anemoia (working title)

premiering January 2027 | Duluth, MN
anemoia is a screendance installation meditating on memory as a tool for locating meaning and acceptance. Filmed on Easdale Island in Scotland, the work draws on imagery of natural slate and a derelict rural landscape, reflecting how nature remembers, reclaims, and moves in cycles.

CREATIVE TEAM
choreography, direction, editing, sound design | Kayla Schiltgen
dance | Freya Jeffs
on site production assistance | Eric Elefson
mentorship | Katrina McPherson

Production completed 2023. 

PROJECT SUPPORT
Minnesota State Arts Board Arts Experiences Award FY26

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
Reflection from Kayla: 

"How does the landscape remember?"

Improvisational scores informed by the ecosystem of Easdale Island guide anemoia. I continue to explore bringing my autistic experience to the screen as a way of shifting attention from autopilot to engagement, building viscerality and intimacy through actuality sound, an embodied camera, quick jump cuts, and choreography via montage.

Searching for traces left by time, people, and nature, dancer and camera investigate our surroundings, asking "What captures our attention?" and leaning in. What humans have left behind and what nature has reclaimed blur in (re)remembering both unsettling and beautiful, mirroring for us what was, what is, and what can be.



she thinks evil >
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. Kayla is a recipient of the Individual Artist Equity Grant, made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and culture heritage fund.
additional Photography by cc Boyle Photography, Adrian Steinbach, bill cameron, ASHLEY DEREN