Ensemble for Somnambulists

A simple testament to the endless power of playing with light and movement and flow and narrative until... art happens. Maya Deren was just so goddamned good at it.

A simple testament to the endless power of playing with light and movement and flow and narrative until... art happens. Maya Deren was just so goddamned good at it.

paradoxically smooth stiffness which employs visual distortion (photo negative effect, grain...) to construct some chimerical, astronomical wonder. the orbital course is twofold, or perhaps duplex is more fitting. the camera spins about, circling intensely the immense gravitational pull of the dancers, who moreso resemble mannequins than live figures. deren captures the phantasmagorical duality in sleep - the dread and the peace - much as bill etra's bed related films too capture such a binary. the slinky, paced movements which direct the eye hypnotically, lulling the audience up and away, contrast the grotesque nature of the human form in reverse; of uncanny movement devoid of clear path; of the vertigo(tm) inducing sense of displacement and distance, reminiscent of starring up at the sky and having no ability to place exactly how far away it all is... that juxtaposition, which is so inherent to sleep and dreams, is so clearly showcased that one might think this is some oneiric projection done via brain imaging.

paradoxically smooth stiffness which employs visual distortion (photo negative effect, grain...) to construct some chimerical, astronomical wonder. the orbital course is twofold, or perhaps duplex is more fitting. the camera spins about, circling intensely the immense gravitational pull of the dancers, who moreso resemble mannequins than live figures. deren captures the phantasmagorical duality in sleep - the dread and the peace - much as bill etra's bed related films too capture such a binary. the slinky, paced movements which direct the eye hypnotically, lulling the audience up and away, contrast the grotesque nature of the human form in reverse; of uncanny movement devoid of clear path; of the vertigo(tm) inducing sense of displacement and distance, reminiscent of starring up at the sky and having no ability to place exactly how far away it all is... that juxtaposition, which is so inherent to sleep and dreams, is so clearly showcased that one might think this is some oneiric projection done via brain imaging.