THE WORLD IS OUR STAGE:  
SDW JOINS ADF’s 60-SECOND VIDEO DANCE CHALLENGE

SPONSORED BY THE FOREST AT DUKE

I was honored to be among the 20 NC choreographers invited to create a 60-second, socially-distancing dance video commissioned by the American Dance Festival with support from The Forest at Duke. It was such a gift to create with this team of incredibly talented humans! I’ve missed them so much. It was also a gift to experience all of the artist’s videos and to come together in community and creativity during these challenging and isolating times. For all those missing a time when we could hug, or with a first-responder family member on the front lines, we created this video is for you!

This new ADF virtual dance video festival was called The World is Our Stage: 60-Second Video Dance Challenge and sponsored by The Forest at Duke.

All videos were reposted together over the weekend of June 13-14 and audiences had the chance to vote for the most creative and engaging work. The three videos with the highest number of votes received awards. We were honored to place Third receiving a $250 honorarium, 10 hours of studio time, two tickets to a 2021 ADF performance and an opportunity to have our video screened during the 2021 festival.

We were absolutely honored by everyone’s support and by all of the incredible artists that came together to create and share their work! Congratulations to all!

All of the collaborators on our film collectively decided to donate our award to COVID-19 QTIPOC Survival Fund for our most vulnerable queer, Two-Spirit, transgender, and gender ​non-conforming community members. All money goes directly to Black / Brown / Latinx / Indigenous recipients who hold many marginalized identities and are fighting to pay for basic human needs (like food + shelter) during this pandemic. For more information visit: tinyurl.com/qtipocfund

We were excited to share that our film BOUND was also selected for the JUNE 2020 FilmFest by Rogue Dancer: OUtBreaK Edition.

I am so grateful to our team of collaborators for this special project including an original score by Sand Pact, Videography by Palani Mohan, Costumes by Stephanie Sevilla, Editing and Choreography by ShaLeigh Comerford, and Performance by Jam Niel Delgado Castro, Isabelle Frame, Hannah Nicole Marr, Steven James Rodriguez Velez.