A Body I Can't Hold
Aisha Naamani x Isaac Shieh
Dance + Music Film Collaboration
A piece exploring how disability shapes, propels, and challenges identity. Set to an original, award-winning score by composer and natural horn virtuoso Isaac Shieh, a live quartet—comprising a dancer, horn, violin, and cello—creating an intimate terrain of physical and sensory limitation.
Choreographer // Aisha Naamani
Composer // Isaac Shieh
Dancer // Talia Sealey
Musicians // Siobhan Clough + Zosia Jagodzinska
Filmographer // Dan Canham
A Body I Can't Hold is a music and dance film collaboration with Isaac Shieh during his time as created as Musician in Residence with Paraorchestra. The film is one in a series of two he created named The Shape of Absence.
The Shape of Absence is a paired exploration of the quiet distances between body, mind, and perception. Through two intimate dance scenes, the film moves through the isolating interior landscapes of mental illness and deafness, while also examining how disability shapes and unsettles identity. Together, these moments trace the subtle contours of absence - what is felt yet unseen, known yet difficult to name. The film was co-created alongside dance artist and videographer Dan Canham. The choreography directly embodies the internal realities of restriction and physical loneliness, ultimately rejecting the narrative of "overcoming" disability to embrace the profound reality of living within it.
The Shape of Absence went onto win Best Original Score at Focus Film Festival, Wrexham, Wales in 2026.
BTS footage // Black Bark Films
BTS edit // Jon Aitken
Supported by // Paraorchestra
Additional thanks // Ann Louise Wall, Léa Tirabasso, Ruby Phyall-Davies, Michael Sides + Trinity Centre Bristol
Stills by Dan Canham
A Body I Can't Hold
Aisha Naamani x Isaac Shieh
Dance + Music Film Collaboration
A piece exploring how disability shapes, propels, and challenges identity. Set to an original, award-winning score by composer and natural horn virtuoso Isaac Shieh, a live quartet—comprising a dancer, horn, violin, and cello—creating an intimate terrain of physical and sensory limitation.
Choreographer // Aisha Naamani
Composer // Isaac Shieh
Dancer // Talia Sealey
Musicians // Siobhan Clough + Zosia Jagodzinska
Filmographer // Dan Canham
A Body I Can't Hold is a music and dance film collaboration with Isaac Shieh during his time as created as Musician in Residence with Paraorchestra. The film is one in a series of two he created named The Shape of Absence.
The Shape of Absence is a paired exploration of the quiet distances between body, mind, and perception. Through two intimate dance scenes, the film moves through the isolating interior landscapes of mental illness and deafness, while also examining how disability shapes and unsettles identity. Together, these moments trace the subtle contours of absence - what is felt yet unseen, known yet difficult to name. The film was co-created alongside dance artist and videographer Dan Canham. The choreography directly embodies the internal realities of restriction and physical loneliness, ultimately rejecting the narrative of "overcoming" disability to embrace the profound reality of living within it.
The Shape of Absence went onto win Best Original Score at Focus Film Festival, Wrexham, Wales in 2026.
BTS footage // Black Bark Films
BTS edit // Jon Aitken
Supported by // Paraorchestra
Additional thanks // Ann Louise Wall, Léa Tirabasso, Ruby Phyall-Davies, Michael Sides + Trinity Centre Bristol
Still by Dan Canham