enter here
at this moment in time, gently and more fully coming
into our bodies can allow us tp reconnect and restore
ourselves, our communities and our earth.
cinema antiplastiqueis a film and movement studio where we share the intuitive
movement techniques of dancers with the people,
for embodied experiences of slowing down
and renewing ourselves for the road ahead.
“again and again, i experience my creativity and problem solving abilities,
after minutes of slowing down and being in my body, as equal to hours of sitting at my desk and trying to work.
when certain people speak of ‘decolonizing’ they’re talking about museums and archives, rather than actual land or lives or bodies. when we speak of rewilding our bodies, we are referring to our own, largely unknown, inner expanses of beauty; our right to trust ourselves and feel intimate connection with our earth, one another and the universe ”
- Dr Rania Lee Khalil
“Dance is not for dancers, dance is for man.”
- Mary Starks Whitehouse
offerings and events
frequently asked questions
thank you for your patience as we continue to update our website
in advance of our fall opening
calendar coming soon! thank you for your patience as we continue to update our website in advance of our fall opening.
Re-Wilding with cinema antiplastique: Joy in Wilderness
Between Plant and Animal
Moving away from Phones
Palestinian & Swana Mothers Circle
Celebrating Aging with Orcas
Queering Time, for Mental Health Workers
* Individual Sessions with Dr Rania Lee Khalil
online workshops (live / synchronous) Co regulating with petsShy dance party
Holiday Fair dec 2025
Stevie Wonder birthday party 2026
CINEMA ANTIPLASTIQUE SPACE OPENING: Fall 2025
Mutual aid for Gaza fundraiser 2025
film screeningsGlauber the Movie, Labyrinth of Brazil, 2005
Space is the Place, 1971
we are presently living through a moment in history which not only asks us if we are willing to be active rather than passive, but also how embodied, how deeply and how thoughtfully.
at cinema antiplastique, we are interested in interupting practices of spectatorship, audience and performance while encouraging participation, movement and physical actions from the heart.
on the importance of intuition in our more than human world, plants, animals, minerals and ecosystems experience innate instructions on all they need to survive and thrive. prior to centuries of harm to our bodies, nervous systems and natural habitats under colonization, industrialization, etc. humans all over the world also thrived within complex ecosystems using our intuitions and instincts to survive.
humans possessed embodied knowledge of abundance provided by the earth, and held intimate ancestral understanding of nature and natual elements. in big cities under present day capitalism these forms of intuitive wisdom can seem almost impossible to access much less survive by. yet practices of free and self directed physical movement are one way to bring ourselves closer to hearing our inner guidance and reconnecting with energies from the earth and universe.
rania lee khalildfa/ doctorate of fine arts, ma, lmsw, ba, artist
cinema antiplastique is born from twenty five years of rania’s embodied research within dance and video, family & community healing and postcolonial studies. her artistic research includes anticolonial thought, interspecies and indigenous ecologies; third world feminism and african movements for independence (including the systematic dismantling of these movements by their former colonial masters). cinema antiplastique connects embodied movement with practical therapeutic and theoretical backgrounds. like many of her heroes, rania believes that the importance of artists and intellectuals is to create third world strength and unity, through beauty and the simple sharing of deep ideas.
phd: artistic research, dance, video, postcolonial ecologies, university of arts helsinki, finland
masters of arts: practice based research, performance, university of warwick, england
(transferred from performance studies ma, nyu)
masters of social work: hunter college school of social work, new york city
postgraduate studies: live clinical, diversity fellowship, ackerman insitute for the family, nyc
bachelors of arts: dance and video, hampshire college, amherst ma
simons rock early college of bard, great barrington, ma
teachers
(including, yet not limited to) atsushi takenouchi (butoh dance)
nancy stark smith (contact improvisation)
susan klein (klein technique, release technique)
daphne lowell (authentic movement, undergrad advisor)
josé esteban muñoz (performance studies, gradute advisor)
sippio small (systems and post structural family therapy, ackerman advisor)
laurie kaplan and david kezur (the above and narrative therapy, ackerman advisors)
richard foreman (experimental theatre and performance)
annette arlander (video, phd supervisor)
taru elving and ros gray (art, ecology and artistic research, phd supervisors)
professorships and teaching
new york university, bfa program, interdisciplinary visual arts (present)
parsons school of art and design, the new school, mfa program in visual art, nyc
medrar for video art, cairo, egypt (present)
university of arts helsinki, finland
rania has lived, taught and studied on the continents of africa, europe and turtle island (north america). she is the daughter of egyptian immigrants to the u.s., who returned to egypt, where rania lived between 2007-2016, spanning years of revolution and counter revolution. rania is the mother of one daughter. she lives with her family on stolen lenapehoking land, colonially known as brooklyn, new york city.
more information/ faq
all offerings
land acknowledgment
cinema antiplastique is located in stolen lands of the Lenapehoking, colonially known as the dumbo neighborhood in brooklyn, new york city. as we collectively work to repair these histories of crime against earth, human and interspecies relations, we invite indigenous peoples of this land to reach out re collaboration, land back efforts and events here. looking forward to hearing from you!
support our work
cinema antiplastique is an autonomous institution. our commitment to a free Palestine and more leads us to sustain our studio through ticket sales, commissions and community support. we are a swana / bipoc, woman, artist owned institution, surviving and isa thriving in partership and mutual support with our in person friends and local networks.
we will soon have a link here to make a tax deductable donation to our scholarship fund, sliding scale and community programming,
we appreciate you!