Sylvie Kay and the Art of Losing Balance
Welcome Sylvie, we are very excited to have you today with us to discuss about your work.
Who is Sylvie Kay and how did the passion for creating begin?
I am a choreographer and dancer. Artistic director of a dance company since 1991. I have created about 15 choreographies (Maison de la Danse, Opéra de Lyon, Opéra comique)... As a little girl, I started to learn tap dance with my mother, Alice Kay, a music hall artist and famous tap teacher in Lyon, and I took Ballet Classes. I have been surrounded by a world of musicals: West Side Story, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, Hollywood, Laurel & Hardy movies and, the poetry of my father. At the age of 18, I went to New York to study jazz tap dance and performing arts. I studied Jazz Dance with Master Matt Mattox and Gus Giordano with whom I worked as his assistant in 1985 in New York. After a tour through France, Germany as a dancer-singer in the musical « Cabaret », I desired to express my own vision of dance. So I created my Company, in 1991 with my first création TRANSIT invited by the director of the « Maison de la Danse de Lyon » Guy Darmet.
My attraction for video come from the fact that I always enjoyed capturing and editing my dance creations since 1980, either with my old camera VHS, H8, Hi8 and now IPhone. Shooting constantly, observing my family, or people with funny way of walking, or special attitudes. I still love to capture the beauty of movement and the shapes in the nature. This way, I can express my own vision of life with sincerity, express my fears, and weaknesses, and even showing one’s flaws, but always in a spontaneous way, with fantasy, fun, lightness, and vibrant rhythms: joy of life. In 2022, after Covid, while creating MIX ART, I discovered Igor Dvokin’s compositions: a revelation and the beginning of a real artistic inspiration! I realized many dance film on his music (LE FILM, DREAMS) up to now. His music suggests and stimulates my imagination, opens my mind towards new cinematographic treatments, synthesize memories of my life. In his musical range are symphonic, lyrical, powerful groovy jazz, modern sound with the pizzicato of the wings. All what I love in music ! And he wrote « Sylvie and I became virtual friends back in 2022 when she sent me the first short video of her performance featuring my music. I was overwhelmed, lot least by the very fact that she found my music danceable.
Since the, more videos followed, some further ideas were exchanged and she inspires me to write more. The videos are also very tastefully edited and the use of sound and visual effects turn them into the art form on its own right. Massive thanks to Sylvie Kay for turning my music into a real art », recognizing in my visual achievements a real original artistic touch and style.
Can you tell us a bit about your previous work?
In 2022 I started training and creation as « invited artist » by the director of Centre National de la Danse de Lyon Davy Brun. The first day I was standing in this large and white rehearsal studio similar to a blank page, I decided to realize a film, to create an intimate story in this particular atmosphere. Playing with my imagination, fantasy, supported and captivated by Igor Dvorkin musical compositions. I created my first film « Silk ». The main base of treatment was Black and White, referencing to the old movies of Hollywood. In the second film « Sly -Studio 16 » the luminosity, transparency and brightness where the sets of the play. These 2 dance movies won already many awards in many Indie Festivals Paris,Berlin, London, Jakarta, India, Amsterdam...
The title VERTIGO suggests loss of balance, exhilaration, even danger. What kind of vertigo were you personally seeking when you began this project—physical, emotional, artistic, or existential?
Vertigo started with an artistic appeal. I have been really fascinated and attracted by a painting of my son Jeremy Kay, resin artist in Australia. Both, in shapes and colors, it turned to be very emotional. I felt excited to give my personal evocation being immersed in this special painting. I wanted to give my own interpretation through the dance. So, I searched through the compositions of Igor Dvorkin the music which could unit and harmonize both, my emotions and my intentions. Vertigo is also between life and dream with mystery, through shadow, backlit, composition and resonance of my tap dance sounds. There was both, red and purple dominant colors, there was both, great deal of energy, passion for life and, at the same time, a sense a mystery, something very dark by the black and white depth. Unlike dancing on a stage, directing a video allows me to highlight lines, dimensions, dancer’s height and develop the dancer as I wanted: presenting him in different layers.
CONVERSATION ABOUT: ''VERTIGO''
You describe VERTIGO as an “Hymn to Life.” In a world saturated with noise and urgency, what kind of life did you want to celebrate here—raw, playful, fragile, rebellious?
