we begin... (2021-22)
“The dancing helps you to accept the time that we’re living in now. When you understand this, this helps you helps you to to face your your you-ness. The dance can give you the pleasure to be you. It is strange to say that but it’s how fortunate you are to be you, to explore the joy to be you.”
we begin… is a film portrait series, shot during 16 visits to the individual homes of dancers with Parkinson’s throughout the summer of 2021. They share a unique moment, captured live by Cinematographer Pavel Radu through a single shot, with movement and voice developed and performed within the workshop on that day – all led and directed by Danielle Jones and Jaka Skapin. The intention is to showcase the aliveness of the collaborative process between Danielle, Jaka and the dancers – a process that is explored with integrity and vulnerability and evolves alongside the dancers in every session they deliver together.
Working with our dancers to develop the content for this process was a practice of noticing, offering, and reflecting. This co-creative process has been a pleasure to evolve over the summer and we are looking forward to sharing more films from the series over the coming months. Click here to see the gallery of films released over six months from October 2021 to April 2022.
“Each of the pieces is a mini performance captured by a dynamic hand-held camera. The musical pieces have been developed from what was sung live in the space. The films showcase the original sound with additional layers added during post-production; or an exact re-recording of the initial improvisation, when a digital vocal looper was our instrument of choice.”