Set in the semi-darkness and overlaid with sparse poetic vocals this collaboration is a work of intimate moments, building rhythms, and architectural physicality which turn the viewer into voyeur.
Inspired by the motion of rocking their newborn, Adam and Lisa explore the movement in a sensual, romantic duet where their relationship is reborn and rediscovered as they explore their physical and emotional nakedness.
Gareth Jenkins’ poetry and vocal delivery draw together the themes of new life, rediscovery and sensuality in the refrain of reunion: we meet and we meet again. The poet emphasises the potential of the breath, bodily movement and skin to create and complicate human connection.
Inspired by the motion of rocking their newborn, Adam and Lisa explore the movement in a sensual, romantic duet where their relationship is reborn and rediscovered as they explore their physical and emotional nakedness.
Gareth Jenkins’ poetry and vocal delivery draw together the themes of new life, rediscovery and sensuality in the refrain of reunion: we meet and we meet again. The poet emphasises the potential of the breath, bodily movement and skin to create and complicate human connection.
US RIGHT NOW. 5min 51 sec. Australia. Released in 2016
Director, producer, production design, cinematographer, editor : Jason Lam
Danced & choreographed by: Adam Synnott & Lisa Griffiths
Poet & vocal performance: Dr Gareth Jenkins
Poem : Song of Calling
Music & Sound Design : Sascha Budimsky
Director, producer, production design, cinematographer, editor : Jason Lam
Danced & choreographed by: Adam Synnott & Lisa Griffiths
Poet & vocal performance: Dr Gareth Jenkins
Poem : Song of Calling
Music & Sound Design : Sascha Budimsky
Artist Interview: DR JASON LAM
Interview by Melissa Ramos recorded in Melbourne, Australia on 27 May 2019. DANCE CINEMA jingle designed by Trevor Brown
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DR JASON LAM DETAILS
Studio: www.kaboomstudios.com
INTRODUCTION
Dr Jason Lam is the other kind of doctor. He was also a respected dancer performing widely as an independent artist and with companies such as Sydney Dance Company, Opera Australia and tasdance and continues to teach. He also works as a visual artist, filmmaker and photographer and has created works for the Australian Ballet, Sydney Dance Company, Sydney Theatre, and the Bavarian State ballet amongst others. His films have shown nationally and internationally.
He is much too disorganized to have an up to date website but a brief glimpse may be found at www.kaboomstudios.com
Dr Gareth Jenkins is a poet, vocalist, artist and researcher. He curates public programs across the nine inner city Sydney libraries and runs poetry writing workshops in adult prisons.
Previous creative work has been widely screened and published in Cordite Poetry Review, Rattapallax, The Drunken Boat, Rabbit Poetry Journal, Mascara Literary Review, Tincture Journal, The Last Vispo anthology and VLAK: Contemporary Poetics and the Arts.
Find more at: apothecaryarchive.com
He is much too disorganized to have an up to date website but a brief glimpse may be found at www.kaboomstudios.com
Dr Gareth Jenkins is a poet, vocalist, artist and researcher. He curates public programs across the nine inner city Sydney libraries and runs poetry writing workshops in adult prisons.
Previous creative work has been widely screened and published in Cordite Poetry Review, Rattapallax, The Drunken Boat, Rabbit Poetry Journal, Mascara Literary Review, Tincture Journal, The Last Vispo anthology and VLAK: Contemporary Poetics and the Arts.
Find more at: apothecaryarchive.com
IntervieW Transcript:
DR JASON LAM
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Melissa Ramos: Could you please talk us through your process in regards to making "Us Right Now". To start with, how was the idea initiated?
