In the film installation An Invitation to DANCE there are five bodies present, five individuals, coexisting. Their unstoppable dancing reveals the human condition. Generated by software a constantly changing assembly of images of dancing bodies, all caught in a trance by the
beat of the music, are projected on five screens. In the closed off installation, the visitor becomes part of the intimate world of the dancers and is invited to dance alongside them.
The research and diverse tests with visitors leads to a ‘generative’ artwork. By moving through space, shifting the gaze and focus, the visitor ‘edits’ the far reaching cinematic deconstruction of dance in realistic, poetic and abstract images. Accordingly, the acting body and the associative brain influence the character and intensity of the experience. 'It’s a form of mental interaction where the public becomes co-author of the work,’ Heerkens' says, ‘and in here lies the essence of this situated, cinematic experience of dance’.
The experience of Volkskrant critic Mirjam van der Linden fitted in well with this. Describing the installation by Heerkens and choreographer Loïc Perela, shown at Eye Filmmuseum in March 2018 during the Cinedans festival, she wrote:
‘The pulsing music and multiple camera angles suck you into the monomaniacal dance, producing a physical sensation.’
– Volkskrant
Principle investigator:
Noud Heerkens
Other researcher involved
Minke Nouwens
Professor
Michel van Dartel
Collaborators
V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media (production and presentation partner)
Filmmuseum EYE (presentation partner)
Loïc Perela (choreographer)
TENT Rotterdam (presentation partner)
Funding
Avans University of Applied Sciences
Cinedans (production and presentation partner)
Dansateliers (production partner)
Council of Rotterdam (production partner)
Fonds 21 (production partner)
Producer
Stichting Picos de Europa
Institute
Avans University of Applied Sciences
Research group:
Alexandra Verschuuren, Ariane Trumper, Henny Spronk, Judith Bovenberg, Keren Rosenberg, Miguel Pereira
Maggie Chau, Monica Ruiz van Hattem, Marleine van der Werf, Noortje Stortelder
Thumbnail picture © Noud Heerkens
Website An Invitation to DANCE
Website Caradt An Invitation to DANCE