The Practice Room, The Poles and The Paper

It's been a busy time for FireBox recently with a few breakthroughs in terms of my degree project, the first draft of my masters due in and working on a dance film with some contemporary/pole dancers.

Isadora is starting to behave herself in the Practice Room at The Arches just in time for my Dance House creative lab at the UK theatre school next week. I've got nice LED lights to use as a trigger and the dancers have been working on some great sequences that will be used as the basis for their improvisations. I'd asked them to choreograph their own combos as I'd wanted something different from my usual style and they ended up creating 4 different combos that are very much my style - perhaps we've all been working together too long!

I still need to get all my extra dancers together one weekend to film the movie clips for the piece and, as always, I'm expecting that to be a logistical nightmare.

Two of my dancers, Gill Smith and Suzi Kelly, have been going to pole dancing classes recently and were keen to combine it with contemporary dance so we got together and made a film with them showing off their new skills. The first edit is done and as soon as they've signed off on it I'll be punting it around different events and getting it shown.



Finally, the dreaded paper. The first draft is in and I'm waiting on some feedback before I get stuck in to completing it. There are some things I already know need to be expanded upon and clarified but the basis is there so I just need to get my head down and get on with it.

What Goes Up...

FireBox dancers and friends, Gillian and Suzi, have been going to pole dancing classes recently and have really got into the whole thing. As well as being the source of endless anecdotes about clammy palms and upside down spins they have also decided that pole dancing, combined with contemporary, would be a good subject for a dance film.

The idea came to them a while ago and they asked me to get involved in the filming/editing part of it which is scheduled for Monday (26th May). I plan to work with high end and low end cameras to create an interesting quality to the film which will reflect the perceived differences in the dance forms.

re:surface

The launch of the Dance House's new screendance event went really well as far as I could tell. I was working until 9pm the night it was on and raced to get there for 9.15pm just in time for both of my films and Rosie's film. Lots of good feedback and encouragement with some people loving Dark Matter and some people preferring the laid-back vibe of These Things Happen.

A few people had suggested re-shooting it in a clearer space with the dancers in costume but I think the essence of the piece would be lost if I tried to recreate it. I'm going to concentrate on the itch re-shoot and make that into something that really works.

These Things Happen

These Things Happen when three dancers and one dancer/film maker follow instructions given by choreographer, Angus Balbernie at a Dance House research lab. Spontaneous, textured and very low-tech.



Following another failed attempt to hire any equipment I ended up using my own Mini DV and mobile to film improvisations at Angus' research lab. Angus had agreed to let me use the footage anyway I decided but I wasn't sure how to put it all together with it being on different formats and still make it look like one cohesive piece. After a lightbulb moment last weekend I decided to embrace the low-tech aspect and only use the footage from my mobile. The only editing I chose to use was to rotate some of the sections which had been captured in portrait to give the feeling of the camera rotating but the dancers remain standing.

I'm quite pleased with the results and am now thinking of ways this can be combined with my final project.

These Things Happen

A few weeks ago I worked with choreographer, Angus Balbernie, as a dancer/film maker on his current research. As a dancer, I was involved in improvisational tasks set by Angus to look into how different instructions affect movement quality. As a film maker, I filmed these improvisations whilst being involved in them. I finished the week with around about an hour of footage on my Mini DV and my mobile not really knowing what I was going to do with them. This morning, after looking at all the footage again, I remembered a piece of music that seems to tie all the footage together and make it something complete. I am now busily and happily editing away and reckon I'll be finished quite soon.

After weeks of being 'stuck' and having no ideas I've impressed myself this weekend with a few good ones. Long may it continue.

Lightbulb Moment

I decided a while ago that I was going to re-shoot 'itch', the film I made following a task as part of the Masterclass at The Space last term. I felt it had enough potential to do again and wanted to make the whole thing again with the dancers in costumes. I spent a while finding costumes I was happy with but was still considering ways I could develop the sound and lighting to improve them.

Last night I had it; the lightbulb moment.

Rather than using the strip lighting which is in place or proper studio lighting I've decided to use torches to light the space and the dancers. Each dancer will have 2 torches which they will shine into dark spots and onto each other. This way, as well as the film being a development of itself, it's also linking in with my other explorations into using light and photographing it. I now have clear images in my mind as to how the finished product will look which is the way I normally work so I'm pleased at the moment and ready to get going.

Dark Matter at Montage

I've just found out that Dark Matter will be screened at Montage Video Dance Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa this weekend. I applied to the festival a few weeks ago and had actually forgotten it was this weekend so it was quite a surprise to receive the email. The event, curated by Jeanette Ginslov and Gerard Bester of Walking Gusto Productions, was named a 'world beater' by Adrienne Sichel last year and will include a line up of dance videos that are exciting, innovative and astounding. I'm especially pleased to have Dark Matter selected as Katrina McPherson's Moment was shown last year as was Nascent by Gina Czarnecki.

You can view an excerpt from Dark Matter here and let me know what you think or if you have to be in Johannesburg this weekend pop in to the Wits Downstairs Theatre.

The Corrie Fee Fugues

I was invited to participate in Angus Balbernie's Dance House Creative Lab this week focusing on the meaning of movement in performance. My role was to split my time between being a dancer and filmer so I could experience and compare both. I spent a lot of time during the week filming while dancing on both my Mini DV and mobile phone. The footage below is unedited and was taken on my mobile on the last day. I intend to edit the rest of the footage of the improvisations into a short dance film piece.

Opensource {videodance} 2007

Another week full of things to think about and consider both practically and academically. Being a scribe at the event really helped focus my mind on what I was listening to and the openspace structure allowed for a lot more involved in discussions than may have been possible in another set up.

The thing that really caught my imagination was Becky Edmunds' talk about 'in camera' editing. She explained that if you film 4 hours of footage you then need 4 hours to review it - time consuming, expensive and slightly boring. Her technique is to press record only when something really interests her and to stop when it stops being interesting. This really appealed to me as I always know the footage I'm going to use at the moment I'm filming it, yet I continue filming anyway. When it comes to capturing the footage I ignore most of it and got straight to the points that I've already recognised I'm interested in. It seems to me that the next logical step would be just to stop recording when that moment is over.

As Becky pointed out, I will inevitably miss things but there will always be something else that engages me. Over the holidays I'm going to practice this skill in everyday life using the video camera on my mobile phone. Results to follow..