New York-based choreographer Akira Uchida’s latest dance film What A Place, which was created in collaboration with electronic music artist altrice, recently premiered on Nowness.
What A Place delves and digs into the broad spectrum of self-expression using four distinct yet interconnected scenes or states to highlight the different types of self that exist in these spaces. Each scene – the film is an ode to New York – captures a heightened state of expression experienced by a central character, blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy, and prompting the viewer to wonder if these intense moments are real, or manifestations of repressed desires seeking release.
In the film dancers whirl, bend and expand to atmospheric bassy music, coming together and drawing apart. Movement is shaped by each character’s emotional and sensory experience of each scene. Jolty movement appears when a character finds themselves unsettled in a place. And yet at another time, in the open, expansive concrete scene where the dancers are together, there’s a sense of connectedness, togetherness and joy.
The film is available to watch here.
Credits:
Director/Choreographer: Akira Uchida
Music: altrice
Featuring: Akira Uchida
Dancers: Dasol Kim, Jacob Thoman, Liana Kleinman, Maxi Canion
Executive Producer: Ben Totty (Box Artist Management Ltd)
Producer: Tori Soper
DOP: Bailey T. Miclette
Production Company: Boulder Media House
1st Assistant Camera: Adler Shannon
Editor: Jack Foster
Post: Society Post House
Colouring: Nicholas Lareau
Featuring clothing by: Lu’u Dan, Priscavera, Useless Objects
Artist Label : Godmode
The team say thank you to Samuel Schler, Gia Kuan, Gerardo Bandera, Owen Barrow, The Joyce Theater Foundation’s New York Center for Creativity and Dance.