Direction Highlights
Hello, thank you for watching! This is an overview of my major collaborative art direction projects 2022-2024.
To learn more about the projects shown here, visit these links:
Hello, thank you for watching! This is an overview of my major collaborative art direction projects 2022-2024.
To learn more about the projects shown here, visit these links:
Afterlives: An Album of Interviews, Poetry, Music, Dance, and Nature
For more information about Afterlives
Director/Producer/Interviewer: Lily Selthofner
Cinematography by Charlie Caestecker, Noah Hanson, Julia Haynes, and Lily Selthofner
Editing by Lily Selthofner and Ray Baker
Music by Rory Bricca, Noah Hanson, Daniel Weitz, Austin Krentz, Maria Shaughnessy, and Soul Online
Poetry by Jessa Faye Moverman and Lily Selthofner
Poetic Narration by Ray Londowski, Desi Kreminlieva, Eric Butler, and Lily Selthofner
Dancing by Lily Selthofner, Kai Nakayama, and John Trunfio
Visual Art by Ray Atlas
Interviewees: The People of Washington Square Park, Al and Lisa Baker, Leslie Polk, Eric Butler, Lauren Calvin, Josh Selthofner, Elizabeth Lee, Dylan Blue, Katherine Francis, Jessa Faye Moverman, Julia Haynes, Noah Hanson, More Sounds by Tomentum+
Acqua Alta: Show Description, Cast List, Poster
Acqua Alta show program booklet
Director, Choreographer, Dancer, Writer: Lily Selthofner
in collaboration with the cast
Dancers:
Adara Allen
Marissa Caldera
Nina Kulkarni
Lynn Wilcox
Dancer and Singer: Maddy Manning-Bi
Dancer and Narrator: Moksha Akil
Cellist and Guitarist: Daniel Weitz
Narrator: Eric Butler
Composer and Pianist: Rory Bricca
Composer and Musician: Jane Meenaghan
Singer and Musician: Makae Brieschke
Lighting: Isabelle Cowen, Sophia Ling
Costuming: Lily Selthofner, Adara Allen, Barnard Costume Closet
Venezia Scalzo film credits
Director, Dancer, Poet, Voice, Editor:
Lily Selthofner
Cinematographer: Anna Kasun
Composer and Pianist: Rory Bricca
Makae Brieshke – Vocal Composer and Singer
Special Thanks to Elizabeth Leake
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This project was made as a part of the Student Artist in Residence program of the Movement Lab in the Milstein Center of Barnard College
Acqua Alta is an interdisciplinary experimental performance art piece that wades through the waters of Venice, Italy, featuring a cast of eight student performers. Acqua Alta uses live ballet and contemporary dance, with live cello, opera in Italian and English, and spoken word accompaniment, as well as film, text, and visual arts, to bring contingent narrative vignettes into a labyrinth flow. Venice’s waters suffuse and lull as a linguistic, corporeal, and reflective motif: mortal and eternal, void and full, mundane and sacred, beautiful and putrid. Desire is mechanized as the decadent pain of acceptance — surrounded by undrinkable water, yet still finding solace and nourishment in the grandiosity of the everyday. Intimate and oceanic, Acqua Alta winds through Venetian canals, provokingly juxtaposed forms, emotions, and experiments of truth.
Ultimate Catharsis combines contemporary dance, original music, and multimedia elements in an evening-length performance exploring themes of personal, artistic, social, and collective transformation. Through innovative integration of movement, text, and technology, the work creates space for meaningful reflection while celebrating resilience and community. Featuring fifteen artists including dancers, musicians, and performers, the piece demonstrates the power of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing complex contemporary themes.
Ultimate Catharsis 1
Created and Directed by Lily Selthofner
Edited Show Recording
Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30, 2024 in the Movement Lab at Barnard College – ninety minutes
Cast
Lily Selthofner – Creator/Director, Actor/Narrator, Dancer, Singer
Justine Dugger-Ades- Actor/Narrator and Dancer
Desislava Kremenlieva – Actor/Narrator and Dancer
Adara Allen – Dancer
Nadia Benes – Dancer
Marissa Caldera – Dancer
Asia Gross – Dancer
Eirik Peterson – Dancer
Daniel Weitz- Cellist and Singer
Maria Shaughnessy- Harpist
Justin Shaw – Guitarist
Ray Baker – Drummer
Izzy Pacenza – Saxophonist
Featured Audio:
Rory Bricca – Composer/Pianist
Jane Meenaghan- Composer/Instrumentalist
Sophia Ling – Lighting Design
Shannon Binns – Lighting, Sound, and Projection Operation, Photographer
Time Stamps:
0:00 – Intro – Opening Pointe Solo (Lily)
3:58 – 8th Dimension: Poem and Dance
5:08 – Love Poem for a Flower: Monologue and Pointe Solos
6:48 – Science 1 (Astrology Monologue – 4/8/12 Houses)
9:45 – Portals (poem/dance)
11:50 – Anon 1 (poem)
13:04– Improvised Dance Solos
21:30 – The Story of How I was Born (TW)
23:53 – I am My Own Eyes / To the Creatures of the Earth – poems
26:33 – Water and Ducks: Choreographed Ballet Pointe Quartet
34:34 – Gestural Improvised Solo
35:37 – Hospital 1: Catharsis of contemporary issues (TW)
39:07– Love Poem for Time – Poem and Dance
42:40 – 8th House – Poem and Dance
43:51 – Skeleton: Choreographed Contemporary Quartet
48:12 – Intermission
48:27 – Redemption? On the Science of Storytelling (TW)
50:10 – Hospital 2: On Relational Violence (TW)
53:42 – Noise Section: On Infidelity (TW)
55:26 – Noise Section 2: On Emotional Abuse (TW)
56:56 – Hospital 3: ‘Emotional Catharsis’ (TW)
58:20 – Don’t Forget You’re Precious (Song by Alabaster Deplume)
59:52 – Eclipse Solo (Lily) (Song – Before the Beginning by John Frusciante)
1:04:52 – Dinosaur Section
1:05:50 – Versace on the Floor (Song by Bruno Mars)
1:08:24 – Following the String of Soul Map (Yearning/Yarning) – Dance
1:11:16 – Open – Palm Lines: Poem and Dance
1:12:22 – On Healing – Poem and Dance
1:12:51 – On Evil – Poem and Dance
1:13:39 – On Darkness – Poem and Dance
1:14:34 – Choreographed Modern Quartet – Strings
1:20:13 – Be Nice to People – Dance Duet (song by Alabaster DePlume)
1:21:30 – On Forgiveness, Love, Freedom, and Letting Go – Poetry and Dance
1:23:52 – On God: Talking to the Moon (Song by Bruno Mars)
1:26:23 – Love Poem for a Tree
1:28:13 – On Loss and Values – Poetry and Dance
1:29:32 – Tableau Vivant – Dance
1:31:43 – The Key, Bows