When I read Douglas Rosenberg’s chapter, “Video Space: A Site for Choreography” in Moving Sites, it occurred to me that I might be able to do some work that I would really enjoy in site-specific dance. Rosenberg built his chapter on the assertion that “video space is a site and as such has specificities shared by, but differing from, other sites of production and habitation.” Rosenberg provides two uses for video in dance: 1) a tool for documenting and archiving dance 2) A site for the creation of unique and singular works of art, distinct works for the camera. While discussing video’s role in site dance, Rosenberg raises the point that the camera/method of recording may be a site in and of itself. By recording a dance in a site, the videographer is establishing a fixed frame through which an audience ingests the dance and site. I decided to take this to the next level, and focus entirely on editing. When a videographer records, they have some autonomy in dictating what the audience sees, but it doesn’t extend far beyond distance and angle etc. An editor can construct a site in great detail through selecting which clips to present and for how long, altering these clips in any number of ways, and adding whatever accessories (music, text etc.) they see fit.
My research question was this: Through editing alone, could I create five distinct sites using the same limited pool of footage of a single physical site? I began by filming my friend Noah dancing for fifteen minutes next to a lake outside of a hotel in suburban Illinois. I did not give him any instructions, and he chose to rehearse a performance he was working on. When the time elapsed, and I had spent fifteen minutes filming Noah’s dance from all sorts of different distances and angles, the exercise was over. I will let the five sites I attempted to construct speak for themselves, but I employed all of the tools Adobe Premiere had to offer to make the most of the footage. Unexpectedly, I found timing to be the most noticeable element of my edited sites. How long I chose to present a clip, or when I decided to put in a sound of effect, or at what moment I decided to cut, drastically altered the sites.
Over the semester we have dealt so much in ambiguity. What is a site composed of? For sure it must extend beyond the physical, into history and memory and all sorts of context. This ambiguity has lent itself to riveting discussion and theory, but I hope, with this project, that I have presented an explicit statement. Sites can be constructed in the editing suite. Video is a legitimate site for the construction of site-specific work, not just a method of archiving it. As is the case with all art, these video/edited-sites are up for interpretation, but they are distinct.
Thank you to Noah for dancing for the camera and to Douglas Rosenberg for sparking everything and to everyone who gave me advice on the project!
