Ahead, Behind

Ben Kadie (director): Several years ago, I saw the brilliant work of Director Naren Wilks, who did several projects around 2013 using an array of cameras in a circle to create a synchronised doppelgänger effect. I was amazed by this work. It just stuck in my brain. It was beautiful to watch and got me really interested in trying a different take on that technique. Specifically, using the symmetry of an infinite line rather than a circle. And with two people instead of one. In that way, the effect could create a scrambled sense of cause and effect. Like, who’s in front and who’s behind? Who is reacting to who? Kind of like Pac-Man wrapping around the screen. When Jordan, Aidan, and I connected I pulled that loose concept from my back pocket. They were into it and the three of us started building around that seed.

JA Collective (dancers/choreographers): For the choreography we created two connected phrases in a line that could be performed as a duo no matter the orientation we were in (Jordan left of Aidan, or Aidan left of Jordan). Our goal was to see how far we could push this idea with movement. Knowing how visually crazy it would look, we wanted the movement to reflect its nature. We knew starting slow would be ideal. We wanted to show the idea and give it time to breathe but then bring the complexity up to places that potentially seem improbable. Letting the movement be almost like a roller coaster that gets faster and faster.