Started in 2021 initially via a commission from the Pivot Arts Festival, The Real Dance is a short film series that approaches contemporary dancemaking through a low-stakes, high-investment aesthetic & entertainment lens, focusing on the daily lives, dramas, and backstories of people who make dance. The Real Dance has been co-directed by Nora Sharp and Grace McCants since 2022.

Season 1 (2021-2022) featured Christina Chammas, Jenn Freeman | Po'Chop, Irene Hsiao, Dorian Vanunu, and co-directors Grace and Nora themselves. Season 2, which premiered in late 2024 at FACETS Chicago, featured Alison Kopit, Lichen Bouboushian, and Tuli + Tithi Bera. Lead cinematography for both seasons is by Bea Cabrera, Sydney Sullivan, and Spence Warren, with Sydney Sullivan on lead editing support.

Watch Season 1 below & look out for future opportunities to watch Season 2.

The Real Dance has been supported by Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Pivot Arts Festival. Streaming contracts include SIDE STREET TV and Open Television | OTV. Regional and national festival screenings of individual episodes include Midwest RAD Fest, Elevate Chicago Dance, IN/MOTION Dance Film Festival, and internationally at the Inspired Dance Film Festival (AUS) and Dance Camera Istanbul.

Season 1 Episode 2 (2022)

Episode 2 follows the process of Nora Sharp & Grace McCants creating a new dance duet that explores codependence and interdependence at the intersection of relationships and artmaking.

Co-directed, co-created, & co-edited by Grace McCants & Nora Sharp

Cinematography by Bea Cabrera, Sydney Sullivan, and Spence Warren

Assistant editor: Sydney Sullivan

Audio description pending, in collaboration with Victor Cole

Soundtrack: Yuri; Gloria Ann Taylor w/ writers Ben Raleigh & David Linden (Courtesy of Ubiquity Recordings, Inc., Wise Brothers Music LLC ASCAP, & Wixen Music Publishing obo Rawlou Music BMI. All Rights Reserved)

Premiered at the Pivot Arts Festival + IN/MOTION Dance Film Festival 2022, additional screening at Elevate Chicago Dance 2022, Midwest RAD Fest 2023, Inspired Dance Film Festival (AUS) 2024, and Dance Camera Istanbul (2024).

This project is partially supported by an Individual Artists Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, as well as a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Season 1 Episode 1 (2021)

Episode 1, for which the series title was chosen, follows 5 movement performers through their creative process over the course of 1 month. This is the true story of five dancers, forced to live in their houses, dance (mostly) alone, and have their improvisations taped, to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start moving for real.

Starring Christina Chammas, Jenn Freeman | Po’Chop, Irene Hsiao, and Dorian Vanunu

Directed, edited by, & co-starring Nora Sharp

Original score: Dorian Vanunu

Assistant editor: Sydney Sullivan

Cinematography by the cast & Sydney Sullivan

Commissioned by & premiered via the Pivot Arts Festival 2021

Screened at Midwest RAD Fest 2022

This project is partially supported by an Individual Artists Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, as well as a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.