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ScreenDance Diaries

Weightless
from Erika Janunger

By Sarah Elgart on March 17, 2014 in Architecture, Art, Dance, Film, Music, TV + Web

1

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This week I offer up Erika Janunger’s beautiful award-winning dance short, Weightless, a film about architecture, gravity, and illusion.

As a choreographer I am always preoccupied with gravity, and with creating movement that alternately succumbs to or explores the illusion of defying it. In this short with two female dancers, one in a living room another in a bedroom, we watch as they seamlessly navigate from wall to floor, or vice versa, imperceptibly shifting their weight from one surface to the other. A dance film festival favorite, I’ve watched it countless times, each time successfully suspending disbelief. But from one moment to the next, I am so caught up in the illusion and the lyricism of the movement that I still cannot always tell how it was done.

Dancer defying gravity in "Weightless"

Dancer defying gravity in Weightless

Years ago I had the privilege of working with Stanley Donen, and hearing from him how he created the trick of similarly moving a dancing Fred Astaire, and a room, in the 1951 film Royal Wedding. Back in those days the studios not only allowed him to build an entire room that actually rotated, they gave him weeks and weeks of prep and rehearsal time in order to successfully accomplish the illusion with both the amazing Astaire’s dance and with the camera. I doubt Weightless had a quarter of the time, and I’m sure significantly less of a budget, but it is equally successful and even more mysterious. The execution of the two dancers—the fact that we are seeing each one seemingly in her own personal and private reverie—and the slightly haunting music, all add to the effect.

And by the way, not only did Erika Janunger choreograph, direct, shoot, and art direct the film, she also wrote the music.

Enjoy.

 

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TagschoreographydanceErika JanungerfilmmusicScreenDance DiariesvideoWeightless

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About the author

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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