Here is short film that's been circulating Facebook-land. Maybe you've seen it already but I wanted to leave it here because I think it's beautiful.
Often (opinion) dance films are strangely void of, well, dance. Possibly over half of the dance on camera I seek out seems to be comprised of hand gestures, artistic shots or pedestrian movement, but not a lot of bodies moving in athletic, intricate, choreographed ways. The other half of the time I find myself watching a dance that has consequently been filmed, as is, for the stage, which doesn't really quality as a dance film.
The selection below melds beautiful vigorous movement with a solid argument for being a film piece, not live work. The choreography holds equal weight to the choices made in setting up the shots, the location, the music, the costuming, the editing. Everything is genuine, intentional, any hand on a body (one's own or the other's) is super deliberate... refreshing. All of the components are incredibly well balanced and actually deserve to be a semi-narrative film piece that can be categorized as a dance film.
Valtari- Written & Directed by Christian Larson. Choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Now, is the top removal near the end a bit cliche? Maybe. I could very well be sick and tired of people taking off their clothes onstage in dance/theater/perf art, just for the hell of it. Then again it's kind of nice that the pair of dancers has the naked torso skin-on-skin happening. Doesn't it feel really lovely to lay your bare back against someone else's? Yep.
Also-also, does the warehouse setting remind anyone else of a post-apocalyptic version of the game Portal?
rather post apocalypse. well done
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