Berlin Wall Rehearsal 4

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

I love these moments when everything comes together. In 2007 I was in Berlin standing in the Potsdamer Platz and thinking that almost two decades ago I couldn’t do that. Two decades ago there was a Wall standing and this place was called “Nomansland.” So I was working on my short dance films about dancing with cities that were done only in the pure joy of the moment. And this film was kind of the seed for this new piece I am creating. And just when  was thinking about that I receive this Blog entry by Mike Rogers our filmmaker. I am very excited to see what Mike will come up with and how we try to bring these tow art forms together. Please below read Mikes Blog entry for this week.

 

Mike:

Dancing with the Berlin Wall has been a fascinating project for me to

be involved with. I first knew I wanted to work on the project with

Nejla after I read her proposal. It was so intricate, mixed with past

histories and current emotions, entangled with perspectives and

confusions about how and what the fall of the Berlin wall meant.

 

To be honest, I was ignorant to the happenings surrounding the Berlin

Wall. The why, the who, the what, all of these things alluded me prior

to researching this project. But it was in the process of learning

about the history of the wall, even hundreds of years before the wall

was erected that I started to gain a perspective on how we might be

able to ‘capture’ what Nejla was trying to communicate.

 

For me, film is another method of communication – but rarely do you

have the opportunity to create your own language. Our current

structure of film relies on characters and dialogue, whereas this film

will be communicating through the movements that Nejla and her dancers

have been creating in their rehearsals. It’s going to be fascinating

to see how the two artforms, dance and film, will begin to create

their own defined language. For this project, and more specifically,

for this film, it is my intention to emphasize and amplify, not

restrict, Nejla’s dance moves to inform and communicate in a way that

will provide viewers a unique perspective about the fall of the Berlin

Wall.

 

Mike Rogers

Director

Persistent Productions

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