Simulation
Reclaiming the sacred love of dancing
Directed by Heather Lang & Purdie Baumann
Simulation expresses the deep love for dance, community, nature, and the joy of coming together. Co-directed by longtime friends and performers Heather Lang and Purdie Baumann, their short film captures the unique expression found within dance, creating a visually captivating video that explores this connection and the creative process itself.
Born from a shared history that stretches back to their teenage years in Chicago and shaped by their journey through New York’s performance scene, Simulation emerged as both a celebration and a reclamation: of the sacredness of dance, of the body’s wisdom, and of the collaborative spirit that fuels meaningful art.
In this Q&A, Heather opens up about the origins of the project, her evolving relationship with dance, and how a Zumba class in a neighbourhood park reignited something essential.
Simulation captures the connection between movement, nature, and community. What inspired you and co-director Purdie Baumann to explore this theme of reclaiming the sacred love of dancing?
Purdie and I met when we were teenagers in Chicago. We both moved to NYC when we were 18 to pursue performing. We have this amazing shared history and deep friendship that encompasses a lot of love and delight in dance and fashion.
Purdie has always had an entrepreneurial spirit and years back started one of her many businesses named Purdie Entertainment. A huge branch of that endeavor is a dance company named the Sarafinas. At one point, she asked me if I would like to choreograph something for one of the Sarafinas workshops. Of course, I said yes. When we were shooting the material for social media, we both looked at each other and felt this was something more. We immediately had a meeting and started to brainstorm what fashion designers we knew. I could see the entire thing in my head and I began writing, mood boarding, and story boarding.
I’ve had a really tumultuous relationship with dance. A lot of the time, it hasn’t been easy to make sense of it. Coming from a very full performing career, my two hip replacements, having 2 kids, and the pandemic, I was trying to make sense of everything. During the pandemic, I started taking Zumba classes in the park right across the street from our apartment. To say it revived me is an understatement. I was like right, dance is the most powerful, primal, best thing in my life. I went to clubs as a teenager in Chicago, and when I came to NYC was introduced to the underground house music scene. It’s how I met my husband and where I went on a weekly basis (until I had kids.. We still go but not weekly. It’s been such a huge part of my life and it is a sacred space to me.
So, when we were building the idea, I kept thinking how can we try to integrate all this love for dancing? The years and years we’ve invested in this form? All the history we’ve had? How can we make something that encapsulates the radical joy, power, and spirituality we get to experience almost everyday? We both know so many incredible and unique artists. Personally, I’ve had the privilege of being inside many communities within the larger NYC dance community. I thought, we need to rally, get folks from the different corners and come together.
We felt it’s time for us to have a celebration. Not escapism, but because it’s necessary to enjoy ourselves and each other.
The grand location paired with dynamic camera angles creates a sense of intimacy while maintaining the powerful scale. How did the setting influence your vision and the choreography?
We knew we wanted the location to feel like a character in itself. This being a homage to nightlife, we wanted it to feel ritualistic, grand and sensual. I was thinking about the Limelight, a club that was in an old church that was on 6th Ave. & 20th in NYC. I remember going in the year 2000 for the first time and being blown away. Nightclubs are one of the only places that I feel the deepest sense of belonging and it's where dance makes the most sense to me. When birthing the concept we kept thinking about all the clubs we go out dancing to and almost shot it at one of them. We were going back and forth about what we should do and then our dear friend Leah Hoffman (director/choreographer) suggested the building she lives in. Everyone knows how hard it is to find a location so when we discovered this pretty much unused space, our jaws fell on the floor. Deep thanks to Leah for helping us make it happen!
In a lot of ways, it's no surprise we ended up shooting it there. We were meant to. All of the material and themes we were building called for something that magnificent. On the mood boards and storyboards we had clubs, sci-fi spaceships, and ancient palaces. I believe the vision and choreography conjured up the setting. It felt like we had a lot of synergy between all of the pieces and all of the collaborators. So, the way these things are all intertwined and relating was quite special.
