How do people from different backgrounds and experiences come together and find healing when a traumatic event threatens to drive them further apart? This was the question the nation asked in 2020 following the death of George Floyd.

Dance artists around the world answered that question, using their art to start the difficult conversations, encourage empathy, and help others find healing and community.

The collaboration between Cleveland’s Obadiah Baker and The Silhouettes (Gold Buzzer Act America’s Got Talent The Champions 2020) led to THE SHADOW BETWEEN US, a film about overcoming racial tensions by healing the divide. Three-time Emmy® award-winning photojournalist and director Lance Murphey documented this partnership for the film.  Drawing on his background covering social and humanitarian issues, Murphey shares the story of Nehemiah Spencer, an award-winning professional dancer and choreographer from Cleveland’s Glenville community.

The film tells the story of Nehemiah, a Black dancer trapped in a pandemic lockdown in Cleveland. He is asked to join a mostly white dance troupe in Colorado to create a silhouette-based dance performance that seeks solutions to police brutality in the killing of George Floyd. Nehemiah had given up dance but finds the courage to travel far from home to participate in the project. The resulting performance transforms all participants in unexpected ways, reinforcing that our shadows are all the same color and that only light can drive out darkness.

Director Lance Murphey will lead this workshop with executive producer and composer Obadiah Baker, and the film’s subject, Nehemiah Spencer. This event will be hosted at the ThirdSpace Action Lab and include a screening of the film, paused periodically to hear behind-the-scenes stories and filmmaking insights from the filmmakers, as well as audience Q&A. James D. Robenalt, author of the book “Ballots and Bullets: Black Power Politics and Urban Guerrilla Warfare in 1968 Cleveland” featured in the film will also join the panelists.

The DEI Documentary Spotlight series is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

Special thanks to our screening sponsors, McGowan PAE,  Mt. Zion Congregational Church, and Sequoia Financial Group.

Thank you to our event partners Brewnuts Donuts & Beer, Cleveland Cinemas, Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival, Long Division Creative,  and ThirdSpace Action Lab.