Cydney Ellis in NPAFE’s words…

…The answer when you ask Cydney Ellis what really counts for her? “To show people how they can be themselves. To show dancers how they can express themselves. Not the way others want them to. No, the way they want to do it.”

Day Shoot in London ©Mike Cooper

…And you are spot on if, in those words, you detect a fierce streak of independence and self-determination in this UK-based up-and-coming dance creator. Together with her nonstop drive and creativity, her words say so much about how and why she works with intensity to transform her innermost thoughts into captivating dance movement. Dance movement that has already excited thousands of viewers lucky enough to have seen her perform live and the thousands more who have watched her digital dance works.

…Cydney is forthright in her pride of her “fiercely independent” mom and how her mom’s independent streak imbued her own quiet yet stunningly real self-confidence. Indeed, you can see and feel Cydney’s impressive sense-of-self as her anchor for combining her own education, in classical ballet and training in contemporary dance, with her hands-on fascination with digital technology.

…The result? Cydney’s captivating and one-of-a-kind intimate story-telling-by-dance, with not a word spoken. Her audience gets to feel, not just see, how the right mix of original choreography, improv, rehearsed movement and digital technology can be used, even in 2D video, to immerse audiences in the sensual emotion of dance. Especially audiences who rarely if ever have the chance to see high-end original contemporary dance performed live on stage.

Cydney Ellis (r) leading movement R&D at London’s Rambert School, December 2024 ©Andy Clist

…Audiences usually don’t get to see that part of Cydney’s nonstop inner drive to break past the boundaries that define how a dancer moves. Or how a dancer should move. Or even how a dancer wants to move.

…For, this elegant dance thinker as much as dance doer is among that relatively handful of patient creators anywhere who give meaning to the concept of contemporary dance research and development, exploring with dancers how one might want to translate a moment of imagination and emotion into movement without trying to conform to a choreographic or performance end.

…Cydney’s approach to dance R&D has proven to make the experience more personable for the dancer resulting in an impactful way of creating and performing, forming works that are easier for both the dancer and audience to connect to. Read that as Cydney engineered R&D as an end in and of itself, original moments of dance movement borne as much of mind as body.

…It’s one thing to choreograph, another to perform dance, and yet another to succeed in visually and digitally capturing whatever it is that a creator wants audiences to experience. Creative thinking is not enough. Real success requires concentrated teamwork if the end-product – what the rest of us get to see and feel – is to knock on the door of excellence.

…from Cydney Ellis’ “Altered Viewpoints”

…Cydney knows how to manage it all, to select the right people, the right place, the right time, to make all of that magic happen. Her “Altered Viewpoints”, which you can watch below, points not only to her skills as choreographer and dancer but also to her refined production instincts.

…The instincts for choosing the right people to help define location. The instincts to select the right time of day or night. The instincts to tell the right story, to capture the nuance of her own choreographic prescriptions, and to offer us actual movement that keeps us glued to the screen.

…Add to that the deftness of post-production editing that she demands, and you realize at last how Cydney wants her imagineering brought forward for the viewer not just to see but to sense, to witness, to feel, to be carried to their own intimate sense of self. Whether on stage or screen.

from Cyney Ellis’ “A Night In Brighton”

…For sure you are in luck if you are in the same space when Cydney Ellis is performing live. But just as much in luck when you see the end product of her own fascination with defining how best to exploit technology to bring dance – her dance and others’ – to audiences.

…Her latest, “A Night In Brighton” itself an absorbing digital production of powerful creative collaboration with UK filmmaker and cinematographer Lucas Fisher-Horas, is proof positive of how a genius actually conceives of and creates the best of the best.

…Watch “A Night In Brighton” and more right here, and you will see it for yourself. Go to her Instagram, her website, her YouTube. Pay close attention. You want to see it all.

• • Cydney Ellis’s website, her Instagram,  and her YouTube channel
  • Follow these links to find out more about NPAFE, AAlchemy, and AAlchemy Online’s immersive dance videos.