For our world mourning so many beautiful lives lost, clinging to love…

‘By Cut Or Caress’ is a dance film that investigates the dynamic between a person, their grief, and the messages they are given that tell them what they should do with their grief. The film features two actors, Madison Hilligoss (myself), and Dario Natarelli, dancing a soft-shoe.

While reflecting on recent losses in my family/community and simultaneously witnessing the massive loss of life on a global scale throughout this past year, I’ve spent a lot of my time writing and thinking about loss and love and the complicated, inevitable dance they do in my psyche and in the collective psyche of our society. In addition to my own writing, I’ve been collecting an amalgamation of related lines from poetry, books, and music, that have burrowed their way into my thoughts and stuck with me by way of inspiration, contradiction, comfort, or curiosity. This film features thirty-two members of my community: friends, family, and peers, voicing some of my writing and the mosaic of literary references that came out of this period of reflection.

Following this project through from conception to fruition: writing, recording and collecting voiceovers, choreographing, rehearsing, planning for production, assembling a team, shooting the film, designing the soundscape, revising and editing… has been a large creative, emotional, logistical, and financial undertaking—one which I have received with great preparedness, urgency, and excitement. And one that would not be possible without the support of my community and my incredible collaborators.

I am very grateful and privileged to be working with a small team of wildly talented and generous people—most notably: my duet partner, Dario Natarelli; cinematographer, Jenna Maslechko; and associate director, Sophia Rizzuto.

We are now in post-production, in the final stretch of realizing this film, but before we are able to share it with the public I am seeking additional financial support so that I can provide the highest quality product, ensure all of the artists involved are paid well for their work, and so that this seedling of an idea can grow beyond this fleeting moment and have a more expansive reach in festivals, showings, etc.

I would be so grateful for your support, of any size. And look forward to sharing this work with you very soon!

With gratitude,

Madison Hilligoss (Creator of ‘By Cut or Caress’)