Phrases by Sarah Lapinksy and Maxine Flasher-Düzgünes.
Opening on rippling Lake Kleptuza to an eerie, atmospheric beat, In Her Pores and skin primes the digital stage for an enchanting efficiency of vogue, character and embodiment. Choreographer, Kosta Karakashyan, attracts upon the moody aesthetic of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, to juxtapose nature and the characters via distinct contrasts and daring shifts of tone. Because the characters slowly trickle into the area, I first view them as objects inside the area, equal to the flowing river and leaves blowing within the wind earlier than their motion shifts them prominently to the main focus. The characters credited as: The Housewife, The Femme Fatale, The Runaway, The Lady by the Lake and The Ghost are superbly physicalized by the performers as they discover themselves inexplicably, intertwined on this location.
First to enter the scene is The Housewife, who disappears and reappears via the body with a measured sharpness earlier than boldly descending an extended staircase. I’m drawn in by the marked sound of her excessive heels assembly the steps. Her ensemble that includes a pencil skirt, detailed collar, lengthy black gloves, sun shades and small, black purse, compliments the performers’ authoritative but flirty physicality. As she strikes via completely different places, I’m struck by a specific body a couple of third of the way in which into the movie: shot from afar, The Housewife walks alongside a concrete wall with a waterfall flowing into the lake on the fringe of the display. With matching energy, the dancer and the waterfall are superbly juxtaposed earlier than a swift and easy minimize brings her to a brand new location. Her physicality grows as she whips her purse about till a shift within the music prompts a showy, theatrical second the place she notices the following character. Cue entrance: The Femme Fatale.
In a black fringed blazer, leotard, heels and a daring pink lip, The Femme Fatale slinks down the steps to the intriguing beat earlier than a fast minimize introduces us to The Lady by The Lake. For only a second, we see The Lady by the Lake sitting in entrance of the flowing physique of water in a big, white fur coat earlier than a transitional hair flip brings us again to The Femme Fatale dancing seductively on a pier. Her motion has an emphasis on contact that creates a sensuality within the character but in addition re-focuses my consideration to the expertise of the area. At this level, I’ve to say a second that made me smile the place a pedestrian couple floats by the pier in a paddle boat seemingly unfazed by the efficiency or videography occurring round them; because the movie as so splendidly attuned me to the setting at this level, I discover humor of their obliviousness, and I’m grateful for the inclusion of this charming, human second that amplifies the surrealism of the flowery characters.
As The Femme Fatale’s featured part involves an finish, we hear whispers and the beat will increase as we meet: The Runaway. In a mesh and leather-based corset high, black leather-based trousers, ornate eye make-up and chain-detailed belts, the performer takes a operating begin into extremely bodily motion that appears virtually super-human because it has been sped up in modifying. A robust tone shift occurs as The Runaway stops to note The Lady by the Lake.
As mushy drones fade in over the sound of a babbling brook, The Lady by the Lake strikes fluidly reaching, recoiling and creating ripples within the lake and her personal motion. In moments of stillness, a way of pondering or remembering emerges, punctuated by a poignant dampness. Fast cuts introduce us to a brand new visible vocabulary of reversing and blurring the picture because the performer dances with a way of looking or confusion. An interplay between The Lady by the Lake and our closing character, The Ghost, thrusts us into yet one more tone shift. Black and white, shaky and even generally inverted, the movie takes an unpredictable flip in introducing this otherworldly character that we see operating via the woods earlier than discovering a spot backdropped by beautiful, dominating mountains. This framing actually calls upon the Twin Peaks aesthetic and The Ghost jogs my memory a little bit of the character of Bertha from Charlotte Brontë’s, Jane Eyre. In these closing minutes, she spins and spins till she begins ascending a hill. Because the others of their vibrant colours flip to see, she descends the hill out of our sight; a wonderful second recalling the characters’ staircase moments earlier within the movie.
With robust visible themes, ingenious motion and dynamic framing, In Her Pores and skin, explores vogue, character growth and {our relationships} with the setting and one another. The abstracted narrative leaves me with questions, however it’s okay as a result of looks like a purposeful omission of knowledge (Twin Peaks vibes). In solely quarter-hour, In Her Pores and skin, grabs your consideration because it portrays modern, dynamic characters linked via area as they transfer via their trendy particular person journeys.
Sarah Lapinksy
In Kosta Karakashyan and Antonia Georgieva’s vogue movie “In Her Skin,” what seem like the banks of a mysterious lake turn out to be the isles of a sacred runway for 5 Bulgarian townswomen. Beneath the dream-score of bluesy brass and percussion are the striding heels of every girl, made-up lush earlier than the mossy greenery. Every scene rings so misplaced, like within the occasion of discovering a siren strolling on land… in truth, they’re all sirens, luring watchers in the direction of the water. Between the midnight-black leather-based gloves of the Housewife, the sapphire lips of the Femme Fatale, or the silver-studded cowboy boots of the Runway, every of them masters that dangerously hallucinogenic attract.
The music moans and whispers to the swan music of the Lady by the Lake, shrouded in white fur, her ginger hair damp, and her cheeks angelically pale. She seems the closest of all of them to the water, her coattails able to dive in the direction of divinity. As she weaves patterns within the water along with her fingertips, I’m reminded of 19th century poet Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Girl of Shalott.” The ballad describes a noblewoman stranded in a tower up the river from King Arthur’s citadel, Camelot. “And by the moon the reaper weary, / Piling sheaves in uplands ethereal, / Listening, whispers, “‘Tis the fairy / Girl of Shalott.” (traces 1-4). Sadly, the Girl suffers a curse by which she can not search for from her loom however solely on the world via the reflection of a mirror. Pissed off, she brings concerning the curse by searching a window, the mirror cracked edge to edge. The Girl lastly perishes in a ship on her option to the palace gates.
The haunting stagnancy of the lake-water evokes a way of being frozen earlier than loss of life. On this shaky memoire, emerges the Ghost, an undead maiden traipsing via her curls and an overgrown robe. I see via her eyes like a cracked mirror, the world in a grainy slumber the place she each floats and flounders. Her gothic dance wafts over the water however leaks on the seams.
The administrators of the movie expertly conjure the lull of a darkish age, however one left unmined of all its fantasies. They expose an unkempt creativeness, as beguiling because the wilderness however as perilous as a free-fall via a dream. These characters are trapped in languor but overwhelmed by the pure great thing about the lake, its splendor a blessed one however maybe additionally a curse…
Maxine Flasher-Düzgünes.
In Her Pores and skin is out there to stream now. Click on here to entry the video through the kNOwBOX Dance‘s YouTube Channel.