THE HUMAN BODY VERSUS THE PERFORMATIVE BODY
Screening of Ballerina, a poetic dance documentary inspired by the life of former Swedish prima ballerina Elsa Marianne von Rosen. A poetic take on a true pas de trois – the difficult balance act between human love and artistic passion.
The film features
Elsa Marianne von Rosen, Ana Sendas, Stefanos Bizas and Jonathan D. Sikell
Director/writer/editor: Maja Friis
Choreographed by: Maja Friis in collaboration with the dancers
The film premiered in 2013. It was nominated for a for ‘Best Danish Documentary’ and was awarded by The Danish Art Council.
Excerpts from the film
“Nothing shall ever come between me and dancing”
Elsa Marianne von Rosen, 9 years old
Meet the director Maja Friis og dancer Ana Sendas
After the screening of the film (52 min.) director Maja Friis and dancer Ana Sendas will talk about the process of creation and choreographic methods inspired by site-specific explorations, image-movement studies as a tool for the cinematic narrative and themes that inspired the characters in the film.
The focus will be on “The human body versus the performative.
How to use the body as storyteller?
How to choreograph human emotions?
How does the private, non-performative body perform?
About Maja Friis
“To me cinematic storytelling is the art of audiovisual choreography. It is emotions in motion. I aim to use movements through time and space as a tool to create visual and aesthetic experiences that touch what goes beyond time and space.
Writing the script is to choreograph the movements of the camera as well as the movements in front of it: Actions or stillness, shadows and lights, colors and absence, sound and silence.”
Maja Friis has a Master’s degree in Film Studies at University of Copenhagen. Final thesis: “Motion as cinematic narrative”. A minor in dramaturgy and in the aesthetics of dance. Foreign studies of dance films at La Cinémathèque de la Danse, Paris.
Further information about Maja Friis here
About Ana Sendas
Educated at Academia de Dança Contemporânea de Setúbal in Portugal, Ana is a freelance professional dancer, teacher and choreographer with 24 years of professional experience.
In her career as a professional dancer she worked with several dance companies such as Dansk Danseteater (DK), Göteborgs Operan Ballet (SWE), Ballet Gulbenkian (PT), Companhia Portuguesa de Bailado Contemporaneo (PT), Ballet Theater Augsburg (GER), Galili Dance Company (NL) CeDeCe (PT) as well as a number of independent dance projects worldwide where she performed and collaborated with different artists.
As a teacher she is continuously developing work in contemporary, graham technique, ballet, improvisation, contact improvisation and partnering to students and professionals in Denmark, Sweden and Portugal.
Besides dancing and teaching Ana has been developing choreographic work since 1994 having created more than a dozen works for schools and Companies in Denmark and abroad.
Ana and Maja have been collaborating since their first meeting in Ballerina, 2013, developing studies, choreographic work and image-movement research on stage and on camera.
Further information about Ana Sendas here
The event is part of Dansehallernes program CHOREOGRAPHY IN ACTION and will be in English, free entrance.
More information at Dansehallerne.dk