Dance on Film: Find Your Creative Voice
Special Focus on Re:imagination
Dance is increasingly being created and performed for digital audiences. Stepping into this territory can seem daunting and unfamiliar. Dance filmmaker Jo Cork offers some practical tips for those looking at creating a piece of screendance of their own.
Jo Cork Dance exploded onto our screens in 2020 in a way screendance practitioners scarcely dared to hope for. The pandemic created a very particular space for larger audiences to discover screendance, and to understand that as a creator, it should be approached as more than documentation of live work - it is a hybrid art form in its own right. It has hugely exciting possibilities and, in today’s digital culture, is very much on the rise. While many screendance artists have honed their practice over several years, the cameras within our phones make it a very accessible form, and there are some key aspects that screendance newbies can consider in order to start exploring and creating…
Photo: Orestes Chouchoulas
“Ask yourself: What do you want your viewer to notice? What do you want them to feel? What do you want to draw attention to? What do the camera and choreography create together?” Jo Cork 32 The One Dance UK Magazine | Spring 2021
Choreography for camera This is a hybrid art form - consider the relationship between choreography and camera. Ask yourself: What do you want your viewer to notice? What do you want them to feel? What do you want to draw attention to? What do the camera and choreography create together? Camerawork can entirely transform choreography! It can draw emphasis to tiny details, and give the viewer a sense of motion as a dancer remains still. It can fragment the body to focus on isolated movements or limbs, or make the viewer feel that they are approaching the dancer; there are endless options.
Location Just as you wouldn’t put unrelated scenery on stage with your work, don’t film in an unrelated location. Again, what do you want your viewer to notice? What do you want them to feel? What do you want to draw attention to?
How does that work in the studio? One of the most compelling features of screendance is that it gives us, as, makers, control over physics! Suddenly, we can switch viewpoints, slow down, speed up, defy gravity, switch between past and present, or teleport to another location - we are liberated to escape all those restrictions we are beholden to in making live work. And so, you need to get to know your choreography from all angles.Walk around it; don’t view it from the front that makes sense for stage work, but not here. Take test shots. Use your hands to blinker your vision and test what it’s like when you see just the feet here, or just the turning of the torso there.
Permissions If filming outdoors, you may need to gain permission from the land owner or local council. In fear of rejection, it can be tempting to film without asking. No matter how you film, every shoot requires some risk assessment. The safety of the public and your performers is paramount, so listen to local guidance.
What can a location offer that serves those aims? Perhaps it’s the decaying nature of a derelict barn, the historical/social significance of a marketplace or public square,or the sense of comfort and safety of a cosy living room strewn with family photos.
Delivering your concept Using non-dance images can be useful to give your audience chance to absorb what they have just seen, to breathe and reset before a new scene, or to highlight important themes. All of that imagery in our head when we choreograph - if filmed and used carefully - can ensure
