MARIEKE HELMUS (NL)
31.10 – 10.11 / 11:00 / WASP
Workshop by film director Marieke Helmus
This workshop is focused on creating a true symbiosis of dance and film. In other words: we are going to make a dance that does not exist without the use of film.
The dance will be inspired by different artists, like the kinetic work (mobiles) of Calder and the paintings and sculptures of Picasso, in other words avant-garde artists. In the first days we will explore dance by isolating body parts. In what way can you concentrate your dance from out of one body part, while still being honest to the rest of your body? With lighting and film techniques we will be able to isolate the body parts even more and create a really small piece of art in space.
The next step will be to create a new body from out of different people’s body parts again learning from composition in abstract avant-garde paintings and art work. This is when film really will be important, because by different ways of filming and montage we try to create new bodies, not with difficult animation techniques, but by taking the freedom of abstract paintings and sculptures and by the use of rhythm and sound. So we will create new living bodies out of different body parts of different people, but also: out of a group of hands a new utopic body will erase. Or what to think of synchronic ‘swimming’ arms and legs in black studio, in which bodies suddenly pop up out of the black? In these group dances we will try to create a perfect tension between the different elements, like Calder’s mobiles or a perfectly balanced painting. We can also experiment with different colours, for example work in full white studio with soft film focus and try to find the feel and colours of a certain painting in pastel colours.
It will be a true experiment; we do not know what will be the end result. With a spirit of exploration and discovery we will work. Just like the avant-garde artist we will not depict what meets the eye, but we will dance and film emotions, and impressions, relations and contrasts.
More info for example: http://calder.org
Assignment ahead: take a picture of your favourite avant garde art work
Marieke Helmus (1980, Holland) has made a variety of dance films and also made different videos to be projected in dance performances. For Cape Town Soup she worked with African traditional dancers and encouraged them to experiment with modern dance. In Rotterdamse Tranen (Rotterdam Tears) she examined the relationship young dancers have with comforting and discomforting spots in the Port of Rotterdam. For the docu-dance performance Sneak Preview she investigated the freedom of movement of veiled Arab women. Film and dance merge together in a multidiscipline performance. Her latest film is called Dansen in Stilte (Silent Moves), in this film she follows 5 deaf dancers and gives a new perspective on sound and silence. Lately she has been researching Butoh dance, and among that she has been filming at the Mud Flats to revive an old sea-legend with butoh dancers.
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To apply: send your CV and a cover letter to the following address: workshops@exploredancefestival.ro
Deadline for applications:
- October 5 (for Romanian artists)
- October 15 (for European artists)
