Whether We Are, 2015 (excerpt 3min)
16:9 Hdv (10:10min)
Credits: Directed, edited and graded: Helene Nymann, Dancer; Sebastian Haynes, Cinematographer; Troels Rasmus Jensen, Sound: Jeppe Brix, Set-Design: Anne Mette Fisker Langkjer,
In this video-installation, Nymann creates a physical self-awareness in the audience who, as a result of the work’s scale and presence may become participants. In both of these works, the protagonist is a classically trained ballet dancer. The ballet dancer typically works under clear instructions from a choreographer. Nymann, however, circumnavigates these prerequisites by requesting the response to the dancer’s immediate environment and its materials through his unconscious, without a determined outcome. It is here that Nymann explores strategies related to Butoh, a form of dance developed in 1950s Japan, in response to the country’s post-war mindset. Butoh translates from Japanese as “darkness” and is traditionally performed in a slow, unconscious state of expression where past events transform into bodily and cognitive responses.
