A Scandinavian suburbia house where the boundaries between dream and reality are abstracted between three characters.
|
Director/Choreographer: Klara Elenius
Dancers: Carolina Bäckman, Marie Schulz & Jonas Carlsson Camera: Linus Eklund Set design: Zanna Wieveg Dramaturge: Elin Grinaker Costume Design: Jenny Nordberg |
Music: Stefan Klaverdal
Edit: Jacob Remin Text: Jan Stenmark Make up: Aida Stålnacke Production manager: Karina Dichov Lund Mentor: David Hinton |
Klara's choreographic interest is linked to a deep interest of the structures of society and what it constitutes. Social relations have been examined and choreographed into her work. Usually with an awkwardness tone where the potential lies in the malfunctions rather than in the perfection.
She is intrigued by her contemporaneity, trying to grasp some of it it by collecting material from current accessible media flow or by mapping human patterns just by watching everyday situations, behaviour, habits, relations or lack of relations are constant (sub)topics in all Klara's work.
She is intrigued by her contemporaneity, trying to grasp some of it it by collecting material from current accessible media flow or by mapping human patterns just by watching everyday situations, behaviour, habits, relations or lack of relations are constant (sub)topics in all Klara's work.
Artist Interview: KLARA ELENIUS
Interview by Melissa Ramos recorded between Sydney, Australia & Stockholm Sweden
IntervieW Transcript: KLARA ELENIUS
|
Melissa Ramos: Firstly, I would like to say I'm honoured to interview you for Dance Cinema because your dance film, Insyn, was the very first dance film I experienced and it completely changed my life. That moment has led me to follow this path, initiating Dance Cinema. So welcome. Thank you. Firstly, what is the title 'Insyn' mean?
Klara Elenius : It means, actually I checked on Google Translate, so it means transparent insight or observation. But it also has a special meaning in Swedish. And that's when you're outside the house and you look in through a window and when you see a lot what's happening in there, then you have good 'Insyn'. So it's like when you look through windows. Melissa Ramos: So there's a word for it? Klara Elenius : Yes. You can have good 'Insyn' or bad 'Insyn'. I mean, if you have a small windows with a lot of curtains than the 'Insyn' is bad. (laughs) And then the opposite. Melissa Ramos: I actually looked it up as well. And I was like, 'Ah okay, transparent'. And there must be more into this? When you started making 'Insyn', what were the initial ideas behind this work? Klara Elenius: I've always been interested in social structures and the interaction between people and also between people and their environment or surroundings. So I wanted to explore this in a poetic tone which allowed a lot of experimentation and things to evolve. Also, for this particular work, it was very interested in looking into my own culture somehow the Scandinavian culture. I was living in Denmark at the moment and I'm born and raised in Sweden. And they also have relatives from Finland and very close to Finland. So it was something about exploring this Scandinavian culture that for me is kind of very neat and clean, but also under the surface, quite crazy and bizarre. So it's something ambiguity there, something that is a bit like held in tight and uncomfortable, but also beautiful and a bit hysteric. Melissa Ramos: Who are these three characters and what we exploring within their relationship with each other? Klara Elenius : I really don't know who they are, but we worked a lot with giving them habits or qualities, like different habits and qualities for each characters who would come back in each task that we worked on. So that became almost like a pattern. And then these patterns or qualities kind of shaped also their relationship to each other. So they are kind of three persons that are put together and formed by a structure somehow, both like the hard physical structure, this house, in the Danish suburb, but also like a relational structure between them. And I don't think that they are very good friends or anything. They are just put together and they have to kind of deal with each other somehow in this structure. Melissa Ramos: So was the movements and choreography, was that made after you found the space? So what was the process in developing these patterns that you were creating? Klara Elenius: Yeah, we work on this different tasks that we explored together and the dancers explored through their characters through this kind of qualities or habits that they were given. And I think this was kind of a frame for the whole piece that I worked in close collaboration both with the dramaturg and and the dancers. And then we filmed a lot during the rehearsals. So we had like hours of improvised material. And then I choose small bits and pieces that we put together from this choreography or from this improvised material. And then we put together so that finally I think almost everything was set at the end, so it became kind of a set, the choreography. Melissa Ramos: How long was the experimentation phase of the work of filming and trying to... Klara Elenius: Yeah. Good question. It was very stretched out the process because I think I started in like 2005 and then we were done in 2007. But we didn't work all the time. We had a few weeks here and there. So It was a stressed out process together with the dancers. Maybe I had like a few weeks together with them and then I had a lot of material and they actually made a pilot also for out from that. And then that I did like the editing and filming myself. But then when we did like the reel, maybe we worked for one or two months before that. Melissa Ramos: Oh, wow. That was a really long process. It's actually everyone's dream. Usually when people make films, they have a time limit. Klara Elenius: I think we had but I think when we of course didn't work continuously it was like this when we had time and when we could do