Aqualillies is an artistic swimming company founded by Mēsha Kussman with performers worldwide. Their work has appeared in countless films, commercials and live performances, making them the #1 provider of water entertainment.

Choreographer: The Offer on Paramount Plus, starring Miles Teller, Juno Temple, Matthew Goode, Giovanni Ribisi and Dan Fogler. Directed Dexter Fletcher.

Swimming Choreographer: Hail, Caesar! (Universal Pictures) written & directed by Joel & Ethan Coen, starring Scarlett Johansson + Aqualillies

“About Damn Time” / Production: The Lucky Bastards / Director: Christian Breslauer / Choreographers: Mesha Kussman & Mary Jeanette

Director: Celebrated burlesque dancer Jillian Schmitz (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Better Things, Glow..) shares her journey of navigating depression, emotional abuse, an eating disorder and the patriarchy in this empowering short documentary about embracing your authenticity in order to transform trauma into power.

Sébastien Tellier's video for "Russian Attractions" off of 'My God is Blue' produced by VICE. Director: Meredith Danluck; Director of Photography: Jake Burghart; Executive Producer: Thobey Campion; Producer: David Laven; Associate Producer: Chloe Campion; Production Designer: James Maher; Choreographer: Mesha Kussman; Gaffer: Greg LeFevre; Dancers: Aqualillies

“You For Me” / Seduko Productions / Director: Clara Cullen / Choreographers: Mesha Kussman & Mary Jeanette / Starring: Rita Ora + Aqualillies

Director: I created this short dance film in 2021 to express and purge my feelings about wearing a mask for so long. Thankful for the incredible dancers Jasmine Albuquerque, Micah Moch, Myles Lavalee and Alise Moss who express so beautifully the emotions of this moment in time. I hope the film brings folks together by expressing what we have in common, a desire to connect. Thanks also to my DP Jessica Peterson for making beautiful pictures with me :) and to Steve Moore for the song that inspired this!

Director/creator: CAKE is a 9-ft tall transforming sculptural installation, designed in collaboration with Stufish Entertainment Architects (set designers for U2, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Beyonce…). Performers pop out and break apart the giant CAKE to reveal a whole second set of playing spaces and platforms, a golden prism-like temple. The message is subtle but the visuals are poppin’ - the show reclaims a trope of a more conservative era, flipping it inside out to include a powerfully feminine point of view. CAKE bombastically crushes old ideas of what women are and can do.

When lovers fight no one wins. This tango battle between renowned tango duo Mayte Valdes and Carlos Barrionuevo explores the costs of protecting oneself from vulnerability.

Direction / Editing - Mesha Kussman

Choreography / Performance - Mayte Valdes and Carlos Barrionuevo

Cinematography - Jon Pears

Music - Abel Korzeniowski and Ara Malikian

Color - Geiger Post

Inspired by Alfredo Barsuglia’s desert installation Social Pool curated by the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, this short film is an invitation to return to sensuality. The second version of the film was reedited to be a music video for EDM Artist Mot&Krid’ song The New World. It serves as an homage to the beloved SoCal installation which was eventually vandalized in 2016. The video features two futuristic motorcycle-riding nymphs who find an aquatic portal and pass through it to another universe.
Director / Editor - Mesha Kussman; Cinematographer: Morgan Schmidt; Music: Bass Nectar ft. Mimi Page; Choreographers / Dancers: Athena Perample, Deirdre Barnes, Mary Jeanette Ramsey; Drone Cameras: Spark Aerial; Costumes: Chromat; Stylist: Erica Rice; Makeup / Hair - Marybeth Bagonghasa; Produced by Aqualillies

Choreographer: 72 & Sunny and Unit9 hired me to work with director Dean Alexander to give a Busby Berkeley style to their social media spots for Sees Candies’ 2022 holiday campaign.

Director: Aquawillies perform with Betty Who for the opening performance of The New Now Next Awards 2014, hosted by Darren Criss starring, featuring Aqualillies.

Assistant to Choreographers Rich + Tone Talauega (Madonna, J-Lo..): “Dancing Through The Decades” Macy's 150th Anniversary Special on Dancing With The Stars.

Zig Zag is a multi-media musical farce, directed by Mesha Kussman and written by three time Emmy-nominated writer Jordan Allen-Dutton. It appeared at David Lynch's L.A. festival of new works and has been hailed by critics for its innovative use of stage and screen.

This multi-media runway installation created for a fashion event at the Vibiana Cathedral features nude/body-painted dancers who approach an ‘alter’ of their own projected figures animated with elements of water, fire, earth and wind. The dancers then manically dress themselves in layers of costume, only to illustrate the ridiculousness, futility and fun of masking our natural beauty with anything at all. Finally they undress and roll back offstage - a cycle fully illustrated: we come from the earth and ARE the elements, we contemplate our existence and dress up to play pretend, then we remove all our layers and return to from wherever we came.

The concept was re-envisioned as video artwork for the Marriott Billboard in Downtown Los Angeles.

Director & Choreographer - Mesha Kussman;
Video Design & Production - Dmitry Kmelnitsky and Kalim Chan; Performers: Mesha Kussman, Erica Rice, Whitney Shannon, Mindy Kelly, Adrienne Campbell-Holt

The fate of the earth is in our hands...

A collaboration between Mesha Kussman and Dmitry Kmelnitsky, URTH LING is an adaptation of two earlier video art works "Earthlings and Ec(h)o" as a re-envisioned concept artwork for the Marriott Billboard in Downtown Los Angeles.

"URTH LING" explores the dualistic human nature as animal and creator/destroyer. Through dance choreography and cinematic poetry the video artwork weaves a haunting mythical tapestry as some lost evidence of a species that once reigned supreme.

An interactive website / documentary that has been 20 years in the making. It follows a pack of young artists from pre 9/11 NYC up to today, watching their choices and priorities change, asking a key question of artists - what is vital?

Alice In Wonderland set inside a video game. This one-woman show, presented in an abandoned furniture warehouse in DUMBO, mixes dance, theater and innovative lighting design to reflect on the chasm between technology and touch.
Writer / Performer - Mesha Kussman; Co-Directors - Mesha Kussman + Mahayana Landowne; Producers - Jessica Archer + Sarah Lerner; Lighting Design - Andrea Kung; Music / Sound Design - Matthew Gill; Photographer - Tracy Haynes

A performance installation on 42nd street, commissioned by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Behind the scenes slide-animation-movie of a motion capture collaboration with Debra Isaac of Dream Lab TV.
Performers - Jasmine Albuquerque, Mesha Kussman, Kara Mack, Vergi Rodriguez; Behind the scenes SLAM by Gregory Crane