Kapsule investigates the relationship between environmental psychology and movement and strategically selects distinctive places to depict specific timelines, including childhood, past, present, future, and afterlife.
The project integrates photography, film, and live performance and can be reimagined in various settings, including live stages, film theaters, and galleries.
The project integrates photography, film, and live performance and can be reimagined in various settings, including live stages, film theaters, and galleries.
Podcast Interview
About Lawrence Fung
Raised in the concrete jungle of Hong Kong and the American Southwest, the presence of contrast has been a
common theme in the dance works, films, and photographs that Lawrence creates.
The self-taught photographer and filmmaker has a particular interest in finding details and patterns in his worldly
encounters. Inspired by the vastly diverse landscapes, urban architectures, and environments we live in, Fung finds
purpose in uncovering the hidden layers and stories beyond what meets the eye. He uses visual language to draw his
viewers attention to an encapsulating storytelling experience by exploring the theories of composition, color, scale,
and choreographed camera movement all in relation to dance.
As a choreographer and movement artist, Fung is constantly exploring the integration and similarities between ballet
and breaking, bringing the opposite disciplines into a free flowing harmony that exists in a new dimension without
contextual boundaries. Modern masculinity, self-discovery, and religion are themes that gravitate Fung’s curiosity in
his dance-making.
https://www.krakenstillandfilm.com/
common theme in the dance works, films, and photographs that Lawrence creates.
The self-taught photographer and filmmaker has a particular interest in finding details and patterns in his worldly
encounters. Inspired by the vastly diverse landscapes, urban architectures, and environments we live in, Fung finds
purpose in uncovering the hidden layers and stories beyond what meets the eye. He uses visual language to draw his
viewers attention to an encapsulating storytelling experience by exploring the theories of composition, color, scale,
and choreographed camera movement all in relation to dance.
As a choreographer and movement artist, Fung is constantly exploring the integration and similarities between ballet
and breaking, bringing the opposite disciplines into a free flowing harmony that exists in a new dimension without
contextual boundaries. Modern masculinity, self-discovery, and religion are themes that gravitate Fung’s curiosity in
his dance-making.
https://www.krakenstillandfilm.com/
IntervieW WITH LAWRENCE FUNG
|
Q. When I watch KAPSULE, I feel my perception of space is heightened, with a focus on layering the impermanence of dance with the imaginary space.
How did you begin exploring this dance film? The idea began based on my interest in travel and exploring new and unknown environments. I am always curious about how people live and behave different in a foreign country and wonder what their lives would be like in an opposite environment. So I began to look into environmental psychology and perception and was intrigued by philosopher Harold M. Proshansky’s idea of Place Identity and Andy Clark’s idea of environmental based cognitive construction. Harold’s idea is that we hold memories and fantasies about a particular place and we develop our sense of identity and worldview based on our surrounding environment, and Clark’s idea is that our existence and minds extend beyond the edge of our skins and both parties heavily depend and influence one another. From my research, it stemmed me into looking into my past, present, and future, and this idea of a life cycle started to emerge. So if you watched Kapsule, Bird Cage is inspired by my sheltered childhood experience, Burden explores the depression of my past living in a metropolis, Mirage represents my current struggles in the American Southwest, Duality entertains my fantasy of isolated from society and being one with nature, and finally Canvas is how I see the end of a life coming back to a blank state, reincarnating and starting anew. Q. What are the key concepts that drive your artistic process? The key concept is that how a given environment influences our perception to it and as a result affect our thinking, feeling, and behavior. I believe that the places that we are in heavily inspire the way we dance. Therefore, I wanted to use movement to translating this cognition. Q. Can you tell us how you began collaborating with dancers and why? We began by looking at imagery of these various environments and discussing our initial thoughts, impression, and any associated emotions towards it. What was interesting was that we would always reference back to a specific timeline in our lives in the past, present, our future. When we actually got on site, we would spent a lengthy amount of time simply moving, playing, and exploring what it is like to actually dance in that location. Getting to know the place physically and being aware of how it is currently affecting the way we want to move. Furthermore, we utilized the practice of authentic movement while we were on site and we went back-and-forth between my small cast to further investigate our relationship to the sites and our movements. Q. Can you describe what choreographic expressions