"Dark Night Cold Ground"
ABOUT THE FILM
Set to the recording of “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” by Blind Willie Johnson, this short dance film explores the contradictory stereotypes of black men: masculinity, vulnerability, ignorance, aggression and sexuality.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
MARCUS JARRELL WILLIS (Dancer)
Marcus Jarrell Willis has performed with RIOULT, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Tania Pérez-Salas Compañía de Danza and Ailey II. Willis performed with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 2008-2016 traveling around the world performing, teaching numerous masterclasses and participating through Outreach in various communities both locally and abroad. Willis is a YoungArts Level 1 award recipient and Presidential Scholar Nominee.
Willis has presented choreographic work in the 2009 TDDC Contemporary Dance Festival in NYC, The Ailey Dancer's Resource Fund performances, The Dance Gallery Festival, The Moving Beauty Series and Gdánsk Festival Tańca in Poland. Commissions include creations for Ailey II, TU Dance, NY Choreographic Institute, with dancers of New York City Ballet, Company Danzante, Ballet Cymru 2, The Juilliard School, SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, The Ailey School, University of Minnesota, Lucia Marthas Institute for the Performing Arts, Rubicon Dance, COCA, Satellite Collective, The Dance Gallery Festival Level Up Commission in 2013 and The 92nd Y Dance Introduction Series, among others. Willis is the Founder of MJ Willis Project-Inc, a performance collaborative, which made its debut in Wales in 2017, premiering "My Brother, Dear Sister”. He was named Best Choreographer for TU Dance creation, Sensible Existence in City Pages 2018 Best of the Twin Cities. Willis was the 2018/19 Leverhulme Choreography Fellow at Rambert Dance in London, during which time he completed the evening length solo creation POM/POM, Portrait of Man/Pieces of Me and created work with selected dancers of Rambert 2. Currently, he is in process with the collaborative creation of a new evening length duet, The Sanctuary, set to join the roster of a growing repertoire for MJ Willis Project-Inc.
SHAUN CLARKE (Director / Editor)
Shaun Clarke is a filmmaker based in Boston, MA. His dance films explore ways that movement can be transformed through the tools of the cinema.His work has screened at numerous film festivals nationally and internationally, and has been recognized and awarded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the University Film and Video Association, Mosesian Center for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Shaun received a B.F.A. from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and an M.F.A. from Emerson College. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Digital and Film Production at Emerson College.