Beth Gill, dear friend and brilliant choreographer, has had a big influence on the way I create with time and pacing. I think so much about choreography on film is flashy and cut up, and I was tired of seeing that. It was important to me that nothing felt rushed or trying to cram 400 moves into one second of choreography. I’m looking for presence, embodiment, and vulnerability. These dancers and myself understand how to use the environment to inform their character, internal timing and how they deliver the choreography. I think they have a sense of embodiment that holds a lot of truths and contradictions. Intricacy, intimacy, power, multiple textures, landscapes and feelings in the way they move. Good dancers can pull the audience in and understand their relationship to the space and the camera all at once. They are constantly making choices at any moment on what the focal point is. I am honoured to work with such generous and extraordinary artists.
Sound and movement are deeply intertwined in Simulation. The changes in tempo and intensity, combined with the shifting light, guide the emotional journey. How did you approach this process of collaboration?
This was a blast.
When building the material we were using so many themes inside nature, and a large one about without one element the others cannot co-exist. In some of the directions, we had been working on this idea of “a call to action”, “ and “ever-knowingness”. Over the years, making my work and working on many many projects I have learned a lot about who I am, what I’m curious about, and experiencing and witnessing when collaboration is a success or failure. So, when it comes to collaboration, I want to work with artists who have a strong point of view. My motto is to bring on the ideas but leave your ego. The best idea, best solution wins. We all have a goal and we need to be in service to that goal or story. So, our literal process and themes were one and the same. What we were talking about making was how we were making it. Everyone has such an integral role inside of the project and like they say it takes a village.
When I first spoke with Jonathas Nazareth, our DP, I felt so seen, because right away he was sending my inspiration of things I had been thinking about, but also things that were pushing the idea even further. And that's what I live for and am excited by, is how the idea becomes even more expansive, dense, and nuanced. Jon could synthesize what I was after and he helped with the “dynamic camera angles” you asked about. I felt like he proposed so many wonderful ideas and solutions.
I think it's important to just say this out loud- A lot of artists are controlling and struggle with power. Something I’m constantly questioning is if you aren’t interested in the project growing to something you might not have fully imagined, then are interested in collaboration? Collaboration isn’t always easy, overall for this project it was, but sometimes it can be bumpy. I think it’s really critical, if you are naming it as a collaboration then you need to be ready and willing for that. If you don’t want a collaboration, you might wanna consider making solo art. During the pandemic, a choreographer I adore, Netta Yerushalmy, and a philosopher and poet, Fred Moten, had a live conversation in relationship to her piece Paramodernities #4 (a response to Cunningham). I haven’t been able to find it! I would love to rewatch it and share, but if I recall they were talking a lot about abstraction, deviant art, and this question of what is your ethical response going to be when you are making something with people? You can try to get rid or prune the “more” (i.e. ideas, truths, questioning etc etc), but the “more” is coming for you whether you like it or not. So, I took that as, how are you going to deal with the idea shifting? How are you going to be in relation to other people?
We had one rehearsal in the space. Jonathas Nazareth, Purdie Baumann, Anna Marchisello, and I were planning/organizing where all the phrases would happen. The way we built all the choreography was flexible so that it could work next to a pole, in a nook, or on a window. When you have experienced dancers like I had, they know how to pivot and work with something quickly. We tried to use as much of the space while using the light as best as we could.
We had an ambitious plan and a tight shot list. Another deep shout out to Kate Harpootlian (director, writer and choreographer) for this!! She was able to help me clarify and distill what I was making. Then, she was able to help sort/build out what shots were vital. Without her, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish all that in one day.
Mario Riquelme, the lighting designer, was fantastic. He just got it. He got the vision so clearly, he didn’t miss a beat. Sometimes, a part of my job is to just get out of the way, so people can do what they do so well.
The mirrored effects, disjointed edits, and shifts in symmetry create a dream-like, surreal atmosphere. What influenced your choices for these edits, and how did they contribute to the idea of a “simulation”?
There is a lot for me to share here.
