Dance On Screen is the newest addition to Dance City Festival Detroit, providing a space for dance filmmakers to present their work. Presented at the majestic Detroit Institute of Arts, Dance On Screen highlights local, national and international dance films in diverse styles of dance.
Read about our 2025 filmmakers
Lauren Blair Smith, “We Are”
Founder/Artistic Director of Lauren Blair Smith Dance Company (based in Singapore) and Singapore Dance Intensive. University of Michigan Dance MFA (currently). UNCSA Contemporary Dance BFA, Arts Entrepreneurship minor. Kenan Fellow at Lincoln Center. American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher. Broadway National Tour of “Fiddler on the Roof” (Hofesh Shechter), 400+ performances, 100+ cities in the US and Canada. Certified Pilates/HIIT instructor at Marina Bay Sands, Artyzen Singapore, Parkroyal Collection Pickering, and The American Club Singapore. 2020 Artpreneur Grant, 2019 & 2018 Career Development Grant, 2017 Semans Art Fund Grant Recipient. While growing up in Singapore, Lauren attended the Singapore American School (SAS) and performed professionally at various venues, including “Santa Claus the Musical” at the Marina Bay Sands, “The Crucible” at the DBS Theatre, “Halloween Horror Nights” at Universal Studios Singapore, and on the reality television series competition, “Dance Singapore Dance” (top three overall, top female dancer).
Successful performance collaborations with Panasonic, Google, Jewel Changi Airport, TEDx Procter & Gamble, X System International, and SAS. Choreography featured in the US, UK, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Portugal, and Australia (festival recognition list available upon request). Recent: Lauren’s Company presented her choreography at the 2023 Palm Dessert Choreography Festival (performed by University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance students), 2023 Young Choreographer’s Festival in NYC (performed by the Company’s talented Pre-Professional Dancers), 2024 Carmel Dance Festival Dance & Choreography Fellowship Program (performed by Ballare Carmel Apprentices), and 2024 Detroit Dance City Festival.
Minsu Kim, “CHIMERA”
Minsu Kim is a Seoul-based filmmaker and the founder of KKUM, a creative studio exploring the intersection of dance, movement, and cinema. His work blurs the line between commercial and artistic storytelling, seamlessly weaving emotion, rhythm, and visual composition into immersive experiences. Starting in commercial filmmaking, Minsu has directed campaigns for brands like KB Card, Hyundai, and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), as well as music videos for artists such as Roy Kim, CHEN, and Stella Jang. However, his deep fascination with movement as a cinematic language led him into the world of screendance—a medium where choreography and film merge to create something visceral and transcendent.
His works have been recognized at international film festivals, including:
🏆 "CHIMERA" – Official Selection, 2025 Seoul Dance Film Festival
🏆 "I, Dear" – Official Selection, 2025 Busan International Short Film Festival
🎥 "First Move" – Best Screendance, Indie Short Fest (LA) Through KKUM, Minsu continues to push the boundaries of movement-based storytelling, embracing both the raw energy of dance and the poetic stillness of cinema. His vision is simple yet profound: to capture movement as memory, emotion, and timeless art.
Genevieve Kochanowicz, “Red Robin”
Thayer Jonutz, “Scorches”
Thayer was born and raised in California to a roofing contractor father who was a lifelong saxophonist and a Hawaiian dancing mother, in 1978. His California hometown was the small city of Diamond Springs, in El Dorado County. This is where he found dance as a 14 year old. Now 33 years later, Thayer’s world is imbedded in Oakland Township, which is found in Oakland County, Michigan. Thayer is happily married, raising 5 children, 2 biological and 3 adopted. The youngest, identical twin boys who are both nonverbally autistic add a unique level of daily adventure. All of this feeds into Thayer’s drive as a creator.
Thayer performed with Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) from 2002-2007, before moving to Michigan, immersing himself in both historical and contemporary works. He earned his MFA dance degree from the University of Michigan before beginning his professorship position at Oakland University in 2009. As a seasoned educator and artist Thayer strives to continually challenge his comfort zone. His current multiyear creative process on the solo concert Hammer and Nail has pushed Thayer outside the typical modern dance aesthetic and has merged acting, vocalization, sound engineering, video projections, and integrative props to tell his pandemic survival narrative.
