HOUSE OF LIGHT

she found her way back.  through dance.

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A middle-aged woman whose life unravels in a heartbeat.  Everything she ever knew, loved or believed in is gone.  In her darkest hour of confusion, mistrust and suicidal dreams, she finds a light through Hip Hop. 

Based on a true story.

Starring AMIRA JACOBS

Director WARREN LANGFORD

Choreographer KRISTY ANTHONY

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Dear patrons of the arts, lovers of film, and friends,

When I talk about how dance saved my life, it's not an exaggeration.  There were times when I would say to myself, "if I just get to the dance studio, I will be safe."  This film was conceived initially as a dance video because I wanted to document my progress as a dancer and saw there was a lack of authentic representation of dance in film.  I only started dancing at age 36 but soon it became central to healing my life after divorce and a lonely childhood.  It has become sacred to me.  But then in speaking with a good friend and filmmaker, the idea quickly went from shooting a dance video to something greater.

I decided to create an inspirational short-film based on my own life experience that speaks to women.  Many of us are or have been in abusive or unhealthy situations, living unconsciously, numbed-out on auto-pilot, or perhaps held hostage by our own minds which can sabotage our dreams.  But this story is for anyone - artists, creative souls, people who don't feel that they fit in.  It's for people who have had to fight just to be who they are, having been shutdown or unsupported for being original.

During the development of the script, I walked.  And usually I'd end up running into someone.  I met an 80 year-old woman with dementia who had lost her memory entirely, but she remembered the tap dance class she took when she was seven years old.  Another lady of 94 would come alive when speaking about Scottish dancing with her family on their sheep farm in the 1920s.  A 20-something office worker who in a hallway conversation secretly whispered to me that she used to be a dancer, "but then...you know...family," looking down with a forced smile to which I replied, "dance will always be there for you like an old friend, when you're ready.  It won't leave you."

People have a special relationship to dance, but this film is not meant to convey how great dance is.  If you feel the rhythm in your chest and it makes you want to tap your toe, that's dance.  This film is about finding the light.  No matter how dark, there is light within.  Perhaps one dance class, one touch of a piano key, one brushstroke from your high school paint set, will take you into your true self and re-connect you to how beautiful, rich and full of magic life is.  Remember? 

I never thought at 41 years old I would be doing this.  It's never too late to shine. 

Thank you for supporting my film.

Amira Jacobs