On Wednesday, January 25th, I was so fortunate to moderate the first Screendance Club of 2023 highlighting Talia Koylass and her 2018 dance film, The Good Christian. The film is a meditation on Black women, Black spirituality, and the church explored through three vignettes performed by a trio of Black women dancers shot in a gorgeous south side Chicago church. Each section of the film is distinct in its color, cinematography, costume, and choreography to a mix of serene, pensive music and punctuated Kendrick Lamar songs.
The film begins with us slowly approaching the pulpit, taking in the dancers' shapes and ripples through an ethereal fog as best as we can from a distance. They fold into each other as we get closer and closer, ending with the dancers walking down the steps of the pulpits with their heads held high as a spoken word about oppression rings throughout the empty frame, posing the question “Why God?”
The film eases into the next section with each dancer as a more distinct character, miming the layered personalities from the opening of Kendrick Lamar’s FEAR in the pews. Each dancer desperately pleads in their own movement, occasionally syncing up as they sit, stand, duck beneath the pews and shake their fists at the sky. The section ends with us sitting with the resigned characters, finally still in their seats again before the film melts into the final, vibrant section of the film.
Unlike the muted color palette of the first two sections, the dancers and the church are highlighted in bright, golden glory. Broken free from the anguish of the first two sections, each dancer dances alone in a different section of the church with smiles of bliss on their faces as they dance with a new freedom. “This what God feels like…” the music croons as the joyful praise ushers us out of the church and into the bright white light of the world outside—and the world beyond this evolution of an experience.
The film goes from feeling distant and unapproachable to reveling in the full glory of what Talia considers to be how exploring Christianity and spirituality should feel and our discussion went similarly. The Good Christian catalyzed a flowing conversation about what leaning into spirituality looks like. Reflecting on the film also encouraged people to reflect upon themselves and “where they are in their seek [of God or spirituality],” as a community member so eloquently put it, just as the angels on screen.
As a frequent collaborator with Talia myself, including for this film, I was excited to revisit the intention behind the work at its conception and how it feels to experience it today. Audience members shared how the powerful imagery of these women worshipping in the pews took them back to their own unique memories and experiences being in church. I shared a little about my involvement as a dancer in the film and how I explored my own relationship to spirituality through Talia’s choreography and direction. This film was an interrogation at its conception, but as a product of a pre-pandemic sensibility it was interesting to talk about how her relationship with spirituality evolved to sustain the past few years and many participants agreed that their own reinvestigations have been an anchor as well.
In addition to being a reminder of Talia’s artistic voice and praxis, especially as a film early in her career, The Good Christian is also the seed that has sprouted into Talia’s ethos as a filmmaker today. On a shoestring budget with a lot of curiousity, passion, and help from the community, this film was brought into the world and through Motion/Pictures Dance Project, her dance-based production company, Talia continues to create work that is powered and inspired by her communities. It was an honor to be a part of that with the film at is creation, and it was an honor to bring the film back to such a generous community in a new way through Screendance Club.
Click here for more from Motion/Pictures Dance Project
Page updated 3-02-2023 at 11:20am CST