New Materials: Natural Elements and the Body in Screendance

Abstract

This article explores the practice of shooting on location in screendance advocating for a practice that explores the concept of material specificity in order to create grounded conceptual works. In order to metaphorically and literally ground the dancing body, this article examines the crucial dichotomy between intervention in sites and integration of sites in order to understand exactly what stance screendance takes on its settings. In other words, what do artists take from the site and what do they bring to it? I begin by examining various definitions of site-specificity. By surveying theories and practices surrounding the artistic treatments of locations, my aim is to highlight the choreographic and cinematic techniques that connect the dancing body to the environment. I argue that through the use of natural elements these films articulate a version of site-specificity deeply connected to the materiality of each location rather than to its geography or history.

Exploring The Body–Landscape Relationship Through Dance Film

“…We shot the film in Sápmi, which means that we had to respect the land of the indigenous Sami people. Importantly, there was not only an intervention in the landscape through the dancing body, but first and foremost, an integration of the body with the landscape (Vitaglione 2016). This effect was obtained by using the lines and dynamics of the landscape in the movements of the dancer and through the movements of the camera, as well as a very basic awareness of environmentally responsible decision-making.…”