Dance Like Everyone’s Watching!

Process · Performing & directing

Learning the film from the inside

I was not only behind the movement but inside the film as a performer — learning what it feels like to be directed, to repeat a take, and to understand a project’s emotional tone through the body rather than through explanation.

The two performers had very different physical qualities, and rather than hiding those differences the choreography used them. The monumental courthouse made the intimacy feel exposed — a contrast that is at once funny and sincere.

Artist Statement

Reflection

Dance Like Everyone’s Watching! is a collaborative 16mm film made in RISD’s Film Practices course in Fall 2023. Shot on a Bolex in front of the Providence courthouse, the project explores intimacy, movement, awkwardness, and trust through a coordinated dance between two men, myself and actor Alec Figuración. What begins as a physical exercise becomes a small narrative about vulnerability.

The film centers on two performers with different physical qualities and expressive styles. Rather than hiding those differences, the film uses them as part of the choreography. The performers move step by step, circle one another, come together, touch, embrace, and eventually separate — an intimate hug, a leap of faith, a fall, and a close attention to the feet.

This project was especially important because I was not only behind the idea of the movement, but also inside the film as an actor. I learned what it feels like to be directed, to receive feedback, to repeat a take, and to understand the emotional tone of a project through the body rather than through explanation.

The project also taught me that casting is about finding people open to the vulnerability a project requires. The original casting shifted when one participant became uncomfortable performing, and I stepped into the role myself — which transformed the piece into a more intimate film between two male performers, carrying a queer-coded tenderness that came from the situation, the bodies, and the choreography.

Dance Like Everyone’s Watching! taught me that cinema can be built from small gestures: a touch, a stumble, a leap, a footstep, a hesitant embrace. It reflects my interest in performance, vulnerability, public space, and the emotional power of bodies moving together.