Hammer and Nail has enjoyed much success winning the 2023 Oakland University President’s Colloquium award, presenting it at both Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University January 2024, and performing it in Spanish for the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, July 2024. Both Hope College and the University of Michigan hosted the presentation of Hammer and Nail winter of 2025. Hammer and Nail will be presented at Alma College Fall of 2025. Bringing things full circle, Thayer is honored to return to his RDT home and present Hammer and Nail as part of RDT’s 60th anniversary, March of 2026.
Mandy Milligan, “But What Am I”
Mandy Milligan graduated from University of Cincinnati Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in Ballet performance. She received additional training at the Graham School for Contemporary Dance, Beijing Dance Academy, Dance Works Chicago, Interlochen Center for the Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and Perry-Mansfield. She has worked with companies from all over the midwest such as Mamluft & Co., Dance Kaleidoscope, Winifred Haun & Dancers, Simantikos Dance, Cocodaco Dance Company and Kanopy Dance Company. Mandy is currently Rehearsal director and dance artist with Darvin Dances. She is also the founder/director of Mandy MIlligan Movement Project.Since moving to Chicago in 2017 her choreographic work has been shown at the Links Hall, Pleasant Home, Dance Chance, Going Dutch Festival, First Draft, The Garage at Dovetail Studios and RADfest.
Scott Cook, Liz Dibble, “Zero Sum Game”
Liz Dibble is a native of San Francisco, CA, where she began her dance training as a scholarship student at the San Francisco Ballet School. She graduated cum laude from Brigham Young University with a BA in Dance. Liz continued her studies at the Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, where she received an MFA. At Purchase, Liz was the 2010 MFA Excellence Award recipient and performed works choreographed by Jose Limon, Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Doug Varone, Helen Pickett, Anna Sokolow, Joyce Trisler, Sophie Maslow, and Mark Morris. After graduation, she performed with Trio Dance Collective in NY and taught at Peridance and Ballet Hispanico. She is passionate about telling stories through dance and her choreography has been presented at Brigham Young University, Sheridan College, DNA, On Site Mobile Dance Series, White Wave SoloDuo Festival, New Prague Dance Festival, Utah Dance Film Festival, RDT Link Series and the Mark Morris Dance Center. Her dance films have been showcased across the country. She is fascinated by abstract narrative, interpersonal relationships, opposition, and the transcendence of human connection.
Marisa f. Ballaro, Zoran Prodanovic, “Descent”
Liz Macro, “On Time”
Liz Macro is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker trained in nonfiction photography and video production. She has worked across the country using visual media to tell and contextualize stories for organizations like the National Park Service and Newsweek. She has created films about contemporary art in rural Alabama, nonprofit work at the Mexico-U.S. border and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Her work has expanded beyond traditional documentary filmmaking and photojournalism, now exploring dance, drawn portraits and street photography.
Guillaume Herment-Berrebi, “The Intruder”
Guillaume Herment-Berrebi is a composer haunted by creation, movement, and eclecticism. He graduated from the National Conservatory of Paris and holds a Master's degree in Letters and Philosophy. Prior to turning to composition, he also studied dance at a young age, a passion that still holds a decisive place in his life. In addition to various musical achievements for film and stage, he recently directed "Pas de Trois", a first dance film based on music and text that he had previously written, and which he also supervised the choreography for. The movie has since been selected in several festivals around the world. He is passionate about photography and is always looking for a common language. Today, with a precise vision of a certain way of showing bodies and movement, he has created his second short film: cinematic, musical, and danced.
Karen Gayle, “Fitted Skin”
Originally from Toronto, Karen began her formal training in the Claude Watson Arts Program and received her Bachelors degree from the Toronto Metropolitan University. She moved to New York to study at The Ailey School where she fell in love with the Horton technique. Karen is currently a faculty member for Steps on Broadway, Marymount Manhattan College, Montclair State University, The Joffrey Ballet School and The Ailey School. She has had the opportunity to guest teach and choreograph across the U.S. and abroad, including Canada, Mexico, Bolivia, Italy, Cyprus, and Israel. As artistic director of the xodus dance collective, her choreography has been showcased at such iconic concert dance venues as: American Dance Guild Festival, DUMBO Dance Festival, Movement Research at Judson Church, the Downtown Dance Festival, JPAC, Here Arts Center, The Ailey Theatre, The Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto and the Inside/Out Festival at Jacob’s Pillow. Her latest project FITTED SKIN is a short film set to the music of Paolo Nutini. She strives to continually showcase her “slice of life” narrative through a variety of mediums.
Marina Waltz, “Ikigai”