Abstract
Sentence (2023) is a 9 minute dance film co-created by Rosemary Lee and Hugo Glendinning. It was shot in a former court room and is being screened at international dance festivals.
The research aimed to:
• Test the potential to reveal the ephemerality of dance by using the combination of slow shutter-speeds and stop frame animation to create flowing, ghost-like traces of movement.
• Explore the shifting balance between a) conveying the energetic state of the dance itself and b) portraying the fleeting presence of the dancer herself.
• Discover movements that work for very slow shutter-speeds and stop frame animation by exploring their dynamics, tempos, qualities, and durations.
The research extended Lee’s on-going explorations of the solo performer in intimate relationship to their environment as seen in boy[1], Infanta[2] and greenman[3], though all her previous films have involved outdoor contexts.
Sentence is the first film where she has explored stop frame animation and developed the use of slow shutter-speeds, previously investigated with Glendinning in stills photography. In these publicity images she sought to capture the essence of the dance to come, in this research she explored the duality of the presence and past of the dancer.
The artists shot footage over a week with dancer Lauren Potter without storyboarding, allowing them to respond each day to what they discovered. They aimed to find the narrative and compositional logic of the work through the editing process. Lee and Glendinning explored ways to overlay and phase the stills to achieve a greater sense of flow. To their knowledge they have not seen the combination of these techniques used before.
Sentence speaks to other artistic practices in photography namely Eadweard Muybridge[4] in the way it reveals motion through a series of single frames, and Francesca Woodman[5] in its exploration of the fragile presence of a woman merging into the fabric of her environment.
[1] Lee, Rosemary (1995). boy. BBC: Dance for the Camera. [film]
[2] Lee, Rosemary (1998). Infanta. BBC: [film]
[3] Lee, Rosemary (1996). greenman. BBC: Dance for the Camera [film]
[4] Muybridge, Eadweard (1887). Plate 461-Opening a parasol, and turning around. Collotype. Animal Locomotion. An Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements. Commenced 1872-Completed 1885. [portfolio]
[5] Woodman, Francesca (1977). Untitled, Rome, Italy, 1977-1978. Marian Goodman Gallery © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York [photograph]
The research aimed to:
• Test the potential to reveal the ephemerality of dance by using the combination of slow shutter-speeds and stop frame animation to create flowing, ghost-like traces of movement.
• Explore the shifting balance between a) conveying the energetic state of the dance itself and b) portraying the fleeting presence of the dancer herself.
• Discover movements that work for very slow shutter-speeds and stop frame animation by exploring their dynamics, tempos, qualities, and durations.
The research extended Lee’s on-going explorations of the solo performer in intimate relationship to their environment as seen in boy[1], Infanta[2] and greenman[3], though all her previous films have involved outdoor contexts.
Sentence is the first film where she has explored stop frame animation and developed the use of slow shutter-speeds, previously investigated with Glendinning in stills photography. In these publicity images she sought to capture the essence of the dance to come, in this research she explored the duality of the presence and past of the dancer.
The artists shot footage over a week with dancer Lauren Potter without storyboarding, allowing them to respond each day to what they discovered. They aimed to find the narrative and compositional logic of the work through the editing process. Lee and Glendinning explored ways to overlay and phase the stills to achieve a greater sense of flow. To their knowledge they have not seen the combination of these techniques used before.
Sentence speaks to other artistic practices in photography namely Eadweard Muybridge[4] in the way it reveals motion through a series of single frames, and Francesca Woodman[5] in its exploration of the fragile presence of a woman merging into the fabric of her environment.
[1] Lee, Rosemary (1995). boy. BBC: Dance for the Camera. [film]
[2] Lee, Rosemary (1998). Infanta. BBC: [film]
[3] Lee, Rosemary (1996). greenman. BBC: Dance for the Camera [film]
[4] Muybridge, Eadweard (1887). Plate 461-Opening a parasol, and turning around. Collotype. Animal Locomotion. An Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements. Commenced 1872-Completed 1885. [portfolio]
[5] Woodman, Francesca (1977). Untitled, Rome, Italy, 1977-1978. Marian Goodman Gallery © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York [photograph]
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Media of output | Film |
| Publication status | Published - 29 Aug 2023 |
Additional Information
Keywords
- Dance
- Screendance
- Animation
- practice as research
- film
- collaboration