Next week LED is hosting Moves + Movies, a four-day festival of dance film and live performance at The Dixon, in partnership with the Idaho Film Society. The event runs May 14–17. It’s part retrospective, part premiere, part love letter to the art form.
Film has been central to LED’s work since Lauren Edson and Andrew Stensaas founded the company in 2015. Many of their strongest influences have come from cinema. As they build narrative-driven pieces, they often find themselves approaching creation as if they’re making films rather than abstract dance works for the stage.
Moves + Movies is a natural extension of that practice, and a chance to share LED’s longstanding relationship with filmmaking alongside the collaborators who have helped shape it.
What is Moves + Movies?
Each night of the festival pairs a film screening with a live performance, which is a combination that sounds simple until you think it through. When you watch dance on film, the choreographer and filmmaker guide your attention – controlling the frame, the edit, the feeling you get while taking it in. Experiencing a live performance, your eye is free to wander, pulled in multiple directions at once as the work unfolds in real time. At this festival, you get both.
“Experiencing dance alongside these films is a powerful reminder of just how exceptional dance artists are,” said Lauren. “It offers a new perspective into the work we do, creating a dialogue between mediums and opening an entry point into the magic of both live performance and film.”
For LED, this festival has been part of the plan since they first started imagining the Dixon’s inaugural season. Now that the space is real and the season is wrapping up, it felt like the perfect time to bring the film side of their practice into focus.
The lineup
Thursday, May 14 opens with LED + Friends, a program of short dance films from LED and a circle of collaborators who have shaped the company’s approach to film over the years. The friends portion of the night includes Kyle Morck, Quinn Wharton, Aidan Brezonick, Elijah Jensen-Lindsey, Will Bowers, and other artists who have been in LED’s creative orbit and helped expand how they think about dance on camera.
Friday, May 15 brings the long-awaited premiere of Silver City. LED originally created the stage version in 2021. It’s a story about a lone cowboy chasing prosperity and a group of misfits stuck in a saloon. The film was shot on location in Idaho’s historic Silver City, as well as on stage at the Morrison Center, and has been sitting in a vault ever since the day after the original stage premiere when they captured it on camera. One of the original cast members, Colleen Loverde, will also perform live that evening, bringing the energy of the work from screen into the room.
Saturday, May 16 is the crowd-pleaser on paper but genuinely a highlight: a screening of Singin’ in the Rain. Lauren grew up watching it alongside other dance classics like West Side Story, Dirty Dancing, and Damn Yankees, and credits them as foundational to her creative DNA.
Sunday, May 17 closes the festival with Ruin, a feature-length dance film directed by Idaho Film Society founder Aidan Brezonick. It was written and choreographed by Lauren, with an original score by Andrew Stensaas. After the screening, artists from the project will be on hand for a Q&A.
Three mediums, one company
LED has always talked about their work as cinematic. They build characters, construct worlds, and compose an original score for each piece. Movement, music, and film aren’t separate elements; they’re all part of the same creative language.
“What draws me to dance on camera is the ability to direct focus and create intimacy simply through the placement of the lens,” said Lauren. “Film allows you to cut between moments and instantly transport an audience, shifting time, space, and perspective in a breath.”
Moves + Movies makes this process visible. You get to see the films they’ve made, meet the collaborators who helped shape them, and watch dancers perform live in the same building on the same night. It’s a rare chance to see the full range of what this company has been building in Boise for over a decade.
Get your tickets
The festival runs May 14–17 at The Dixon, 3300 W. Chinden Blvd. in Garden City. Shows start at 7:30pm each night. Single tickets are $15 per night or you can grab a four-day festival pass for $45.
You can grab tickets and find more details here.
Thanks for reading!
With love from Boise,
Marissa
This story is sponsored by LED
