Fantaspoa 2025 – Charlie (Brittany Faith Rosoff) bids goodnight to her friend Brooke (Kelsey Susino) after a hard day at dance practice.  Brooke decides to stay behind to work on a new piece of choreography that “the guys” gave her for tomorrow’s audition. Brooke, looking a little worried, asks Charlie to leave the lights on as she goes.

Now Brooke is all alone.

With the shadows.

At six minutes, Shadow Dancer is a tiny little slip of a thought, barely there (like a shadow? hehehe). Filmed in gloomy black and white, there are some great moody shots as lamps flicker and Brooke is caught between the darkness and light like some tragic heroine from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari or Nosferatu (there are some terrific closeups on Susan’s expressive eyes that really drive that idea home). In fact, Nosferatu is referenced more than once, mostly by the large shadow of a grasping, claw-like hand that chases her and, in one bravura moment, drags her by the leg across the floor.

The short ends abruptly, without much of a resolution. Does Brooke survive? Did she defeat her fears? Was the shadow real? *shrug* Don’t Know. Director Nikki Groton has some real skills behind the camera, and I’m very interested in seeing what she can do with a meatier story and a bigger budget, but this was kind of like being given a tasty treat of dark chocolate, and then not being allowed to savor it. Ultimately unsatisfying.