Dr Jason Lam: It was a very last-minute sort of thing. So, my dancers, Adam and Lisa, were invited to present a dance work at IOU-4 and they couldn't do it; they just had a new child so they couldn't commit to a performance season. And so they thought that they would make a film. So they came to me and said: “Hey would you like to make a film"? So that's how we kind of got started. We were both extremely busy. I was a plastic surgery registrar and they had their new baby. They kind of worked on their own thing, and showed that to me in a couple of videos of their phrases and what they'd worked on. And then we booked it, I think we had six hours at UNSW in one of their small black box sort of theatres and kind of just pulled it together in one go. Melissa Ramos: Very quick. Dr Jason Lam: Yeah. So that was fun, it was quite different from some of the other works I've done but we made it work. I think yeah because we've worked with each other a lot in the past so we could trust, and kind of understood each other. Melissa Ramos: So these videos that the dancers gave you they have set of ideas or themes that they wanted you to... Dr Jason Lam: No, the entire filmic part was up to me and they kind of came up with the movement. Melissa Ramos: Ah, that's the kind of videos that they were sending you… Dr Jason Lam: Yeah. So it's just them in their living room or when they could snatch a bit of time working out phrasing that sort of stuff. Melissa Ramos: What's the intention behind "Us Right Now"? Dr Jason Lam: I guess it was really the dance that they came up with, it was about where they were as a couple and as a new family. So that moment in time and what they were going through. Melissa Ramos: So in regards to the poem song of calling by Dr. Gareth Jenkins, how did you two collaborate? Dr Jason Lam: Again, totally not planned. So originally we had scored it with Max Richter but the rights to that were extraordinarily expensive. So after the IOU season, we wanted it to have a life beyond just that season. We couldn't afford the rights so we decided to just ditch the soundtrack. And so I approached my friend Sascha Budimski to work on the audio, and Gareth and just got them to.. I gave them the film with and without sound. And it was their response to the film. And with the understanding that I would re-cut as well based on what they kind of came up with. Melissa Ramos: Yeah, when I saw the film I found that the poem so precisely fitted for that image, it was considered part of the piece. Dr Jason Lam: Yeah it was very much so and it was very much Gareth's response to the film. So yeah we've worked both ways. We've gone both ways whether it was inspired by one of his poems and then needed or he responds to something of mine. Melissa Ramos: And you've worked with him in the past? Was it also combining poetry and dance? Dr Jason Lam: Yep yeah. So we've got three films and we've also got some, more like just poetic films and we had a little installation and yeah... Melissa Ramos: Could you talk briefly about those three films? Dr Jason Lam: Ones called "Unfed", which is the first one we did together. That did really well, I really... had a fun process on that much more, had a planned out sort of process for that and then another one was called ‘What remains’, again a little bit more a bit more planned. They're all kind of dark because of this sort of stuff I make. Melissa Ramos: Dark in my way? cinematically? Dr Jason Lam: Thematically. Yeah, "Us Right Now" is quite bright and light in the cinematic style but it's got some dark kind of undercurrents and that sort of thing. Melissa Ramos: I really love your director's choice to make the film cinematically simple. Could you talk us through the reasons for this and what was important for you to convey in this regard? Dr Jason Lam: So part of it was extremely pragmatic; I had six hours. I've never seen the dance before in-person and we couldn't get a location because we had this one day so we couldn't deal with changing light weather or anything like that. So we had to go indoors, somewhere which we could control. I don't like shooting dance films in a studio, I don't like that. And so how do I make it seem, not in a black box studio. So yeah, I remembered seeing Bill Henson's work and learning how he created that beautiful bokeh effect of lights in the distance and you could create this sense of being outside and in this vast blackness punctuated by lights, and a kind of cool blue lighting. So yes, it was very much a pragmatic reason and also worked with what I wanted which was, that sense of vulnerability. And so I could lose them in this void. And you've got these beautiful pale vulnerable forms embedded in this vast blackness. So that was that worked out quite nicely. Melissa Ramos: I thought you actually shot it outside. Dr Jason Lam: Excellent. There's quite a lot of post-work in that actually. Melissa Ramos: Yeah. So you do a lot of colouring in your... Dr Jason Lam: There's a lot of grading but also I had to make the studio disappear. So there's quite a lot of masking. Which hopefully no one ever sees. Melissa Ramos: You spoke about the feeling of vulnerability and how you were finding ways to express this feeling. Why did you choose to focus on vulnerability for this piece? Dr Jason Lam: Kind of what they were telling me and I thought their movements suggested that and they were telling me the story of them rocking their newborn and so yeah that I thought that conveyed that sort of. Melissa Ramos: Not knowing... Dr Jason Lam: That sense. Yeah, it's a bit uncertain. It's new, they’re fragile little things your relationship changes as well. Yeah. So it was partially that and also partially arbitrary in that I thought that would work well yeah. So yeah. Melissa Ramos: In what ways do you elicit the mood emotion and feeling for your films? Do you start from emotion or mood or feeling? Dr Jason Lam: It really depends on the work. But often I try… and that's the thing which interests me is trying to evoke a mood or an atmosphere or an emotion. So yes I'm always looking to find that and that's the flavour I wanted the film or I want people to feel that. It often isn't a straightforward meaning as such but I want to leave them with a feeling of uneasiness or feeling of vulnerability or of distress whatever it is. So I find that. I guess yeah trying really hard to elicit that feeling, rather than showing that feeling, I guess, you know, I think that's the power of dance and that sort of thing is you can, and music as you can evoke feelings in the audience. That's kind of what's interesting and fun about it, showing emotion is not as exciting. Or not as interesting. You end up with a lot of sad eisteddfod faces and that sort of thing. Melissa Ramos: What is the most challenging for you in translating dance into cinematic images and vice versa? Dr Jason Lam: I think they're different, they’re different forms. So I guess with dance cinema is really... How do I make it its own thing? So it's not just... It shouldn't be able to exist as this as a live performance. If I'm merely kind of documenting or recreating that I kind of feel like I missed the point. What I really would like it to be its own unique little thing because there are so many unique potentials of film and I think we should use that. So yeah. So I think they're certainly related skills. I mean you know Lloyd Newson does amazingly cinematic things with stage productions and Kage also does that. So yeah they do absolutely fantastically filmic sort of live works. But yeah I think they each have their strengths and weaknesses and yeah so I try really hard to find what's unique and I could only do it in the film when I do film and then when I'm choreographing live, there's stuff which is best done live. Melissa Ramos: Yeah yeah absolutely. And but also that film has that. It's last for a long time that you can sort of have that contained... Dr Jason Lam: Yeah I mean it's a fixed record. Which you lose that beautiful unique experience that's live performance. I mean it only happens that one time. You can only experience it while you're there, you know and I love that about live performance. Melissa Ramos: Yeah. When experiencing a live performance an audience is transformed by the dancer's presence. Yet on the subject of dance films. What do you think cinema has that can transform and move the audience? Dr Jason Lam: You're still working with the human body and its expressive potential I guess with cinema, I've got things I can draw attention to certain details, I can make small things large. I also can play around with time and then also the way I film it often is. I consider the camera the third dancer in it as so changes that kind of relationship of the viewer to dance I guess most dancers usually proceed in much. There are new experimental works where it's kind of in and around you but with dance cinema like you can be right up in there or seeing things from point of views that you normally wouldn't. Melissa Ramos: So yeah, that's a good lead way to ask you this question on the topic of directing. Can you talk more about the camera becoming a choreography itself and what elements do you look for when framing? Dr. Jason Lam: So I respond in a really... I respond very much as a dancer. So I actually get in there with them. I've got my Steadicam rig and my camera and I learn the dance with them and then I choreograph myself and the camera around that. So yes I feel very much I'm a part of it, kind of, ducking in and out and yeah. So that's kind of how I often do it. It's not often I... I tend not to be a storyboarder. I tend not to plan out all my shots. There'll be a few shots I definitely want but often it's quite an organic, well with this one because we're so short it was very much an improv, as if they knew that what they were doing. But I was improving around them. The good thing about doing it this way is you don't, I don't know what I'm gonna get. It could all be rubbish. You kind of committed at the bottom of three takes. Do I, do I try the same thing. Do I go to lock off the shot? Yeah. So there's always the challenges shooting dance film there's a human element; they're not robots I can't make them do it twenty times, sometimes I might. (Laughs) Melissa Ramos: When you have digested the choreography for the film. Do you also look to convey the movement in the editing process? Dr Jason Lam: Oh Yeah. Yeah. So. Very I think I put quite a rhythmic editing style. So I take into account the movement of the bodies on screen but also the camera is movement. And I try and make that work. Yeah. And that's one of the fun things with the film is that you can kind of, rework your choreography after the fact. Because you put choices of shots and choices of cuts. Where do you draw people's attention to?. So yeah it's certainly another whole other thing when it gets to the editing suite. I mean yeah. My other film "Unfed" completely changed once we hit edit so. Melissa Ramos: Oh wow. And why is that? Dr Jason Lam: Oh because the original idea was terrible. I did it that way and it was a terrible terrible film. Yeah. I sat with that for I think a couple of years and then kind of came up with a way to remake with the same material. Yeah, it's the same material but made a way for it to work and be visually interesting. Melissa Ramos: What is it about dance films that is most captivating for you? Dr Jason Lam: It's kind of it's, it's fun to do, it combines two things I love which is dance and film, animation maybe. So yeah combines with a lot of those things. A lot of it, to be honest, is the purely pragmatic side of it in that it's a hell of a lot easier to put a dance film together than a live show. You know that costs an absolute fortune. Where a dance film, I can rustle up a few friends and we can bang one out in a weekend or a couple of weekends or six hours as this one was. So just lets you make and I think that's really important. As an artist you have to make and make a lot of things because you learn each time, and a lot of it will suck but you know you'll get better. And I think that's one of the really difficult things with live performances. It's... You know you got the grant writing process. It's such a long lead time before you can do something to get feedback on it. Whereas... Like with the film you can have it, but you can. you can get feedback and iterate. Melissa Ramos: Yeah. Dr Jason Lam: Where's your investment in a film is relatively small. So yeah, you can just... Melissa Ramos: Have fun with it. Dr Jason Lam: Have fun and you can just do things. And I think that's key, is just keep making. Melissa Ramos: You mentioned before how much you enjoyed directing the audience's attention, particularly in certain parts of the body could you talk more about that in terms of what interests you about that focus? Dr Jason Lam: I quite enjoy playing with time and kind of showing some of those falls and those spirals in slow motion and that allows you to appreciate that. Which I guess sometimes in live-action you can't. You can admire the athleticism of that step, in that sequence of movement. But cinema allows you to take it apart or deconstruct it or just appreciate the sheer beauty of the human form. In super slow-mo. I mean there's a whole bunch of youtube videos of dancers in super slow-mo and it's fantastic. So it's kind of fun to be able to work with that. Melissa Ramos: What did you learn from this whole creation? Dr Jason Lam: I think what the big things were that we could do it, because it was unlike other ones we've worked on which are much more planned out. This one was very much, you know, banging together an intuitive response, on the day. So it was a bit of a risk in that, but yeah. I think we learned that we could do that. There was something raw, some energy to do that when you've got that challenge. This is your time. That's, that's it. You don't get another shot. So you've got to make something that works. So yeah that was a challenge in... Yeah yeah yeah. And kind of just going it’s cool. You know we can do this because of our history. That sort of thing. So yeah. Melissa Ramos: In terms of your history you've worked with these two dancers before? Dr Jason Lam: Yeah. Melissa Ramos: Were they dance films? Dr Jason Lam: Dance films, actually dancing, installations. Melissa Ramos: And you met them when you were also a dancer before? Dr Jason Lam: Ah ha. Melissa Ramos: And so it's a good community that you can still work together. Yeah. Fantastic. As a professional, that's for the stage. How did you branch out into making films and what is it about this process that drew you to making? Dr Jason Lam: So actually I did my first degree is actually in visual arts, so I was at the College of Fine Arts in New South Wales. So I was a very late starter with dancing. I actually got my break in dancing, partially by bullying people into it because they wanted me to do the visuals for it and I said I'd do it if you let me dance and it, there's a bit of that going on. So there was always something they were both parallel sort of things that I was pursuing. Melissa Ramos: And now you're a doctor. Yeah. How did you get into becoming a doctor? Dr Jason Lam: Again. Not very well planned. I collapsed lung, while I was traveling and this while I was dancing professionally and then I found it really hard to get work, as there's an insurance risk in that sort of thing. I thought that I had to come up with another plan. So yeah. Medicine seemed interesting so I signed up. Melissa Ramos: You're very smart. Dr Jason Lam: Just random. Yeah. Nothing's particularly well planned and it's yeah there's something which drew me to it and seems like it'd be interesting so, gave it a burl. So it's nice I've been able to come back, I’m one of the doctors with the Australian Ballet now and it's really nice to be able to come back kind of full circle back to back to dance and dancers and artists and that creative world which I really enjoy. Melissa Ramos: So how do you work with sound and music in your films. Do you work closely with the composer or do you have an idea about how you want to sound or do they just come to you with a thing that you brief them on? Dr Jason Lam: Everything kind of has a similar sort of sound I like that textural sort of thing but yeah I've worked with Sascha a lot as well and so he kind of knows what I like and we kind of just show him the film and he throws back ideas back and forth in a little bit down here maybe a bit more. What's something you know organic and crunchy here and there. Yeah he's fantastic and so we yeah we work closely together on that. For "Unfed" I actually did the sound myself. I went through a phase of enjoying playing with it and then with Gareth it's usually a, yeah he's responding or I'm responding to him. That's kind of how that works. Melissa Ramos: Gareth the poet? Does he also make music with you or is just the... Dr Jason Lam: He does make some music but usually with just in terms of the poetry and the way he reads it he's got a beautiful voice and he's also a performing poet. Melissa Ramos: Do you love working with poetry with dance. Is it something that you draw to? Dr Jason Lam: Yeah. And I like the poetic side of it because it's I guess it's kind of like, a dance of language; it's not explicit and so it has this other layer of.. and I get and that's the thing that poetry does well is again giving words and language to complicated fuzzy feelings and topics it's not, it's not like an oration or a speech or even dialogue. Love that about it and I think it works really well with dance, it adds another layer because he’s such a fantastically performative poet as well so that adds a rhythm to it, along with the music, along with the cuts and that. So I think it just works really nicely together. Melissa Ramos: Your current dance project with the Indigenous ballet dancer Ella Havelka; combines dance with computer animation, photography. Could you briefly speak more about this project? Dr Jason Lam: Yes so it's something I've been working on for, like 10 years and I was very much kind of inspired by my time up in the Northern Territory and learning some of the kind of Indigenous creation stories and a lot of them are about how the Earth is living, its mother and a lot of the landscape was danced into being and it was this idea of trying to capture that sort of idea of dance being a creative act and also occurring over geologic time scales. So we played with the idea of Ella dancing and then using animation to turn her into this creature of the land who exists over millennia . So it's the idea of dances being this immediate ephemeral fleeting sort of thing but using animation And sort of thing and we're doing it over the course of a day; creation happening over a cycle, of geologic time scales and then in some indigenous cultures then you know a day or so maps out a life. Melissa Ramos: Do you mean it goes for 24 hours? Dr Jason Lam: I don't think it's quite 24 I think it's 12. I got bored of sitting there. Melissa Ramos: When will that finish.? Dr Jason Lam: Oh buggered if I know that having a kid thing is really screwed up my timeline so no idea. Melissa Ramos: What are your thoughts about virtual reality dance films? Dr Jason Lam: Interesting. I think for an audience to maybe experience being in the midst of the action becomes , I don't know. Melissa Ramos: Interesting. Yeah. Dr Jason Lam: Yeah. Different. I haven't thought about how I would structure something I had because one of the things with both life performance and with film; You know, as the director you can really control what people see when. With free virtual reality then you don't have that. I guess it becomes a bit more like a game experience and interacts and direct their own narrative. |
"If I'm merely documenting or recreating, I feel I missed the point. |