it, we did it. And in the end it was also like just a few days of filming. So the filming together with the cameraman on location was maybe three or four days. Melissa Ramos: Okay. Yeah. And your characters, did they know that it was gonna be set in the house? Had they explored it before? Klara Elenius: I think we got to rehearse there before we did the shooting but we didn't have time to be there a lot and experiment and things like that would that were done in other locations. But because we borrowed this house from an old lady and a set design and rearranged everything completely in the house. And I think we bought the ticket for her to go to somewhere to a spa or something over the weekend. So we could just use the house for two days of filming. (laughs) Melissa Ramos: So this old lady's house, she actually had a taxidermy cat? And a taxidermy deer? Is that part of her furniture? Klara Elenius: No, they were hired. So we put a lot of things. The set designer and the costume designer put a lot of things in there that wasn't there from the beginning. Melissa Ramos: Can you tell me about how you work with the dramaturge? Is it something that you do a lot in your process when you do choreography? Klara Elenius: Yeah, I've been doing it a lot actually, and I've been working with the same person Elin for many projects and we just find a way of working. It's very good because, it's more it's about like talking and discussing things after rehearsal, and in rehearsals and both get this bigger structure of things, but also more like into small details of the different characters from the dancers, for example. And I think it's very nice to just to have someone to talk to through the process. And then they also, of course, do that with the dancers. But it's good to have also another eye from the outside. Dancers are all all the time 'inside' the work. And then I am alone 'outside'. And then it's very good to have someone beside me who is. Yeah, who is this dramaturge... I think we have a good collaboration to have more ice from the outside. Someone to discuss with. I think that's the most important. Yeah. Melissa Ramos: It's really important in the process to reflect on what you're working on and what you're trying to solve. I'm wondering about how you filmed the mirror scene. Can you tell us your process and the significance of this scene? Klara Elenius: I first want to say that this was something that we... This mirror we just found on a rehearsal location. We were rehearsing in a dancer studio and then we went into the basement and there was a fantastic, beautiful bathroom. So when I saw this bathroom, I was like, mmh, let's rehearse here instead of in the dancers studio. So we did a lot of shooting in this bathroom and the dancers found this mirror and started to use it. And that's why it just became magic for me when I was filming. And they were using the mirror and it just happened. So somehow it was easier. Just quite quickly I understood that this is something that we have to keep. And then we had a lot of this material, of course, in the end. And actually, it was the editor who made the choices there or what to keep and how to cut it in the end. Melissa Ramos: It looked quite tricky because I was wondering, how would you film it without getting the camera in shot? Klara Elenius: Yeah. And actually, we did. I don't know if it's so much use. But we did use this 50 percent mirror. It's it was called that you can have the camera behind this mirror and film through it. But then it reflected just like it looks like a window or something from. You didn't see the camera because it was hidden behind this? I don't know. The camera man called it 50 percent mirror. So that was actually used in this scene. But then it was also, of course, it like you had just shot it from many different angles. So it was possible to cut away these parts where the camera suddenly appeared. Melissa Ramos: Can you talk about how you construct the scenes? Do you use storyboards? Klara Elenius: I do, but I like using storyboard in the process of making the film. But then in the end, I think I also did it. I think I did different versions and different storyboards. And I remember I also gave it the last one, the last version to the editor, but also. Not like you have to do like this, but more like inspiration for him, because I think he made his own version again, then after that. I mean, the editing, didn't follow the storyboard. For example, some transitions that you want to make from one scene to another or things like this can be very good to think through and to try to storyboard before. So you know how and why and which angle and from which side and which room and how to connect these movements and things like that in the editing. Melissa Ramos: The way it's been edited. Can you talk about how you approach the editing phase? And how did you work with time and rhythm? Klara Elenius: I think editing is its time and rhythm like choreography. So it's very important, of course, for the whole film. But as I worked in this this crew I had for this film. I worked with all of them before. So I knew the editor and the cameraman and the composer. So for all of them, since I trusted them and I like to give freedom to the people I collaborate with. I gave the editor this a lot of material and we talked about it. And we talked about the idea behind and everything. But then he was alone, a lot editing. And then I was just popping by some and checking in. And we were looking at what he had done and talking about that. And I did not like to tell him how to edit, but I wanted him to to make it to make his also interpretation of this work. Melissa Ramos: And the soundtrack of the film, did the editor already had the soundtrack and so was it based on... Klara Elenius: No, it was the opposite. Melissa Ramos: Okay. Klara Elenius: So the editing came first and little bit parallel to the music, the composer was working parallel with the editing. But in the end the editing was done and