Sprouting
If one considers the theater with its proscenium arch as a site for the performance of dance, then one might also consider film/video, with its specific frame size (or aspect ratio, the relationship of width to height) as a sort of architectural space as well.
Just as the theater has an architectural specificity, the same can be said of video/film. However, the theater offers no permanent storage for dance. After a performance one is left with the lingering yet ephemeral image of the dance as it was in the theater.
Within the technology of video, the site for storage of the dance becomes the electronically encoded space of the videotape, allowing the audience to view it repeatedly as it is. That is to say, the viewing of the video dance is always in the present, regardless of the passage of time from its creation.
The architecture of video, or video space is a construction of “transdimensionality”, in other words, the simultaneous perception of two time frames, (the viewing present and the past/present; the point of creation of the video dance) and the perception of three dimensional space in a two dimensional medium. The act of viewing a dance created for the camera in the medium of video requires the viewer to participate in re-imagining the nature of dance itself.
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Now having to transition my crafting and presenting the choreographic project from Halllie studio to the medium of film, various themes and notions have been circulating my mind. I am now having to think about the particular camera angles and shots–ideal techniques and methods within dancefiilm–that I would like to implement in this piece. There are a lot more factors to consider aside from choreographing–location, directing, filming, editing–that I believe will be a challenge along the process, but I will continually embrace.
I am now building concrete phrases that I will be able to expand and build upon while filming and exploring the possibilities that are available while I am filming the dance. Having a solid phrase that I can flesh out will be a key factor in this filming and choreographic process as I will be able to play with the ideas of mirroring and tracking that I’ve previously been investigating as my launching point.
Next steps will be testing and shooting at the potential locations and seeing what works and what may not.
here we go. . .
My flowing lil Piña!! I am very curious to see where you decide to film for your piece. Creating a whole film in general as you stated, comes with its challenges and is not what was originally anticipated but the ball is truly now in your court in terms of how you choose to utilize space and the potential for variety and unconventionality within that is grand. I challenge you to consider taking your movement in places you would never consider dancing and record what that’s like. How does it feel, what does it evoke? Your possibilities are truly endless. Very excited to see more of your process!
I love your description of video as a type of architectural specificity. I’m so interested in where your video(s) will take place and how changes in site may affect your tracking or the texture of your set phrases. I am also so interested in what your tracking will look like alongside your set phrase and if, on its own, I’d be able to discern that you were tracking without having the set phrase in front of me to reference. I love the movement and sound in the video you shared with us – incredibly jealous of the tangible sunlight and warmth. Though there are so many technical factors and challenges to consider in a video, maybe each of these factors brings a new kind of creative freedom. I’m also wondering about the curation of video – how you can choose what the viewer sees and re-tape something until you have it “perfect.” How might you approach curation in this tracking? I’m so excited to continue watching how this evolves.