To Padanaram resident Ali Kenner Brodsky, dancing is more than just a form of self expression. It’s her entire life.

“I don’t even know what I’d be doing if it wasn’t this,” she said. “It’s just always been part of what I do.”

On March 19, the Dartmouth resident will premier a dance film she recorded last year titled “To Be Near You”  at the New England Dance Now showcase in Boston.

The film features Brodsky and Boston-based performer Jenna Pollock and honors the memory of lost loved ones. It also features the music of Providence-based musician MorganEve Swain— a regular collaborator of the Dartmouth dancer.

Brodsky grew up in Cranston, R.I. and moved to New York City in 1998 after graduating from Skidmore College as a dance major. Her primary form of expression is modern dance.

“Although I tend to see it more as ‘dance theater,’” she said.

Along with her performances, Brodsky also teaches at Roger Williams University, advises at the ​​Zeiterion Theater in New Bedford, and co-founded Motion State Arts — Providence-based a nonprofit dedicated to presenting dance films and live dance performances. She has also been actively choreographing various shows and festivals for the past 25 years.

“I’m pretty much just all-in on dance and arts,” she said. “I just want more people to be seen and heard.”

 Oddly enough, Brodsky said, when she was little, she never thought dance was something she’d pursue as a career.

“But it just never stopped,” she said.

On March 19, the Dartmouth resident will premier a dance film she recorded last year titled “To Be Near You.” 

Along with her performances, Brodsky also teaches at Roger Williams University, advises at the ​​Zeiterion Theater in New Bedford, and co-founded Motion State Arts — a Providence-based nonprofit dedicated to presenting dance films and live dance performances. She has also been actively choreographing various shows and festivals for the past 25 years.

“I’m pretty much just all-in on dance and arts,” she said. “I just want more people to be seen and heard.”

Grief, Brodsky said, has been a regular motif in her recent work, as it still helps her process the death of her mother nearly five years ago.

“Everything I make comes from a very personal place,” Brodsky said. “If I didn’t have dance in order to deal with grief, I don’t know where I’d be mentally right now — having dance has really helped me navigate through this.”

Often, these motifs are conveyed through the staging of the dance.

In the case of “To Be Near You,” it’s through the spatial relationship displayed in the film. 

“We start very far apart,” she said. “It’s almost like a nonverbal conversation where you can feel this desire for connection.”

Brodsky also used the setting of the film to convey that feeling.

Her latest piece was shot at a home in Newport that had one of the oldest cemeteries in town in its backyard.

“It was really spectacular stuff,” she said.

This is not the first pre-recorded performance the Dartmouth resident has done. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Brodsky said she’s been experimenting more with taking her modern style and adapting it to film.

“It’s really an incredible medium,” she said. “You can really do so much with it — and it gives so much more access than traditional stage performances.”

Brodsky added that film also helps to add more context to the performance.

“The hardest thing with dance is that most people feel like they don’t get it,” she said. “By giving it a specific place, along with music and the relationship with the camera, it gives the viewer just so much more information.”

That said, Brodsky said she feels there is still a place for live dance shows — along with fusion of the two forms of performance.

“A lot of people even use film with their live work,” she noted.

Brodsky will perform on March 19 at 8 p.m. For more information on the performance, visit www.nefa.org. To learn more about Brodsky, visit www.alikennerbrodsky.com.