then the composer put the music last. Melissa Ramos: It's great that you have a great team of people that you trust. Did you guys work before on a dance film? Klara Elenius: Yeah, on a dance film with everyone except from two of the dancers. But I worked with them in other productions. Melissa Ramos: Generally speaking, why do you think dance films choose to disguise dancers dialogue or voices? Klara Elenius: I think in dance, generally, it might be something about swapping hierarchies or like changing the order of things that if you think of speech is high up in the hierarchy. But at the same time, we know how much our bodies tell without speech and body language and how important it is. So then to keep silence or to be quiet could be also a way of highlighting other ways of communicating. But I don't know. It could also be that it's a dance tradition somehow that the verbal is not really a part of that. I think it is more now. I think it actually changed the last years that nowadays there are more dance performances and films that uses speech, but maybe just like another component somehow. But traditionally it hasn't been so common. Klara Elenius: I had this mentor called David Hinton, a filmmaker from London. He was a mentor on this project and he gave me a lot of input on this. But this was mostly to be sure that they got everything I wanted. Like, it's important to do close ups in each scene and different angles and distances and to kind of make the cutting easier. But then I also, of course, discussed and planned the shots together with the cameraman and to know what kind of framing we wanted to use. And I think it became like that we wanted it to be a bit skewed, like not really centred and maybe a bit too much roof for a bit too much or something. Thats ceiling, too much or something that just broke the harmony a little. And then most of the time the camera's not moving, instead giving place for the dancer's movements. And I think it also emphasises this atmosphere about kind of stiffness and quietness. But then in the past, when when the camera moves. It was meant to create some kind of contrast to this stiff camera and makes this more the feeling of lost in space or is a more dreamlike atmosphere somehow. Melissa Ramos: So this is the way you played around with the concepts of not knowing if you're in reality or it's this dream. Klara Elenius: Yeah, because some in some in many ways we are in a very realistic place, very concrete. But there are also very many, many elements in it that is a bit strange. And then when we go to this totally different, um, it doesn't all only have to do with how the camera moves. It's of course, other components also, but like changing the room or changing locations and making more, moving frames and stuff like this. Melissa Ramos: What's interesting about dance films is that it has this ability to communicate beyond words, stories and dance films sit in this poetic in-between and less defined space compared to a typical dialogue based film. 'Insyn' works with this boundary between dream and reality. Can talk more about what inspired you to explore these concepts. Klara Elenius: My first idea with this film was to explore the universe of dreaming. What happens when we dream and what happens with the brain? And how do we create pictures and dream through pictures, somehow through images. So that was somehow as a start. Then for me, the most dreamy parts in the film are the ones that I talked a little bit before also, the where the camera suddenly start to move or where we kind of rotate the frames or making a lot of layers also. We worked a lot with the, like this two or three frames over each other, somehow experimenting with tools of filmmaking somehow. Like what with what can you do with the camera and with the editing to find this dreamy universe. Melissa Ramos: It's interesting how you said it sort of started off as a dream. And that is inspired you. Because dreams are quite elusive. When you're watching own dream you're there. But then, something else completely changes unexpectedly without logic. Klara Elenius: Yeah, exactly. And I think that something that is very, extremely recognisable in this film and a lot of things are very much like everyday things. I wrote a lot on making it twist in all sorts of ways through all the different parameters, in the choreography, in this set design, in the way of using camera and creating the atmosphere, the location. Melissa Ramos: But when I watch it, I feel like it feels so familiar. I grew up in the suburbs. I really, really connected with what you were making. Yeah. Klara Elenius: So even in Australia it's like that. Melissa Ramos: I just think it's the whole way of living in a suburb. But from far it looks quite neat, in a way. It has that feeling so. Klara Elenius: Yeah, exactly. And it's something also about that thing of being a bit dark, I think because I think there's a lot of nice and beautiful things about this house and around the surroundings of the house, but it's also quite uncomfortable to just be there. Pretend having to relate to. Melissa Ramos: I feel the same way too. But people I don't know. Some people like that comfort. But then it becomes really uncomfortable. Klara Elenius: Yeah. And I think that's what at least I feel that when I see. I actually just saw 'Insyn'. Now, before we talked, because I didn't see the whole film for many years. So I had to see it again. And then I just realised that that is something that I still feel when I see it that, OK, this is something these people are trying to get out or to maybe... They kind of accept that they have to relate to this world, but they're not comfortable or like they're not happy. They will never find harmony there. Unfortunately for them. (laughs) |
"I’ve always been interested in social structures, interactions between people, and between people & their surrounding environment. So, I wanted to explore this in a poetic tone, which allowed for a lot of experimentation" |
