mother : un/tethered

mother : un/tethered tells the story of three women, three phases of motherhood, and the paradox of holding grief and joy alongside beauty and hardship when it comes to mothering.
Part art-documentary, part dance film, mother : un/tethered follows three female artists, Bailey Harper, Chelsea Retzloff, and Divya Maus, as they navigate deeply personal relationships to motherhood across the birth, life, and death cycle. Through evocative
movement, original music, singing, and intimate interview, the film asks each of its subjects to respond to the prompt: “When I think about my mother… ” in terms of familial mother, inner mother, archetypal mother, and Mother Earth.
Shot in breathtaking mountainous and oceanic landscapes across Colorado and California, mother : un/tethered weaves the female body into the body of the earth, drawing a through-line between the way we treat our mothers and the way we treat the planet that
sustains us. The film asks: what do we take for granted? What have we forgotten to honor? And what becomes possible when we finally stop and acknowledge what and who we cannot live without?

About the un/tethered Trilogy
mother : un/tethered completes the un/tethered trilogy, alongside together : un/tethered (premiered April 2024, Denver Arts & Venues) and alone : un/tethered (premiered December 2024, Newman Center for the Performing Arts). Developed since 2022 and inspired by the work of environmental scientists, eco-psychologists, indigenous communities, and activists, un/tethered has transformed audiences from removed spectators into empathetic participants across all three of its parts.