BETWEEN SILENCES: A Dance Film and Conversation on Grief

From May 22nd through 28th, artist/choreographer Ali Kenner Brodsky is making available her award-winning dance short film, between silences. Before our COVID19 closure, SPACE was anticipating the world-premiere of Brodsky’s latest, MoMents of Nice, an evening-length work that explored memory, loss, and love through a series of eight vignettes. Her short film, between silences is based on one of those vignettes, the most depressing piece…

Then on May 28th, join us for a conversation with Brodsky, SPACE Executive Director, Kelsey Halliday Johnson, and Little Death podcast host and Bare Portland performance artist, JJ Peeler. Via Zoom, they will discuss artistic responses to death and dying and the new frontier of grief at this moment.

Made possible with generous support from a the New England Foundation for the Arts NEST Touring Grant.

About the film: Filmed on location on Cape Cod, between silences is a dance film based on Ali Kenner Brodsky’s solo, “the most depressing piece.” Together with filmmaker Rich Ferri and musician, MorganEve Swain, Kenner Brodsky transforms her live solo into a raw, unfiltered cinematic experience. between silences portrays one woman’s journey through grief. To love. To lose. To grieve. To find my way back.

between silences was awarded Best Dance Film Short at the Jacksonville Dance Film Festival, FL; Best Cinematography at the Portland (OR) Dance Film; 2nd place for Musical Score at the Utah Dance Film Festival; and was a Finalist at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. 

About the artist:

Ali Kenner Brodsky, artistic director of ali kenner brodsky & co., makes gesturally rich and emotionally driven dance-theater works. She was a 2019 artist-in-residence at the Croft: Ground for Art, a 2018-19 Catalysts artist at the Dance Complex, 2016 Emerging Choreographer in Residence at Bates Dance Festival and 2014 recipient of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Choreography Fellowship. In 2003–04 she was an artist-in-residence at The Joyce SoHo. She has received NEFA’s New England States Touring and Dance Fund grants.

Kenner Brodsky’s work has been performed at Joyce SoHo, Puffin Room, DanceNow Festivals, Dance Space, WAX, Dixon Place, Judson Church and Dumbo Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, Wilbury Theater Group, Dance Complex, AS220, Jamestown Arts Center, Great Friends Festival, Provincetown Dance Festival, Massachusetts Dance Festival, Southern Vermont Dance Festival and Dance for Peace. She has designed award-winning movement for The Wilbury Theater Group (Providence), and served as rehearsal director for and danced with the national touring company Lostwax Multimedia Dance from 2012–15. She has performed with Andy Russ, Jessica Howard, Rose Pasquarello-Beauchamp, Betsy Miller Dance Projects, Emma Hogarth and 83 paperbirds-moving lab.

JJ Peeler is a performance maker and healthcare worker living in Portland, Maine. Her performance work is related to the intersections of science, education, grief, and movement. Her work typically features collaborations across disciplines. JJ is a member of Bare Portland, a site-specific performance collaborative. JJ is the co-host of The Little Death, a podcast about death and dying. You can listen wherever you listen to podcasts. JJ is also pursuing a Masters in Nursing to become a Family Nurse Practitioner. JJ is passionate about the health concerns related to older adults, palliative care, reproductive health and justice, and arts integration in healthcare. 

MorganEve Swain has spent the past two decades playing music in studios, bars, venues, festivals, and homes. Based in New England,  she’s driven all over the US in a 12-passenger van, lived on tour busses, and flown overseas to perform in Brazil and Europe. She currently fronts The Huntress and Holder of Hands, works as a violin technician, and collaborates with several musicians, writers, and choreographers on various projects. She also loves dogs.