Tempest’s Edge | Film
The inspiration.
I’ve never seen a dance film I liked. So I decided to make one.
The whole world became virtual with covid. Even the dance world became virtual. Instead of in-person classes, zoom. Instead of live performances, live stream. The tactile experience of performance art and in-person learning, transferred to a screen.
A textured performance, filmed and relayed on a screen, can look flat. Elements such as raw emotion, patterns, lighting, become less vivid, and the experience is lost.
So I asked these questions: What role can I play in keeping dance relevant in this digital age? And how can I make a 2D performance become 3D?
The story.
Coming out of covid, I wanted to process the collective loss we faced during the pandemic and my own personal journey through grief.
Tempest’s Edge encourages the viewer to be patient with themselves. Loss can be something as huge and profound as losing a loved one, seemingly small and insignificant as a broken pencil, or abstract and intangible as the death of a dream. These all converge at the epicenter of common, complex, human emotion. This story is about just how normal it is to experience the five stages of grief in no particular order.
The creation.
After applying for and receiving the South Carolina Arts Commission’s Emerging Artist Grant in November 2021, I began the administrative search for a videographer/editor and musician/composer.
My initial vision for the film was an overhead shot of a dancer lying on the floor, sinking into blackness, the only movement coming from the camera.
Jenna Yeager, Seth Williams, my dancers, and the rest of my team ran with this idea. I am so thankful for their enthusiasm for the creative process!
In prep for our film day in April 2022, I choreographed four separate pieces of movement. Every dancer learned everything, with the expectation that they would perform one of the pieces of movement, one-on-one with the camera, for our film shoot.
I made this decision to encourage the viewer to feel separate yet connected emotions. I wanted to communicate the distinctness and depth of every emotion in grief, while also communicating that grief is not a linear process - it comes and goes, ebbs and flows, and sometimes we get confused when it looks like we’ve reached a place of acceptance but we’re still in denial.
With the help of a seamstress, I designed and sewed each original costume. Every color, texture, rip, and choice of fabric or piece of clothing is intentional to enhance the characters and choreography. I love how the costumes and characters came to life in the film venue.
Our venue was a transformed classroom. I directed Seth and assistants in setting the dance floor, lights, smog machine, and blacked out windows for what you see now. So thankful for my team and those who lended supplies, catered, prayed, and supported to make our film shoot happen.
After we filmed, Jenna went to work finalizing and mixing her music composition, Seth hit the editing process, and me and my dancers waited in eager expectation. I had high expectations. The resulting film exceeded all expectations and remained true to my initial vision.
May 2022 I received the final version of Tempest’s Edge, and the dance film I can finally say I love.
From the Process.
