A word with En Dedans director Gabrielle Lamb

[Deirdre Towers]

EN DEDANS

Gabrielle Lamb, USA, 2011; 10m

A one-of-a-kind film collage that draws on dancers’ dream journals, choreography, structured improv and spoken text.

When I set out on my collaboration with the BalletX dancers, I had in mind to make a film based on the idea of dancers' dreams. I found, almost but not quite to my surprise, that most dancers have pretty much the same two or three dreams about dance that I myself have.  Rather than discouraging me, however, this awakened my curiosity about the people I was working with.  I wanted to get deeper into their minds and use these dreams as a starting point for learning about their unique experiences.  Alongside our choreographic explorations and structured improvs, I talked to them about their earliest memories of dance----what they love and hate about it, and how they have changed over the years.  These dancers were incredibly generous, both in the studio and in conversation;  and I wanted the finished work to weave together their multicolored threads in a way that celebrates these lives lived in dance.  

When I create a new work, I rarely have a clear vision in my mind of the finished product.  I do have themes or images, however; and using these as a basis I start my process by journaling and collecting materials.  Once a point of departure suggests itself I begin to assemble the materials in a collage; and each new element I add suggests the next possibility.  For this project I created a structure for myself by beginning with the soundtrack, using the dancers' voices and the music to establish a spine of meaning.  Once the soundtrack was complete, I added the layers of images and animation.  Working in this manner, I inevitably encounter surprises, both positive and negative.  Each project poses unique challenges that I cannot predict ahead of time.  On the other hand, I rarely feel disappointed in the actualization of my vision, since it never quite exists in the first place.

Gabrielle Lamb

Dancer, choreographer, self-taught filmmaker Gabrielle Lamb will introduce her short EN DEDANS to be shown along with BALANCHINE IN PARIS in DOCF 2012 Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 4pm at the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center Plaza, New York. 

For more information on Gabrielle Lamb, please visit her website www.gabriellelamb.com.

For more information on the Philadelphia based dance company BalletX, see http://www.balletx.org.

To buy tickets to see this film, visit http://webtixs.easytixs.com/MunroeFilmCenter/TicketingTodaysEventsP...