DeadFall Dance Company, an experimental and collaborative dance company created by Judith Wombell, Instructor in Dance, presented an innovative combination of the film “Flow” and live dance performance “White” last Friday night.
Kicking off the evening in Kemper Auditorium, the 25-minute-long, wordless film “Flow” opened with a quote from “Walden,” a novel by Henry David Thoreau. “Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains,” the quotation read.
The film featured Wombell as choreographer and Steven Wicks, Faculty Emeritus, as director-cinematographer.
Featuring DeadFall dancers Renee Amirault ’07, Caitlin Klinger, Tabitha Liversidge and Erin Strong, Chair and Instructor in Theater and Dance, the film followed three dancers in their exploration of Mills Brook, two brooks on Wicks’ and Wombwell’s properties in Western Massachusetts.
Amirault, Liversidge and Strong danced on the banks of the brook to reflect the connection between humans and nature. While the three dancers explored the unfamiliar environment of the brooks and woodlands, Klinger acted as an observer intrigued by the graceful presence of the dancers.
At the end, Klinger exited the scene inspired by the breathtaking landscape of the brooks’ streams and boulders and the enchanting movements of the dancers.
“Flow” is meant to invite the audience to a reflection of “the soulful connection between humankind and the natural world,” according to the press release.
Wicks wanted to explore the ways in which the stream caused the dancers to “slow down” when they encountered it, he said in a question-and-answer session.
“When I thought of [the choreography,] I wanted the three women to just explore and learn how to interact with this beautiful, natural world. And a way to express this is to show how they interact and deal with nature by playing with the choreography. The dance is supposed to replicate, mirror and be nature,” said Wombwell during the question-and-answer session following the film.
Wicks filmed “Flow” during the summer of 2011 with financial support from the Abbot Academy Association. Wicks and Wombwell started developing the idea a year prior to the scheduled shooting.
Wicks said that he did not add in any external sounds to the film, although he did enhance some of the sounds that were recorded at the site. He worked solely on the visual screenplay and soundscape while Wombwell choreographed most of the film. The combination of both efforts created a film with a meaning that is open to various interpretations, according to the press release.
After a quick showing of Wick’s “Director’s Notebook,” a short video featuring behind-the-scenes footages with commentary from both Wick and Wombwell, student ushers guided the audience to Steinbach Theater for a live performance by members of DeadFall Dance.
Dancers in white leotards emerged onto the stage to perform “White,” a dance Wombwell choreographed as a companion to scenes from the middle of “Flow.” “White” highlighted the individual interactions between dancers in a series of quick, light-footed movements.
While “Flow” played with element of setting and natural light, “White” relied on the dimly-lit environment of the black-box theatre. According to Wicks, he shot most of “Flow” at 6:30 a.m. to use the softest natural light of the day.
“I think of the young people who I am privileged to work with every single day, and I want to be able to experience the world that way, really to take time and see things and feel things and these dancers—it was as if we gave them that gift when we did this project,” said Wombwell during the Q&A.
“I was really interested in the creation process of dance and how [Wombwell] comes to choreograph her dances. The video was very subtle, yet enchanting. ‘White’ was absolutely amazing. It was so refreshing and awesome to be able to see [Strong] perform as a dancer and not just as a teacher,” said Jaleel Williams ’15.
