Betwixt and Between Dance Film
The project takes its departure from the concept of being in between. While exploring the dynamics of city film seeks to combine social choreography with moves of performers in non-invasive, almost invisible way. Dancers focus on undisturbing action that often starts from pedestrianism. Putting narrative aside minimal movements film travel between spaces and draws upon an idea of fitting into the place and urge to belonging while looking for human connections.
The idea was firstly created by us: the photographer and filmmaker Vesa Loikas and choreographer Ania Straczynska in winter 2018. We were attracted by the idea of going to the place and working with what we find there taking our ideas from what we see there and then. Knowing that Polish city Gdansk was a “Free City” (autonomic, not belonging to any country) in 1920–1939 we started to explore ideas around transitional place, being between states and very liquid sense of belonging to the place. The concepts of adapting to the new place, creating new connections translated into our methodology of working and aesthetics threads in the film. Inviting two local dancers, who none of us met before, gave us a new perspective and kept the projects evolving and changing until the very end.
Choreography itself is focused on minimal movement that instead of being an additional layer added onto the environment harks back for it, creating a new situation. For us, the camera can be as being in transitional space meaning that the point of view could change from a spectator to participant to documentarist to the artist which fortify the idea of transition. In parallel, we look at video and photographs in juxtaposition, ambiguous & negative space.
Director: Video & Photography: Vesa Loikas
Soundtrack: November
Dancers: Kamila Maik, Kacper Matuszewski, Ania Straczyńska
Additional cast: people of Gdańsk, Poland
