins
Greece
Directed by: Lefteris Parasyris
A group of dancers positions themselves between the ancient and modern ruins of the island of Crete, Greece. Drawing inspiration from its rich heritage, they craft a series of kinetic forms and patterns influenced by folk dances. These installations, whether harmonising with or contrasting against the island's culture, offer reflections on historical memory and the Cretan identity.
---
Panelist Picks: Cut Me Summa Dat Noise
USA - Union City, New Jersey
Directed by: Cara Hagan
Cut Me Summa Dat Noise is a film that celebrates the rhythms of everyday life through the eyes of a neighborhood matriarch who sets the tone for a new day with the beat of her own heart. As the neighborhood comes to life, people of all ages unite in a joyous cacophony of sound that illuminates the connections between them as members of a vibrant and diverse community in rhythm.
Panelist Picks: ODEON
Canada
Directed by: Meghann Michalsky
Odeon comments on survival, evolution, mutation, human extinction, environmental devastation,
water crisis, capitalist mindset, apocalyptic warnings, grappling with our place in this collapsing world, and the spectacle of control.
---
Constructed Sight: Les Coeurs Simples
France
Directed by: Maxime Mathieu Quiroga
Les Cœurs Simples is a short dance film that presents an encounter.
Filmed in a magical place, it shows the intimate bond of two beings in an abstract and evanescent setting.
---
Constructed Sight: Kucha
China
Directed by: Chenglong TANG
Kucha, an ancient oasis city dating back to the 3rd century BCE in the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang, China, was a significant cultural crossroad of the Silk Road, renowned for its Buddhist heritage and distinctive music and dance. Drawing from Chinese ancient literature and historical and archaeological records of the Kuchean dance, Kucha adapts the artistic imagery from the murals of the Kizil and Kumtura Caves in Xinjiang as the foundation for its dance movements.
---
Panelist Picks: LUCE
Canada
Directed by: Valeria Galluccio
This film invites us to follow LUCE, the film's protagonist: a mysterious creature with aquatic, alien and humain traits. After landing on planet Earth, she must learn to live in a wooded area near a lake. Isolated, without any contact with other individuals of her species,
she documents her presence on our planet using a video camera.
---
Constructed Sight: STOP at Strawberry Way
USA - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Directed by: Jennifer Keller and Shana Simmons
Shana Simmons Dance aims to produce at least one Constructed Sight film each year blending a Pittsburgh public work of art with screendance. The SSD dancers skip, play, and explore Strawberry Way, a colorful alley in downtown Pittsburgh. The mural, "Rainbow Road," was created by lead artists Shane Pilster and Max GEMS Gonzales and was inspired by the surrealist movement technique known as the “exquisite corpse,” the piece features 12-foot sections painted by individual students, strung together over a rainbow gradient.
—-
Constructed Sight: Beyond the Plaques
United Kingdom
Directed by: Coade- Catherine Sleeman
Burney- Hannah George
Barett Browning- Amy Groves
Maunder- Joeley Anne
Commissioned by English Heritage and National Youth Ballet, Beyond The Plaques is a dance film inspired by the lives of four female Pioneers; sculptor Eleanor Coade, author Frances Burney, poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and astronomer Annie Maunder. These women's overlooked achievements provoke a contemporary response from four young female artists, weaving themes of cultural ephemerality, societal expectations of women, and exploration amidst isolation.
Slight Pause ~ 5 minutes ~
Act 2:
Witches Cradle
USA - Chicago, Illinois
Directed by: Nejla Yatkin
Witches Cradle is a short dance-on-camera film that pays homage to Maya Deren's unfinished work, weaving a new narrative of transformation, thread, and embodied memory. Through movement and delicate strands of thread, the film honors untold stories and the silenced voices of women across history, symbolizing their resilience amidst oppression.
---
Student/Emerging + Constructed Sight: Delirious
Germany/Sweden
Directed by: Hanna Kortus, Felicia Nilsson
A portrait of the struggle to maintain balance in the face of mental diversity. A self-revolving journey into the world of an individual with ADHD.
Shaped by the constant distraction of each moment, where every stumble affects self-perception and self-evaluation.
The answers lie in the middle of the bridge, on the thin line that connects the inner world with reality.
---
Panelist Picks: W.O.M.B.
France
Directed by: Julienne Doko
Becoming a mother entails many changes: the relation to your body, to time and material things, the sense of identity and legacy.
W.O.M.B. (Worth of My Body) is a piece that embraces all the poetry, compassion and pain that comes from creating life.
The performance invites a reflection on the body's ability to change through the different cultural perceptions of motherhood.
---
Panelist Picks + Constructed Sight: Carrying Wood
Ireland
Directed by: Linda Schirmer
This film reflects on our connection and dependence upon resources drawn from rural geographies. It explores the cultural practice of collecting firewood and touches on the complexities of the energy crisis. As part of the artist’s research practice, she walked the Western Way in Connemara, Ireland, - through a landscape - strongly impacted by humans, thereby asking questions about managing & apportioning land, but also celebrating the access of green space.
---
Panelist Picks + Constructed Sight: Ruins Within Ruins
Greece
Directed by: Lefteris Parasyris
A group of dancers positions themselves between the ancient and modern ruins of the island of Crete, Greece. Drawing inspiration from its rich heritage, they craft a series of kinetic forms and patterns influenced by folk dances. These installations, whether harmonising with or contrasting against the island's culture, offer reflections on historical memory and the Cretan identity.
---
Panelist Picks: Cut Me Summa Dat Noise
USA - Union City, New Jersey
Directed by: Cara Hagan
Cut Me Summa Dat Noise is a film that celebrates the rhythms of everyday life through the eyes of a neighborhood matriarch who sets the tone for a new day with the beat of her own heart. As the neighborhood comes to life, people of all ages unite in a joyous cacophony of sound that illuminates the connections between them as members of a vibrant and diverse community in rhythm.
Special Thanks:
Jayme Pawlowski
Jennifer Keller
Chrisala Brown
Jamie Erin Murphy
Scott Andrew
James Simon
Cre8 Dance
Jayme Pawlowski
Jennifer Keller
Chrisala Brown
Jamie Erin Murphy
Scott Andrew
James Simon
Cre8 Dance