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Away From Here (2011)
The wilderness landscape of the Scottish Highlands, where I lived for 15 years, has featured significantly in my collaborative screendance works, many of which I have filmed as well as directed. A desire to consider the natural environment not just as background, but rather as a mutual presence, even performer in the work, lead to the exploration of landscape over e series of works, including those that were choreographed Away From Here (2011) and those that were improvised, such as The Time It Takes (2012), Uath Lochans (2014) and Coire Ruadh (2015).
In her article entitled “Bodies in place: location as collaborator in dance film.” published in the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, Melanie Kloetzel writes the following about Away From Here:
“Dramatic tension develops between performers and site as long shots contrast with amplifying close ups of bodies investigating place. Directly in the middle of the 13-minute film, for a full one minute and 15 seconds, the place is shown in full glory, almost absent of a dancing body. Again, we see the place as a character in motion – steady shots highlight the swaying of the trees, butterflies flitting between flowers, ferns bobbing in the wind, and clouds moving rapidly across the sky.” (Published online: 16 Jul 2014.)
In the current time of climate crises, and an increasingly on-line, un-embodied existence, need to re-connect with the natural environment has become even more crucial. I feel that the approaches that I have developed towards making work that does this can support a healthier relationship to the natural world.