Let me first say that I learned so much about editing through making this film. My overall position about making anything is that I can’t get cornered too quickly. Meaning I need to let the decision making come organically and instinctually. I can express the world and the vision clearly, but seeing a full edit can be difficult for me. I know the pace, how I want it to build, the spirit, colour, vibe and the movement. This is not a narrative work, which can be tricky, but I know the arc and story very clearly. I like to leave room for things in the moment as well.
But since Simulation, I have a sharper and keener sense of how I see the edit. Which then informs how I’m shooting it. The film is made in the edit, so things on the front end are shifting a ton for me. Editing is tedious, profound, and honestly, ruthless. You have to let go of a LOT. Not always easy for me, but I’m unlocking something and like I said it's getting more refined.
Anna Marchisello is such a dream of a human and artist, I feel lucky to be in her orb. She is a gorgeous dancer, editor, choreographer and thinker. She worked meticulously and tediously to get those effects. Because she is a dancer there is a pace and musical understanding that other editors don’t have. We mulled over how it was building, how we introduced characters, and how it unfurled. We knew we wanted mirrored effects, the rev ups, the disjointed effects, but the timing was everything. She was inside of the work as a performer, and was side by side, as I was expressing this club-a-tron biomorphic fantasy. Her fierce insight really brought the work to another level. This was a beast of an edit. Anna knocked it out of the park.
Then there was an amazing moment with Jon, we were in one of those late-night editing sessions. I wanted, what is known as the “rabbit hole section”, to have some sort of Sistine Chapel/White Rabbit/coocoo kaleidoscope imagery. Jon was exploring and built this wild effect. It was a great moment because we all knew it was the one. I remember laughing because it was so utterly absurd and gorgeous.
I can’t say enough how powerful it is to have an idea, build this thing all together, and then have it become not only tangible but what you imagined and even more.
Nightlife, fashion, and community pulse through Simulation. How did these influences shape the aesthetic and mood?
The house music scene started in the black queer community and is a haven to feel seen, accepted and celebrated. It’s a place to be yourself and also play. It’s very cathartic to come together and let it rip. I’ve seen so many incredible artists in the clubs. The raw expression, the movement, the fashion, and just simply being. I knew that we were going to build to a hypercolor, bombastic, ecstatic finish, that sort of represents the club. Also, I was using my own experience of no matter what I do, the dance is calling. It’s just a part of my DNA now. I know movement is healing, and we can’t use words to figure everything out. So, I knew I wanted it to feel like something is pulling all these people together. It’s like the plants-they work together to figure out a way to get the nourishment they need.
Purdie has the best and most playful fashion sense. Over the years, we have been involved as performers in so many fashion shows and projects. So when we were thinking about costumes we were trying to think through who we knew or could get connected with that encapsulated all these themes. I remember Purdie having a light bulb moment when she suggested Norma Kamali. She has such a strong history with clubs, she loves dance, she is a New Yorker, and her clothes are so versatile, beautiful and have that uniquely playful quality. When we spoke about the arc of the film and wanting them to shift into these 4 different palettes, I thought, this is a tall order, I better be ready to change this whole thing around. But her main response was yes, and….? I was completely blown away. It really felt like a dream come true when Norma was on board.
“My mission is to make dance a cultural priority, so I’m trying to find ways to entice people to groove and feel the profound resilience and fragility inside of us.”
The balance between chaos and control in the choreography is great. Was this intentional from the start, or did it reveal itself organically throughout the creative process?
This is such a compliment! I feel so seen. I’ve accumulated a lot of different dance training and styles over the years. We all carry so much history, and I believe that dancers carry everyone they’ve ever worked with or danced with, in their bodies. Stylistically, I am trying to play with movement that is constantly shifting texture or character, because I don’t want it to be located too easily. At the same time, I don’t want it to be arbitrary moves. I want it to be constantly subverting on itself because it feels radical and closer to reality to be shifting or transforming to a multitude of identities, imagery, feelings, characters, and textures.
