The March Forecast by The Samaya Wives’ Tara Samaya

Performing for Dance Film

Dance film is inherently collaborative; it is the dance between performer and camera. The presentation of this intimately scaled spectacle is personal and often reveals something beyond what we can predetermine or commonly conceive.

Departing from the theatre and into a backdrop of ‘real world’ environments brings forth an authentic human response to the complex conversation between dance and the space it occupies.

Performing for film is an intimate, raw, subtle, exposing, close range exchange.

There is a refined art to allowing and offering yourself to be seen in this intimate manner. Active sensing, in the form of dropping into one’s senses corporally as well as beyond the body, brings alertness and sensitivity to the palette of a dance film performer.

The camera scales things dramatically beyond the eyes ability and the editing process stretches time into the surreal space of dreaming, much like the nature of the mind. The lens pulls and pushes the body in and out of focus and range of view. It is an all-seeing eye, uncovering details of the dance otherwise missed in the traditional realm of theatrical performance. The art is to stay indiscriminate to the acute occupancy of the camera’s directional presence. I strongly focus my attention to process in action, by accruing all that I am witnessing and experiencing at the time, which then balances my relationship to this integral position of the camera.

I like to consider not only the person behind the camera and the dancer, but also the piece of technology being used, and the choreographic form the dancer inhabits. Something found between the camera’s person and the dancer’s ephemeral impressions, gives extra perplexity to the performance. It captures, logs and makes an artefact of dance; that which can normally be witnessed and stored in memory from a live theatrical experience.

In performing, the consciously inhabited present moment-ness reveals the interest I have in sharing what it means to be human, reactionary to real time conditions. Often surprising myself with a version of myself I have not seen before or sometimes even have not yet become.

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MEET THE ARTISTS:

THE SAMAYA WIVES

The Samaya Wives come together in life and creation as a multi-disciplinary duo to explore the many colours and tones of what it means to be alive on this earth and reveal the innate one-ness that ultimately links us all. To bring a voice to the voiceless, to shed light in dark spaces, to empower and to inspire; The Samaya Wives strive towards equality, wisdom, compassion and authentic connection. The fusion of their respective expertise in Dance, Photography and Film enables them to communicate through external imagery the internal world of the human psyche. Using their passion for creating bold, eye catching imagery, they set out to use art as a spot light on global humanitarian issues, encouraging viewers to expand their hearts and with it their world view and preconceptions.

Recent appreciations include two time winner of the international 60 second dance film competition ( Finland and Denmark), winner of best film in the FAD film festival (USA), Portland Dance Film Festival (USA) & Berlin Motion Picture festival, Two time winner Australian Dance Award for Excellence in Dance on Film 2018/2020, winner of most wonderful film at the IPFF 2020. The Samaya Wives have also presented a live performance work with film at the Komische Oper in Berlin, produced by the Staats Ballett Berlin.

https://vimeo.com/thesamayawives