Dancen

dir Corina Andrian

Romania, Germany

What do we say when we don’t talk? An explosion of vitality, "Dancen" is the result of brief, intimate encounters between 5 dancers in preparation at the future Pina Bausch Centre for a series of street performances in Wuppertal, Germany in Sept-Oct 2021.
Robert Bresson once wrote: "Shooting. Agony of making sure not to let slip any part of what I merely glimpse, of what I perhaps do not yet see and shall only later be able to see." The film looks at the fleeting impulses that live in between moments of the day. Their precise quality is being situated between quiet habits, that is the space inhabited by yearning, daydreams, surrealism. What did you dream in between two blinks, how did the sun shine that day, what occupied your waiting at the red light, what did you fear that day, how did the pressure feel when you touched something? How would a day look made of just the meaning in between the lines, the momentary glimpses of truth?
Accompanied by the music of established Romanian artist Argatu', a unique blend of trip-hop, electronic and Romanian folk music, "Dancen" attempts to come closer to the subtleties of daily life that we tend to overlook. It follows the surreal logic of dreams with a Tanztheater inspired choreography infused with Romanian mythology that talks about death, fears and a bittersweet longing for our past lives.
The director, Corina Andrian, is deeply inspired by the most fragile, banal and mundane which she seeks to defamiliarize in her own unmissable surreal style. Through haptic visuality, she wishes to re-activate the passive viewer through imagery which awakens the corporeal memory of senses forcing the audience to become a co-creator in the cinematic experience. The project is a Romanian-German co-production and was funded by the Ministry of Culture Romania and co-funded by the The Administration of the National Cultural Fund.

words from the filmmaker

'Dancen' represents my desire to come as close as possible to human nature's subtleties and I wanted to focus on the dancers' inner lives. The main thought was that in a city there are chance encounters that happen which can completely change the course of your day. This is why the film works through a process of ‘accumulation’ where the group gradually becomes bigger and bigger. Similarly, our lives are the result of accumulated, layered experiences and events. The city has that effect where sometimes you get overwhelmed by the noisy environment or you can project your emotions onto what surrounds you and exchange a meaningful look with a stranger that you will remember for years to come.

why we love this film

Corina's ability to utilize public spaces is phenomenal. It feels like the dancers are living a parallel reality to the world around them, therefore drawing us in, which is what excellent dance filmmaking is all about.