Dancy began scoring short films in 2004. For about 10 years, she wrote music for her friends’ student films and short films, then their first features. [28]
SHORT FILMS
In 2004, Dancy scored director Mari Okada’s short film "The Correct Use of Oranges" [29] which was screened at Centre Pompidou in France. [30]
In 2008, Dancy scored the EC award-winning [31] short film, "Watchtower". [32]
The 2008 short film "A Thousand Words" was scored by Dancy, who was praised by director Ted Chung as being a “phenomenal composer”. [33] The film was featured as a Vimeo Official Festival Selection, as part of Pangea Day Films, [34] [35] [13] and was profiled by Wong Fu Productions. [36] [37]
In 2012, HuffPost praised Dancy’s “rich musical score” in director Michael Shu’s short film, "Unmentionables". [38]
In 2016, Dancy scored [39] director Jonathan Wysocki’s short film “A Doll’s Eyes”, which won the Cinephile Award at the Busan International Short Film Festival and was nominated for the Iris Prize Award. [40]
TV AND MINISERIES COMPOSING
THE DEFEATED
Dancy scored Netflix’s limited series "The Defeated" in 2020. The producers requested an epic orchestral score with modern elements such as synths and sound design to create a dark, seedy, backdrop for the series. [6]
Dancy told Variety Magazine that scoring "The Defeated" was a “proving ground”, [41] writing over 4 hours of music in 6 weeks, and recording the score with an 85-piece orchestra in Prague over a period of 8 days.
Dancy told the Alliance For Women Film Composers that a big producer discovered her music on Spotify, eventually leading to her getting hired for "The Defeated" which turned out to be a catalyst in taking her career to another level. [6]
LAWMEN: BASS REEVES
In 2023, Dancy scored the Paramount+ miniseries "Lawmen: Bass Reeves" , which was Paramount+ most-watched series premiere in the year 2023. [42]
Dancy’s 8-episode score for the Taylor Sheridan-produced series was digitally released by Lakeshore Records on November 10, 2023. [43]
The score was nominated for Outstanding Original Title Sequence for a Television Production for the 2024 Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards. [3] [44]
Paste Magazine said of Dancy’s score “There’s an inherent melancholy here, underlined by Chanda Dancy’s elegiac score, that often defines Westerns of the best kind”. [45]
The Digital Fix called Dancy’s score “chilling and unusual” [46] and Geekstronomy called the score “poignant”, stating it “creates a thrilling and emotional backdrop”. [47]
FEATURE FILM COMPOSING
DEVOTION
In 2022, Dancy’s Oscar-shortlisted score for the Sony Pictures film "Devotion" , was released by Lakeshore Records.
Dancy’s score for "Devotion" was recorded in Nashville over the course of eight days with 109 musicians. [56] [41]
To enable recording different sections, and to do orchestral sound effects, Dancy recorded strings and woodwinds separately, then brass, then percussion and finally choir. Dancy also composed big-band jazz for the film. [41]
Variety writer Jon Burlingame stated that Dancy’s “classical training comes to the fore with sophisticated compositional techniques; Dancy’s score…is among [the film’s] biggest assets: a work for massive orchestra (and, briefly, choir) that underlines the thrill of flight, the dangers of war, and the close emotional ties forged between fellow airmen along with their families waiting back home.” [41]
AOL.com praised Dancy’s score as “epic”. [57] Devotion actor Glen Powell lobbied for Dancy’s Oscar nomination [58] , stating that “Her score added so much dimension to our film, and even incorporated the sounds of planes recorded in an old church”. [58]
In November 2022, "Devotion" actor/songwriter Joe Jonas along with Dancy were interviewed by BMI about their musical contributions to "Devotion" . [59]
Jonas and Dancy did a Q&A about their musical contributions to the film, at a screening discussion moderated by Variety’s Angelique Jackson at the SCL. [60] [61]
