Nerve Ending

…where the beauty of dance is found not in a perfect physical form but rather from within.

'Nerve Ending' is a celebration of strength and beauty while searching to find identity. Dancenorth’s first dance film combines the creative talents of Michelle Ryan (choreographer) and Peter Humble (film director). Together they captured a moment in the mind of a person whose body does not function as it once did. The cruel reality of the debilitating disease Multiple Sclerosis is explored but it is the resilience of the human spirit, which is the heart of the film. 'Nerve Ending' is a positive and inspiring reflection on what is possible when you still allow yourself to dream.

Produced by Dancenorth
Created by Michelle Ryan and Peter Humble
Directed & Edited by Peter Humble
Choreography Michelle Ryan
Cinematography Sean Morris
Music by Biddy Connor, Peter Humble and Anthony Pateras
Costume Katelyn Aslett
Production Assistant Jackson Russel
Assistants Tali Dunnage-Burke, Chung-Yi, Melora Corden and Angeline Ignatious

This project would not have been possible without the support of the Queensland Government through funding by a Building Supportive Communities Grant from the Department of Communities, private donors and several service clubs.

What the audience said...

Michelle Ryan’s first short dance film, Nerve Ending, wordlessly and compellingly examines her life as a dancer with Multiple Sclerosis. Without trivialising the disease or lapsing into sentimentality, the film re-contextualises elements of nightmarish medical testing into passages of original and instinctual choreography.

Know since her days with Meryl Tankard for her ‘exquisite arms’, Ryan dancing seated is riveting, evoking a broad range of emotions through her gestures and expressive face.

Peter Humble’s direction and sound, and the film’s rich, layered aesthetic, disclose Ryan’s memories and slowly reveal her inherent sensuality, celebrating her reawakening as a woman and dancer, and renewal of her creative force.

Bernadette Ashley.