Departed - Movement 1 - In the Company of Strangers - Videos

This video is the latest study in my AUT (NZ) Masters in dance and video. Departed - Movement 1 - differs from my first version of Departed - In the Company of Strangers. This study is in direct collaboration with the composer/musician, Mike Beever, based in Nelson, NZ Aotearoa. Mike composed this sound, 'Movement 1' specifically for this video footage. I have explored and edited his sound for this piece and I will be continuing this development process with Mike in subsequent edits. I am indebted to Mike for this opportunity to work with him. In this piece I was seeking to engage with a sound base that is a little more ambivalent than the first version of Departed. There is a movement here into layers of feeling which perhaps are less literal, if no less arresting. I will be continuing to develop my concepts in this direction.This video is based around an urban myth I am creating; that all our engagements, meetings and relations with people and places are subject to the forces of indeterminacy which set the scene for movement - movement away; departure - we are always leaving ... Will leaving make strangers of us all? I wanted to introduce a sense of small but strong drama - a tableau of clenched feeling which we can sometimes witness in public places; a sense of passion, of despair, of pathos at our fate which is to be swept up in this constant movement away from those places and people which sustain our sense of belonging. I placed the narrative inside a dark frame/format indicative of a train window - an image of the impending view with a reference to Duende, the dark song which resides in all of us and the sublime. The work is interventionist in that it creates a moment of uncertainty for the busy commuters at rush-hour; what is taking place here? A quarrel? A passionate withdrawal? A charged parting? The event of leaving within the chosen day inexorably taking over ... I would also like to thank the Wellington Railway Station staff for permission to carry out dance/film work in this unique station space.Please have a look at my Masters in Art and Design site: http://hoststranger.blogspot.comAlso find Mike Beever`s work at: http://www.myspace.com/crashnzThank you for your time, Mike Baker

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