… glimpses transformed …
the camera captures instances of the ephemeral and in doing so transforms the memory of the danced experience, lending me new memories and perspectives that I may have imagined otherwise
the smudged qualities that Helen's reproductions of ‘a dance once danced’ offer, resonate with the vibrancy and almost ‘demolecularization of self’ that I sense when performing in these lit environments
where bodies spread across the frame, extended by the slowness of the shutter, I see my dancing thoughts materialize, suspended, leaving trails that blur and intertwine
Photographic documentation from dress rehearsal of l i g h t o u c h 26.09.13
Photography: Helen Newall
Dancers: James Hewison and Michelle Man
Lighting Design: Michelle Man in collaboration with David Forrest
Scene III
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Scene V
Scene VI
Scene IX
Scene IV
Research scholar Matthew Reason reminds us that,
“(t)he instinct and desire to use photography to halt the disappearance of
performance is very strong” and that often “the photographic image becomes
verification of the existence, appearance and importance of their subject.”
(Reason, 2006: 121-122). I recognise this “instinct and
desire” to capture a glimpse of myself from the outside. I am also fascinated by the new performance the captured moment offers. I take then from John Berger when he says that “(t)he
relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.” (1972:7). It
is this un-settledness that allows me to repeatedly return my gaze to the
moment of captured flow, the crystallization of an in-between state, where I
may reflect and re-discover something of that which was fleeting, something of what might have been.
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