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ScreenDance Diaries

Near Perfect Synchronization

By Sarah Elgart on August 19, 2020 in Dance, Film, Music

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Koki Nakano recently came into my consciousness when some of the short films made – or more formulaically speaking – some of the music videos made for his pieces appeared in a Japanese magazine in which my work was also being featured. Besides the beauty of his music and the overall aesthetics of several short films that feature it, the title of this series, namely “Pre-Choreographed,” caught my eye.

Near Perfect Synchronization opens with an overhead, panoramic shot of a lot filled with tractors, earth moving, earth boring, and other such industrial equipment parked in near perfect formation — spatially equidistant in relationship one to another. As the film unfolds, it is portrayed as an architectural landscape… a place with its own strange and singular character, memories, and beauty.

I’ve always been a fan of industrial locations – old rusty oil pumps, gravel fields, factory plants where the presence of people is hauntingly absent like ghost towns. And in Near Perfect Synchronization when the stunning dancer Amala Dianor appears, the unequivocal humanity and the honesty of his movement and face creates a beautiful dichotomy. The tracking camera movement in concert with the location and choreography makes for a striking singularity, and creates a kind of unlikely lullaby, especially when we experience the texture of the air in some shots, and a lovely improvised, contemporary pas de deux he performs with a floating piece of plastic .

Directed by Benjamin Seroussi, Near Perfect Synchronization is a stunning and near perfect short dance film, which also happens to be a music video with beautiful cinematography, dance, and of course music.

Enjoy.

 

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TagsAmala DianorKoki NakanoNear Perfect Synchronization

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About the author

Sarah Elgart

Sarah Elgart

Founder/Director of Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival, Sarah Elgart is a Los Angeles based choreographer and director working under the auspice of Sarah Elgart | Arrogant Elbow. Sarah creates original content for stage, screen, and site-specific venues. Her stage and site-works have been performed at alternative spaces including LAX Airport, The Skirball Center, Mark Taper Forum, Van Nuys Flyaway, The Bradbury Building, Jacob’s Pillow, INSITU Site-Specific Festival NY, and Loft Seven, where she created a rooftop work lit entirely by a hovering helicopter accompanied by Nels Cline (Wilco). Her work has been produced by venues including The Music Center, MASS MoCA, Dance Place, Los Angeles Theater Center, Mark Taper Forum and The International Women’s Theater Festival. In film Sarah has worked with noted directors including JJ Abrams, David Lynch, Catherine Hardwicke, and Anton Corbijn. Her own films include award-winning music videos, dance shorts, and an Emmy nominated PSA, and continue to be accepted into festivals internationally. In addition to teaching dance and film, Sarah writes a regular column, ScreenDance Diaries that focuses on the intersections of both genres internationally for online magazine Cultural Weekly. Sarah’s work has received support from organizations that include the Rockefeller Foundation, the NEA, City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, California Arts Council and more. She is an alumna of the Sundance Institute’s Dance Film Lab, a Fellow of AFI’s Directing Women’s Workshop, and a director member of the DGA.

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