IMAGINAL CELLS
Imaginal Cells is an evolution of 2022’s The Colour of Transformation documentary and artist’s film.
Commissioned and supported by Digital Black Dance Ecologies, a research project led by Dr Tia-Monique Uzor, Bryony Ella worked with digital artists, a professional choreographer and movement practitioners to explore alternative modes of expressing intimate physiological and psychological processes of change, inspired by the cellular processes involved in metamorphosis.
The resulting short film considers the body as a landscape. Describing the power of imaginal cells within the context of metamorphosis, it expresses the potential within each of us to activate radical new ways of understanding ourselves as nature, connecting with inherited ancestral wisdoms and tuning into intuitive, more-than-human perspectives and knowledge-systems.
Imaginal Cells was first exhibited at the Royal Geographical Society AGM.
Production Credits:
Director: Bryony Ella
Choreographer and Producer: Antoine Marc
Dancer: Chevon Edwards
Production Studio: Milkit Studio
Digital Visual Artist: Kyle Reseigh
Cinematography: Michele Cadei
Music: Bumi Thomas, Orphy Robinson
Costume Designer: Ingrid Hu
Imaginal Cells was commissioned by Digital Black Dance Ecologies in collaboration with the Royal Geographical Society. It was funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council.
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commissioner
Digital Black Dance Ecologies is AHRC funded project led by Dr Tia-Monique Uzor. It is an interdisciplinary network that foregrounds Africanist dance across digital performance art, with a focus on centring the embodied epistemologies of digital Black dance across the intersections of social and environmental injustice. In this, the project aims to build knowledge across Black geographies and disciplines.
The three strands of the project cover academic collaboration and exploration through laboratories and conference sharing, artistic development for established artists to build work around the themes of the project, and early-career/PhD mentorship with workshops and mentoring for those newer to the academic sphere.
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Choreographer
Antoine Marc is a multi award-winning director and producer, working internationally on shows and films, developing innovative methodologies and bringing creative consultancy to new productions, from development to completion.
In 2016, he received the Cannes Global Film Awards at the Red Carpet and Fashion event for Best Music and Best Dance Film. Additionally, he was nominated Best Choreographer at the International Achievement Recognition Awards.
Movement artistry has led him to work with established brands and organisations such as BBC, Royal Opera House, Olympic Ceremonies, Canadian Opera Company, LG, Virgin Active, Playstation, Russell Athletics, Sony.
Antoine is the Director at Arts & Movements Ltd, a creative supplier providing world-class creatives and artists.
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Performer
Chevon Edwards is a professional contemporary dance practitioner who has collaborated with organisations such as Theatre Bristol, Impermanence, and East London Dance.
She has performed with companies like Tavaziva Dance and Earthbound Dance Theatre, while also developing her own work through film and live performance. Chevon achieved a Distinction in Dance Research (MA) from Rambert School.
Her practice explores social dynamics, somatic movement, and embodied responses to trauma and identity. She integrates therapeutic techniques and audience participation, focusing on intuitive, experiential performance and self-evolution.