When I’m creating there is such a feeling of radical joy to let my instincts take over and go into this sort of deeply primal listening mode. It feels like tapping into some other plane of consciousness in some ways because there isn’t some kind of logic to it. It’s more like somehow this makes sense next to this and this makes sense next to that. It’s hard to name, but I think after so many years of being told what to do and how to do it, my body is saying you know what you wanna do, now go do it. It is very liberating. I’m super stoked because even since this film I’ve gotten more refined and clear about how and what I’m making.
Also, I use a lot of improv. When you have very good artists, you can give them the arrangement and ideas you’re working with, and let them go to town. This is where the multitudes of voices come in and when it’s just so exciting. Also, due to time constraints, we needed some folks to be able to compose their material. We say this is the framework, themes, where this needs to happen, how it wants to look and feel, there are a few moves, then they can build from that and we can edit or modulate if needed. When the dancers signed on it was a blessing because these are top-tier performers in NYC. I feel beyond humbled. They come from different sides of the dance world but are all so captivating and well-rounded. They can do anything. Now looking back, there was more to film, they are so good!! Actually, this wanted to be a 25 minute film with about 10 more dancers.
We were using all kinds of imagery from nature to build the choreography. Another shout-out to Anna, because, well, she is a muse. We have so much fun bouncing ideas and building together. She can easily translate an idea into physical form and that is just incredible.
Another point to make is that the process is the work. Miguel Guitterez, an amazing artist, choreographer, and inspiration to me always mentioned something of that nature in his workshops. You can’t hide, it’s all there. Whatever is happening in the room is what’s happening in the piece. So, what I love is what was going on in the process mirrors what the final work was about. Deep attainment, community, joy and multiple voices.
What do you hope audiences take away from experiencing this film?
I hope they feel compelled to do something to get into their body. To take a walk, to put on some music and shake it, to really anything that gets them going. I want them to experience their own bodies and appreciate them. My mission is to make dance a cultural priority, so I’m trying to find ways to entice people to groove and feel the profound resilience and fragility inside of us.
What’s next for you?
Things are constantly evolving over here. I’m editing our next film, Femme Florale, which should be released at the end of the summer. I’ve started pre-pro for the next dance short, we are pitching two live shows, I teach, I still perform, I audition, I could be a part of a big show coming early fall, I’m thinking about getting my MFA, more body conditioning type certifications maybe and I’m a mother of two little kids. It’s everything, everywhere, all at once.
I’m dreaming big, and I adore the communities and support around me. I want to be of service, I love collaborating and bridging communities. I can’t say it’s easy by any means, just putting one foot in front of the other.
Heather Lang - Director
Purdie Baumann - Director
Heather Lang - Producer
Purdie Baumann - Producer
Shaun Murdock - Executive Producer
Heather Lang - Developed and Conceived
Anna Marchisello - Developed and Conceived
Purdie Baumann - Developed and Conceived
Ehizoje Azeke - Key Cast
Maira Barriga - Key Cast
Claire Camp - Key Cast
Stephanie Crousillat - Key Cast
Marc Crousillat - Key Cast
Joyce Edwards - Key Cast
Lydia Holtz - Key Cast
Ryan Kelly - Key Cast
Jesse Kovarsky - Key Cast
Willy Laury - Key Cast
Anna Marchisello - Key Cast
Jodi McFadden - Key Cast
Elise Monson - Key Cast
Ricardo A Zayas - Key Cast
Heather Lang - Choreography
Anna Marchisello - Choreography
Jonathas Nazareth - Director of Photography
Anna Marchisello - Editors
Jonathas Nazareth - Editors
Kate Harpootlian - Line Producer
Norma Kamali - Costumes
Roisin Murphy - Music
Kate Harpootlian - Assistant Director
Jonathas Nazareth - Camera Operator
Karoline Iversen - 1st Assistant Camera
Nick Shadix - 2nd Assistant Camera
Mario Riquelme Riquelme - Lighting Designer
Emmet Luciano - Grip
Alex Zaneti - Swing
Kevin Ratigan - Colorist by Nice Shoes
Abraham Lule - Title Design
Shaun Murdock - NY Equipment Rentals Milk DGTL
David D’Amico - NY Equipment Rentals Milk DGTL
Roisin Murphy - Song written by
Richard Barrett - Song written by