and nuances you were focused to explore in KAPSULE? We employed the use of imagery to inform our movement, and I’ve created a visualized mood board of images based on the environment for my dancers to explore at rehearsals prior visiting the sites. Because my movement style is a blend of genres, precisely with contemporary, ballet, my background in breaking, and contact elevation. To tackle this movement implementation, outside of rehearsals, I try to take as much modern and ballet classes as much as possible to familiarize myself with this new found vocabulary; at rehearsals, I’ve been training my dancers in my contemporary breaking vocabulary and we all explore contact improvisations and elevation technique with one another with a sense of play. When its comes to choreographing, I try to find the natural flow of movement and the potential dynamics of what the movement can lead into. My dancers and I would make small phrases on our own or within our groups and after a given amount of time, I would try to gather us together and find out ways to connect our phrase through trail and error. Needless to say, the choreographic process in company is quite collaborative and I tend to give agency and creative voice to my dancers. Q. In dance filmmaking, what is your process when developing choreography for camera? Are you forming phases together into one overarching narrative, or are your films the result of a more spontaneous process? Usually, I would make up choreography in the studio space while keeping in mind that the choreography itself will be interpreted into screen dance. After the choreography of a phrase is completed, I would study it intensively and look it it from a cinematic perspective. What most people see in a dance performance is a straight view from either standing or sitting from a distance overlooking the overall stage and dancers within it. What I try to do is to find perspective within the filmic language that the audience wouldn’t typically experience from a live performance. To me it’s all about perspectives and certain areas to highlight or hide. So for instance I might look at a short phrase and pick out specific filmic perspective. The floor part should be filmed in a birds eye view in a wide shot, the gestural phrase should be filmed with a long lens, only showing the hands on screen, the traveling part should be filmed with a portrait lens with full body just barely fitting the whole frame to show the full extension of the body while not let the background overpower the dancer, etc. In essence, I pick out specific parts within a choreography or make specific choreography in conversation with the choreography of the camera in conjunction to specific camera configuration of shots, lens, and movement. Q. Can you describe what kinds of ideas move you the most in your work these days? These days I am focused more into developing a more sophisticated choreographic voice and I am constantly diving deeper into my understanding of new found movement knowledge, how my body is adapting to them, and how I can translate these understanding to my dancers. Kapsule has proven my skills as a visual artist, and the ability to produce a professional work of dance center around film and photography. However, I feel like I still have a long way to prove and develop myself as a movement artist and choreographer. Since most people in my circle know me as the filmmaker but I am a dancer and choreography first and for most. I was a competitive breaker for a decade and didn’t start learning photography and film ever since I started my MFA program in dance at Arizona State University in the Fall of 2017. So I am learning a lot about the contemporary dance world and I am familiarizing myself in that movement vocabulary, specially modern and ballet. My mentor Allen Kaeja has also inspired me to learn and practice contact improvisation and his elevation technique, since contact skill is an essential tool in dance making in my opinion and it opens up a lot of dynamics and possibilities in dance. My goal is to develop a seamless dynamic style of these blend of genres within my company and I am intrigued to explore the idea of going from all levels in and out with fluidity. For instance, going from inversions to elevation, and elevation back down to the floor and coming back up to standing. Q. Besides your personal experiences, what other areas in the arts do you look to as reference points? I enjoy traveling to different countries and experience various cultures, specifically, I like visit museums and looking at architectures. Besides dance and film, I have a huge interest in photography. I like looking at images, movies, and everyday urban design for reference point. Sometimes I would look at contemporary art videos to find inspirations because the more I dive myself into my craft the more connections I find related to other forms of arts. Q. How do you usually get started on a project? I start with individual research and writing out the overarching idea and theme. Then I would look into my resources and finances and see how I can possibly execute the project. Q. What's important for you to convey in your dance films? A strong visual, sophisticated movement, and a sense of emotional response from the audience. I want my films to be remembered for a very long time. 
|
" I believe that the places that we are in heavily inspire the way we dance." |
