About the Director

Michelle Mahrer is an award winning filmmaker with a dance background, who specialises in films about dance and spirituality encompassing documentaries and short films. Her most well known documentaries are DANCES OF ECSTASY, a sensory journey into the world of ecstasy experienced through dance and rhythm, and KURTAL – SNAKE SPIRIT, which follows the journey of Aboriginal elder Spider Snell and his family back to their traditional lands. Other television documentaries include URBAN CLAN a portrait of the Bangarra dance theatre, THE BLACK SWAN a portrait of choreographer Meryl Tankard and THE THREE BALLERINAS a portrait of stars of the Australian ballerinas Lucette Aldous, Marilyn Jones and Marilyn Rowe.

Michelle Mahrer began her career directing award winning music videos in New York where she was based for 8 years and worked with several well known artists such as Jo Cocker, Grace Jones, and Michelle Shocked. Here she met ecstatic dance pioneer Gabrielle Roth who commissioned several teaching videos of her pioneering movement meditation work called 5Rhythms dance.

Her early films explored the genre of Dance Film – short films using dance specifically choreographed for the screen. These featured collaborations with Australian choreographers including DVOID a collaboration with Gravity Feed performance group, XIDU a dance film about rhythm, HORIZON featuring the work of choreographer Eva Karczag, and RIVER WOMAN, a collaboration with indigenous choreographer Bernadette Walong.  Michelle is passionate about making films that uplift humanity and enhance our quality of life. She is also a Dance therapist and 5Rhythms Dance teacher working with dance as a healing tool. She leads a vibrant dance community in Sydney called RadianceDance5Rhythms.

www.michellemahrerfilms.com

www.michellemahrerdance.com