I have recently joined the Musical Moving session at KTHC, a dance class for people with Parkinson's lead by professional dancers with live musical accompaniment. The group has links with Brooklyn Parkinson’s Group, a chapter of the National Parkinson’s Foundation in the United States and has previously had classes lead by members of the Mark Morris Dance Group.
Film and dance are interesting counterparts, early films often used dancers as a subject, their movement displaying films amazing ability to reproduce action in real time. Since taking part and recording the classes I have been thinking about dance as a discipline in relation to cinematography; movement as an expression of/reaction to form, timing and space as a control or a measure. When dance is filmed the camera itself may be choreographed to move in way which reflects the dimensions of the dancers' movements, and the dance choreographed for the dimension of the screen rather than the stage. The musical element may appear to invite and sustain a particular movement or equally jar and unravel the synchronisity.
A fine example of this approach to dance for camera can be seen through the work of choreographer Merce Cunningham and his collaborations with composer John Cage and filmmakers such as Charles Atlas, Elliot Caplan and Tacita Dean.
Follow the link below to watch him in action...
Merce Cunningham - Points in Space BBC Documentary
Film can also manipulate how we percieve movement through editing techniques, it may play with our sense of time, speeding up or slowing down to emphasize movement. It may play with our spatial perception focusing on only one part of the body or movements may begin in one location, extend beyond the frame and finish in another. An example of this approach can be seen in the work of filmmaker Maya Deren.
Maya Deren - A Study in Choreography for Camera
No comments:
Post a Comment