What if dancers could provide vital insight into how the body and mind heal?

LIVING IN THE GREY
When our worlds turn upside down, what are the stories we tell?

Grey Matter is a crucial tissue in the brain responsible for processing information, controlling movement, and handling sensory input.

Five dancers
Five stories of control lost
and power regained

What if dancers could provide vital insight into how the body and mind heal?

After undergoing an 11-hour brain surgery, choreographer Heidi Latsky discovered she wasn’t alone—many dancers she knew, ages 35 to 60 (Heidi is 67), were quietly dealing with similar neurological challenges. Instead of continuing to feel isolated, she invited them into her creative process transforming shared vulnerability into a powerful community and a new artistic vision.

The result?

A moving 35-minute documentary, conceived with cinematographer Sebastian Lasaosa Rogers, that pairs raw, intimate interviews with striking movement—shining a light on the often misunderstood and stigmatized world of non-apparent neurological disabilities. By sharing their dancing and stories, the dancers assert: “While we do talk about our diagnoses, we are NOT our diagnoses. We are human and have full and vibrant lives.” The film is a tribute to people living in the grey and thriving there.

Our objective?

This film is not just about screenings. It was created to stimulate thought, curiosity and in-depth conversations. The dancers believetheir stories can provide insight for other patients and medical students. They want to share the film and follow it up with an open discussion between the cast and the viewers. All questions will be welcome. This can be done virtually or in-person. It can include all five dancers or just Heidi.

Our mission?

To share what it is like to have a non-apparent neurological disability through the lens of five very different people and to reveal the various tools that dancers have cultivated as athletes that people with any sort of trauma can utilize to not just recover but to heal. Most importantly, this storytelling is a vehicle for students to ask the dancers questions about their care, lives, and recovery; how they now perceive themselves and how others perceivethem; what changes have come about since the discovery of their neurological conditions; and what kind of support was most instrumental in helping them deal with these changes.

Screenings and Discussions

2025
Baruch College
JCC Manhattan | Goldman-Sonnenfeldt Auditorium
Columbia University | Department of Rehabilitation Medicine November + December Grand Rounds
Opulent Mobility | Los Angeles Makery

Watch the preview below

For more information contact:
heidi@heidilatskydance.org | 917-929-6985

QUOTES

“Living in the Grey is not just about brain injury, it’s a film around what it means to be human. This is approached by looking at the expanding landscape of accessibility, touching on lived experience of brain injury, mental health and domestic violence”

- Annette Simms, Accessibility Counsellor at Mohawk College: Hamilton, Ontario

“My co-curator Anthony Tusler and I chose Living in the Grey for Opulent Mobility because it truly reflects our theme of re-imagining disability as opulent and powerful.Living In the Grey offers a loving, artistic insight into the lives of dancers affected by brain trauma through tumor, illness, and injury. The film superimposes footage of them dancing and scenes from their lives over images of the dancers speaking of their experiences. It is a thoughtful approach to a difficult subject that never devolves into pity or inspiration porn.” 

- A. Laura Brody, Founder Opulent Mobility

Responses to LIVING IN THE GREY:

“this is so gorgeous, profound, affecting, enlightening, inspiring… Stunning. What a great work of art, science, and spirit. Thank you so much for making it. You and your collaborators have the great gifts of being both verbally and physically articulate, expressive, and eloquent in equal measure. I know that the art of the film-making — every eyelash-width and hairs-breadth micro-detail of every choice of timing, rhythm, all of it in editing— is the true triumph! “

-Paola Styron, dance artist

“The work, the film and the enthusiasm expressed were wonderful. I was inspired and imagined how very many people with less intense conditions could benefit from seeing your film and developing their own creativity as ways of dealing with them as well as those with significant challenges we saw in your film. The response in the talk back was huge and positive.” 

- Tom Grunewald, Physical therapist

“As someone who has panic attacks and is learning how to re-regulate, this film was so mesmerizing that I re-regulated watching it.”

- Student at Baruch College

“Heidi’s visit and her documentary exemplify the power of bringing practicing artists into sustained, meaningful engagement with students—many of whom have had limited prior exposure to the arts. Her work resonates across artistic, personal, and intellectual registers, and her presence models how performance can serve as a powerful tool for empathy and critical inquiry. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to host her and for the lasting impression her visit has made on our students.”

- Sarah Saddler, Assistant Professor of Theatre, Baruch College, CUNY