If you’re looking for a dance based creative response to lockdown, then Prism Project’s South West Sky Series has got to be one of best so far. Each film is made up of short clips submitted by residents from the South West of England, who film themselves dancing with the camera pointing up to the sky. Creator Daisy Harrison says, “the idea is that even in isolation we move together under the same sky” and the effect is quite beautiful.
The viewpoint creates a fascinating perspective, after all how many times have you watched a dancer from below? Dance is almost exclusively watched from an ‘end on’ point of view, and one of the unique advantages of creating a dance film is that it can show us movement in a new and creative way.
This is a great series to take inspiration from, especially if you are working out how you might choreograph a group piece remotely or collaboratively. It is also a good example of how to make a compelling dance film with a simple concept and limited resources. As a resource for teaching it offers some obvious but valuable motivations for creative tasks, like filming a phrase from a variety of angles to see the effect of changing perspective, or how you might reconsider movement when it is viewed from a difference direction.
By Dougie Evans
