- Lara Dale was trained from early childhood in theater, classical music and ballet. Though acting was her first real passion, she fell in love with choreography and began creating works for ballet and modern dance before moving to NYC to pursue a career in the performing arts.
A serious dance injury completely altered her life and sent her on a very different path. She lucked into a rent-controlled apartment in Alphabet City and was privileged to work as Administrative Assistant to the late Howard Guttenplan, Director of Millennium Film Workshop in the East Village, back in the days of Super 8 and 16MM.
She got to see early screenings of Spike Lee's "She's Gotta Have It", Susan Seidelman's "Desperately Seeking Susan", Todd Haynes' "Superstar", Tom DiCillo's "Living In Oblivion" and Jim Jarmusch's "Stranger Than Paradise" among others, and was tremendously inspired by their talent, hard work, innovation, and independent success.
Her immersion from a young age in the meticulous timing of classical music and the rigorous physical discipline of ballet and modern dance created the ideal foundation for mastering the art of Foley. Lara trained with the Emmy Award winning Foley Artist Ellen Heuer from 2009 to 2013 when she opened FootVox Studio.
Her early experience at Millennium also gave her a soft spot for independent filmmakers, and she continues to make promising low budget projects a priority whenever possible.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous - A survivor of severe sexual harassment while filming on a remote Anasazi Ruin in Northern New Mexico in 1989, Lara managed to escape the set but was subsequently blacklisted and was unable to work professionally as a film actress again.
Her harrowing experience is referenced in the pioneering documentary "Brainwashed: Sex, Camera, Power" by famed feminist and filmmaker Nina Menkes, which premiered at Sundance on January 22, 2022. It made the Top Ten Best Documentaries of 2022 List of IMDB Founder and CEO Col Needham, and in 2023 has been premiering in Europe to great critical and audience acclaim.
In 2017, prior to the Weinstein scandal, she founded the Safe Sets® Initiative in order to create stronger Industry protections for vulnerable talent and crew on remote location productions. The RUST tragedy added an even greater sense of urgency to her mission.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- Trained from a very young age in classical ballet and later transitioned into choreography for modern dance. Laid the groundwork for becoming a Foley Artist, as timing and an ability to think with your feet are essential.
- Assistant to the late Howard Guttenplan at Millennium Film in the East Village in the 1980s. Got to see first screenings of early works by Susan Seidelman (Desperately Seeking Susan), Jim Jarmusch (Stranger than Paradise), and Tom DiCillo (Living in Oblivion). Got to see the premiere of Todd Haynes' "Superstar" before it was removed from circulation in 1990.
- Favorite independent Foley project is Drunktown's Finest, a feature film written and directed by Sydney Freeland, a transgender Navajo native mentored by Robert Redford at Sundance for several years.
- Foley is sonic animation. The art of enhancing character through the skilled manipulation of inanimate objects.
- The reason it's called an art and I'm an artist, as opposed to, like, a technician, is because you have to be able to literally think on your feet. I mean, that to me is the definition of a Foley Artist. Not only do you have to have the timing - a lot of Foley Artists are dancers or some type of athletic background - but you've also got to be able to really cite a quality that the actor is producing. So I have to capture the quality of the actor as well, and the great Foley Artists are known for an almost actorly, artistic quality to their sounds.
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