Danielle Mackenzie Long, a queer emerging contemporary dance artist and self-taught filmmaker, resides on the stolen and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (Vancouver). Captivated by the ideas of childhood memories, her upbringing in the Okanagan has greatly contributed to her fascination with exploring identity and perception of self. She currently studies at Modus Operandi Contemporary Dance Program under the direction of Tiffany Tregarthen, David Raymond, and Kate Franklin, where she will graduate in June 2021. As an independent artist, Danielle frequently collaborates with Oksana Augustine. Her past film works have been presented at Screen:Moves (Toronto), in which she had the privilege of being a commissioned artist, as well as F-O-R-M (Vancouver).
Artist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniellemckz
Artist Statement
Movement expressed through film allows me to communicate most freely and expand my self-awareness, while exploring my thoughts and questioning my reality. My work reflects on the past and utilizes my recalling of it to guide me through the present. In order to understand myself I nostalgically reflect on my childhood. I draw from the memories of my youth, as well as fantastical images to help transport me to the various emotional worlds and physical territories I desire to escape to. How do we allow ourselves to be seen? How does identity change in relation to time? How is the perception of self manipulated by society? Observation pushes me to discover gaps that need investigation and areas I wish to explore in more depth. I am influenced by my appreciation of the mundane physical moments I witness and experience in my everyday world. The ability film has of capturing those moments and reshaping them by manipulating time and perspective fascinates me. Pursuing the marriage of movement and film inside traditional and nontraditional formats informs every aspect of who I am and, I believe, who I will become.