Watch a Moving Underwater Ballet Created to Raise Awareness About Depression

January 9, 2018

Many who suffer from depression describe feeling like they’re drowning, desperately trying to keep their heads above water. In “Sink or Swim,” a poetic new short film, Royal Ballet principal Francesca Hayward embodies that struggle in a haunting underwater ballet.

Directed by filmmaker Louis-Jack, choreographed by Charlotte Edmonds, and supported in part by the mental health charity Mind, the video “hopes to raise awareness and understanding of depression in a compelling new way,” according to its description.

It’s a powerful message, made even more powerful by Hayward’s beautiful artistry: