Dirk Gryspeirt
Video and cinema have their own grammar, their own dynamics, their own form of expression, which are particular to these media and different from those of the stage. The director's task is to adapt or, if this is impossible, to recreate what happens on the stage for this new kind of language, to pour it into the video mould. He takes the work apart and, together with the choreographer, reconstructs it, respecting the choreographer's ideas while transposing them into another language. Condensing a stage production into a film involves a reduction in time but an increase in density.
The realisation of a dance video entails close collaboration between the film director and the choreographer. We have to work together, repositioning the soloists and groups of dancers for the most effective camera shots and angles, recreating a well-balanced composition. On the other hand, whereas it is viable to have several different things happening simultaneously on the stage, this ought to be avoided on the screen. We have to make choices, retaining that which is most significant (not everybody can be in the photo!). We have to find the essence of each scene and capture it in the most effective manner possible, in order to express on the screen what the choreographer wanted to say on the stage.
The time (real time) and the duration (time subjectively perceived) differ, depending on whether the spectator is in a hall or in front of a television screen. The dance movements must therefore be captured in a different way, the time cut up into segments, lengthened or shortened. Manipulation and ellipses are perfectly admissible.
