Muscle Memory

Muscle Memory reunites nine UCSC former dance majors to find out how their youthful dreams of a life in dance unfolded over decades of adulthood. The film offers them the opportunity to dance again, when everything is different except the pure joy of moving together. Muscle Memory is a film about obsession. It was the only thing I wanted, or the only thing I thought I wanted. - Ben About remembering. All my memories are sensory, like how terrible the bathroom smelled in the changing room, the feel of the wood floor on my feet, the way the sun light came in. It was an amazing studio. - Maxine Director Mary Trunk knows something about obsession, having choreographed and filmed the dancers for over five years in New York, California and Canada. As one of the dance majors at UC Santa Cruz, Mary has been wanting to make this film for more than 15 years. The creative freedom she discovered and nurtured as an undergrad has influenced her entire artistic career, from heading her own dance company to directing four feature documentaries. She wanted to know if her friends felt the same lifelong impact from their time spent studying dance. Muscle Memory is the shimmering cinematic answer to that question. She has been producing and directing documentaries, dance videos, experimental hybrid films and paintings for more than 30 years. Mary is also a film, video and screen dance Professor at Loyola Marymount University, Mt. St. Mary's University and Art Center College of Design.