The goal in my life is searching creativity everywhere and in every situation. When I was very young I went in the hospital for many weeks and I still remember this transparent white curtain in the oxygen tent... With others difficult moments in my life, it gave me the will to turn towards the celebration of life, of good motivated mind and spirit: « Healthy Mind- Healthy Body ». In Vertigo the dancer, who could be any dancer, successively confronts his fears, hesitating in front of the emptiness of the space, before the unknown. She dares to open doors, shadows of her soul just above her. Then slowly appears the art frame. This colorful resin painting, flying over this large room like an angel or a ghost, giving her the hand to immerse in the frame and bringing her freedom of movement and expression. Then it becomes slowly a playful game with the dynamic of the colors, jumping from one to the other, game between my « alter ego », these different elements for the composition: color, shape, dance, tap percussion and the framing of the image. The vibrant colors chase the tension away ! All this represents a journey and invitation to travel with me in my imaginary world, step by step (tap dancing steps of course !
You are simultaneously dancer, choreographer, and director—both in front of and behind the camera. How does this dual position influence your authority, freedom, and exposure as an artist?
I am a Woman Conductor and I work on different levels, but that for one main reason that is : I feel absolutely free to express myself. When I make a film, it’s the same step and evolution than for a creation on stage: writing, choosing the characters, the general mood, the music, where it takes place, which sets, which lights, costume... I composed my story with two swinging doors, two portholes, a lightened corridor, my frame was set, « my stage » born, really minimalist. No extra lights except the effects I add on editing. The wood board placed on the floor allows a « live direct sound » without microphones. I place my headphones for a good and precise reception and balance of music with my tap dancing. Then comes the capture of the images: I do many shoots to get many rushes. I shoot on different axes, far, near, and then I choose.
When I record I just put my IPhone on the floor and shoot and, at this moment, it’s absolutely the same feeling as if were dancing on a stage. I rehearse and then I GO !!!! I feel free like a tagger, I mix styles, I am an unclassifiable improviser choosing a multi disciplinary approach in merging of expressions without style or technical barriers. My planning is very precise, I create during several days so I can choose what is good or not later on. But I have also a dead line through the short limited period of studio occupation. In all my dance movies, I want to be very precise. When I’m editing on my computer, which is the second « big step » to create a visual framework, it takes me hours and hours to recreate the dance, sometimes by individual frames of 1/10 second. The music is also very important playing with the movement, the emotional intensity, the crescendo of speed, the legato of light etc...Everything is raw and natural. No IA !! BRUT!
Do you see color as choreography something that moves, attacks, softens, and transforms the body?
Yes, here colors influence the shapes, the lines, the flow, fluidity of movement, or colors sustain the intensity of the tap dance. I choose this frame and called Vertigo because of the two main colors, red and purple, and the alternance between them. For me Red evokes passion, energy, desire, love and everything that relate to « living things ». Like this dynamic dance of the character running on a train station platform (going to meet your sweetheart!). Purple is the color of Mystery, wisdom represented by the whispered or chatter of footstep, that click, prance, slide or crunch. In Vertigo, the color envelops the dancer like if suddenly she changes aspect in a beautiful costume or under a very sophisticated stage light and give her a special emotional aspect corresponding to the movement of the dance and the music.
What kinds of conversations do you hope this project sparks among audiences after they’ve seen it?
I just wish that public can make a journey, experience his own imaginary and emotions, smile with the memory it may evoke. It’s like a DJ bringing people together by my own fantasy and imagination. My inspiration often starts from an everyday situation, seeking humor, theatricality, quality of movement and beauty of its staging. Like in a picture book, my different sequences of choreography are like in painting art : impressionist, abstract, or realistic. I just love beauty ! May be, the audience will appreciate the fact that I have directed the whole project all by myself from the beginning up to the end in a raw aspect of work: simple, original and percussive. The same relation I had with my audience with my dance creations on stage.
In future projects, do you plan to explore similar genre intersections, or are there other genres you're eager to explore ?
I have realized four dance films since April 2025, with « The Blue Shadow » edited a few weeks ago in December 2025, where the main color changes to BLUE, color of the sea, peace, softness .It’s also a Tap Poetry Story. I am thinking about creating a dance movie with « live » dancers and musicians and many others ideas are in my mind. I am so happy and surprised by the fact that so many festivals and audiences all over the world appreciate my work (4 dance films since April 2025). So much motivation to keep on creating !
If you could sum up the film’s core question in a single sentence that would make someone want to watch it immediately, what would it be?
Are popping up in my mind two quotes from Henri Matisse : « A single tone is just a color, two tones are a harmony, they are life » and « There are flowers everywhere for those who want to see them ».
