IMPRINTED captures an extraordinary occurrence: the co-creation of a choreographic language between three dancers, two mares and their newborn foals. Just before COVID descended the Equus Projects was presented with a unique opportunity: To work with the newborn foals of two mares that have been our dance partners and mainstay of our equine ground skills training; To imprint Equus dancers on the f
oals at birth and explore uncharted dance-making and equine training territory, under the guidance of seasoned natural horsemanship trainers. IMPRINTED documents the gradual co-creation of a shared movement language between dancers and foals, as the horses teach humans to be better physical listeners and more effective communicators. The Equus Projects dancers merge improvisation with natural horsemanship in a somatic practice of heightened physical listening. Their human-equine dancing transforms behavior into shared language and play into choreography. Shot over seven months, Imprinted follows the dancers’ grounds skills training as they build trust with the pregnant mares and captures the dancers imprinting on the foals at birth. Filmmaker and equestrian Stefan Morel will capture the intimacy of the shared movement co-created between equines and dancers in a story that reveals how deeply animals can inform and deepen our global interconnectedness. This is a story about listening, compassion and inter-species communication - themes that have powerful resonance in 2021, as the world emerges from a devastating pandemic. Humans must discover how to connect beyond 24/7 news feeds and invest in our capacity for non-verbal, physical listening. We'd love if you followed our page, take a look at our website, and consider donating. Contact us at [email protected]
CAST + CREW:
Director / Cinematographer: Stefan Morel
Equus Projects Artistic Director: JoAnna Mendl Shaw
Production Director: Martina Casas
IMPRINTED Equine Director: Carrie Christiansen
Equus Projects Dancer: Kat Reese
Equus Projects Dancer: Clement Mensah
IMPRINTED Sound: Joe Cunningham
IMPRINTED 2nd Camera: Stephen Hicken
The Equus Projects is a dance company whose performances and somatic practice of Physical Listening explores the possibilities for interspecies communication. Spring 2021, three Equus dancers imprint on two newborn foals and embark on an ambitious experiment: The dancers have been training with the pregnant mares for several years and throughout their pregnancy. Can they merge their dance improvisation skills with their Natural Horsemanship training to find create a non-verbal language with these foals? The implications of this experiment reach beyond dancing or horsemanship. How can humans learn to be far more effective non-verbal communicators and how do those lessons inform our capacity for more compassionate human communication. The Equus Projects has been taking its Physical Listening into university dance departments corporate leadership trainings and elementary school social emotional learning programs. Their work expands the definition of how movement defines relational intelligence and brings new strategies into the equine-human dialogue. The Documentary Film captures two newborn foal’s first moments of life, their bonding with three dancers and the genesis of an interspecies language. As we follow the dancers training with the pregnant mares, we witness three accomplished dance artists navigating steep learning curves, their listening and leadership skills put to the test. Horses will test our leadership, sometimes aggressively. This is not personal. Horses test each other in the herd. In the wild, their survival dependent on strong leadership. A horse’s human partner must be assertive, vigilant, at times gentle and at other times forceful, always truthful. For humans staying utterly truthful can be challenging. We all carry the imprint of our histories. As we mature, we become masterful at keeping the more challenging imprints – the small hurts, moral injuries, injustices - well hidden, or at least camouflaged. The domesticated horse has developed keen abilities to sense incongruent behavior, well-guarded secrets. In their presence we are accountable. Their survival depends on the best intentions of their human owners.
