Dance Digital
– Sadler’s Wells Commissioned Shorts + Q&A with Emma Critchley & Maya Carroll
Screen South presents a special one-off screening of six newly commissioned dance films from Sadler’s Wells’ Dance Digital, a festival celebrating dance on screen for dance fans, film lovers and the dance-curious.
Emma Critchley, Maya Carroll & Liam Francis • Emma Farnell-Watson, Kieran Lai & Joe Connor • Laura Steiner • Folu Odimayo • Mythili Prakash & Pratyusha Gupta • Jordan Chandler & Ekleido.
Bringing together artists from the UK, Colombia, India and the USA, the programme explores how choreography, camera, body and place can open up new ways of experiencing movement.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Emma Critchley, and dancer/choreographer Maya Carroll, Screen South Showcase Artists 2025-6.
Booking info
Tickets £5 are via the Creative Folkestone website. Please email info@screensouth.org if you wish us to notify you when tickets go live.
Please get in touch using the email address above if you have queries or access needs.
Further info
HOLD (UK).
Two strangers navigate a submerged landscape and share a remnant from a lost world. A film by Emma Critchley, Maya Carroll and Liam Francis.
Aṁṁonia (UK)
Inspired by Pina Bausch, two hotel cleaners begin to imagine and embody the lives of the guests whose rooms they clean. A film by Emma Farnell-Watson, Kieran Lai and Joe Connor.
Más Glow (Colombia)
Acrylic nails, pink glow and shifting gestures power a defiant celebration of women breaking beauty’s rules together. A film by Laura Steiner.
The Lions Are Coming (UK)
Set in a decaying nightclub, three individuals are trapped in the aftermath of an invasion by land-hungry dogs. A film by Folu Odimayo.
Mollika (India/USA)
A reflection on time, the dancing body and intergenerational relationships. A film by Mythili Prakash and Pratyusha Gupta.
Nepenthe (UK)
Dancers revisit childhood memories, exploring domestic spaces and intimate movement as they reflect on their personal journeys into dance. A film by Jordan Chandler and Ekleido.
Dance Digital attendees might also be interested in participating in Sea Change, a workshop for filmmakers, artists and performers exploring dance for camera led by Emma Critchley and Maya Carroll. Click here to find out more.
About Emma Critchley & Maya Carroll
Emma Critchley is an artist working across photography, film, sound and installation. Her practice explores the human relationship with the underwater environment as a political, philosophical and environmental space.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including with organisations such as the Venice Architecture Biennale, National Maritime Museum, British Council, Jerwood Foundation and others. She is a Royal College of Art alumna and has co-produced and presented programmes for BBC Radio 4.
Emma’s recent work includes Soundings, a three-screen film installation exploring deep-sea mining, ocean governance and our relationship with the deep ocean. The project combines film, sound, dance, deep-sea imagery and public engagement, and has toured with solo presentations including John Hansard Gallery, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts as part of Brighton Festival, Tate St Ives and Quay Arts.
Her Sadler’s Wells Dance Digital commissioned film HOLD, made with Maya Carroll and Liam Francis, continues her long-standing exploration of underwater environments, movement and the body on screen.
Maya Carroll is a contemporary dance artist, choreographer and performer.
Maya graduated from Northern School of Contemporary Dance in 2019, gaining a first-class BPA (Hons) degree and a distinction for her MA with the postgraduate performance company VERVE.
Maya’s work spans performing, choreography, teaching, rehearsal direction, and movement direction. She has collaborated with a wide range of artists and companies including Lost Dog Dance, Extended Play Dance, Matthew Robinson and Liam Francis. In 2023 and 2024, Maya was a guest dancer with National Dance Company Wales, performing work my Marcos Morau and SAY Dance. Maya has been developing her work as a movement director with director and writer Andrea Heaton, and for the past two years she has worked in close collaboration with artist Emma Critchley on her project, Soundings, with the choreographic support of Siobhan Davies.
Her practice brings together performance, improvisation, choreographic research and imaginative approaches to movement, with a particular interest in how bodies respond to environment, image and sensation.
