This work began in the late 1980s, created while I was completing my Video Art & Multimedia degree at the University of Iowa. Using early video tools, I slowed, layered, and dissected ballet footage until recognizable choreography gave way to color, rhythm, and motion alone.

At the time, the pieces were intentionally silent. I was interested in how far movement could be stripped down before it stopped reading as dance and became something closer to memory or trace.

Decades later, I’ve revisited the work and added a new soundtrack. The music doesn’t attempt to restore what was lost. Instead, it opens space around the images, allowing them to exist again in a different temporal and emotional register.

This version isn’t a restoration.
It’s a continuation.

Video direction & editing: John Gerstner
Music composed with Suno

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