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2020–2021 · Dance – stage work

DOORS (dance film)

Archive folder: Doors

Alisa Rasera (Frolik Dance)

A dance film by Alisa Rasera structured around different 'door worlds,' each with its own musical character. Ben composed the score in 2020, and the film was completed in spring 2021, with an audio-described version by Jess Curtis.

Recollections

“This piece was made in the wild, weird summer of 2020. We started by reusing some musical detritus, abandoned from other pieces, and built a cool little sonic sculpture.

I remember driftwood, footsteps, ocean sand, strange piano textures, red skies.”

Ben
Premiere
2021
Venue
Private screening at The Phoenix, September 17, 2021; film festivals 2022–23
Where
Bay Area, CA
Performances
Private screening Friday, September 17, 2021 (7pm and 8pm shows) at The Phoenix, hosted by Alisa Rasera & Wally Holden. Festivals: FEEDBACK Female Film Festival (WILDsound, March 2022; Best Sound & Music); WILDsound Female Directors Festival (virtual, April 17, 2022); Ridgewood Guild International Film Festival (Bowtie Cinema, Ridgewood NJ, April 27–28, 2022); Rogue Dancer FilmFest 'tExtUrE' (June 2023).
Credits
Director and dancer: Alisa Rasera. Cinematographer and editor: David Gaylord. Choreography: three choreographers, one per door, including Marc Brew. Music: Ben Juodvalkis (credit preference: 'music by Ben Juodvalkis'). Audio-description version: Jess Curtis. Co-host of the screening: Wally (Walter) Holden.

Ephemera

The word DOORS in spaced white capitals over an empty, overcast beach, small waves breaking under a grey sky.
An e-invitation card in a teal envelope: strings of lights over the DOORS title on a beach, and text reading Join us for a private screening of Doors, Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, 7pm or 8pm (2 showings).
On a sunny beach, a dancer in a black top and skirt with a purple sash steps through a doorway made of a metal frame sunk in the sand; a raised wooden door hides her face and a second door stands at left.

Alisa on the beach set

A dancer with curly hair, in black with a purple sash, balances on one bare foot between two wooden doors standing on a beach, the sea behind her.

Still from the finished film

Close-up of a hand reaching toward a pair of ornate red-panelled doors, lit with a strong magenta cast.

The ungraded rough cut I scored to

Bare feet digging into sand under the hem of a black skirt, one hand gripping an ankle, with a pinkish tint.
A square collage of stills from many dance films; a small tile near the bottom centre shows the DOORS dancer between wooden doors on a beach.

Programme art for a 2023 screening

A home music studio lined with string lights: keyboards, a laptop and monitors on a desk, a drum set, a conga and a cream couch on a red patterned rug.

My studio, where I made the score

A small red sun in a flat orange-grey sky above trees and power lines, dimmed by wildfire smoke.

The wildfire sky the day the score came together

  • The finished score

Alisa's notes on my second draft.

Alisa: I love how the different parts of the composition are creating even more distinct differences in the different door worlds. … I like where it goes at the end with what sounds to me like walking/trudging feet? … I am on the fence about the metronome like sound.

When Alisa asked how to say my name for the audio-described version.

Ben: it's pronounced yood-vahl-kis

Press

“DOORS was the winner of BEST SOUND & MUSIC at the March 2022 Female Feedback Film Festival.”

“The music for this part is faster, louder and has a lot more percussion.”

Elsewhere

Ben Juodvalkis © 2026