Svalbard
Move To Protect environmental dance short films
A movement vignette series created as part of an art and science residency in Svalbard - a two week sailing voyage onboard a barquentine tall ship, Antigua.
Filmed in the autumn month of October 2022.
Felt Essence of:
While focusing on the theme of impermanence, this short film exhibits my exploration and examination of how the body feels the essence of a place and how it portrays animism of this specific location. This piece was inspired by the musical unseen water flows within the glacier, the curvature and movement of the glacial pathway above me, as well as the soft and quiet snow that began to fall halfway through my improvisation.
While we are impermanent, our actions are not. This environment will outlive us- to be generous to that. To be respectful of the time it has lived, of the experiences it has had, the intensities it has created, felt and shared.
Created by: Alexandra Lockhart Music composition: Nathan Wheeler
Filmed in Svalbard.
Ice of Breen
A movement exploration of the audible interaction of calved glacial ice, sea, and air, Ice of Breen embodies the nuanced popping, crackling and complex composition of the ice and sea. Themes of erratic and randomness within a continuous flow are embodied and expressed through the movement and editing.
The sudden movement of a mini iceberg next to me as I waded through the glacial ice sculpture garden caught me pleasantly by surprise and further informed my movement. After unmeasurable moments of wondrous engagement, I took a step that sent me off balance, causing full submersion into the underworld of the icy blue giants. This marked the end of our conversation as a zodiac ride back to the ship for a hot cup of tea and dry clothing was in order, however dancing through the sea amongst these ancient glacial carvings frequents my dreams.
Created by: Alexandra Lockhart Music Composition by: Paul DeHaven
Filmed in Svalbard.
The music composition is comprised of sound picked up from the camera during the filming process, overlayed with a simple composed score.
ØY
Subfreezing air, my skin met your breath, the numbness overtaken by awe and overwhelm. Whisked away by your whispers of the wind, both away from my body and deeper in. At this altar, a desire to offer myself, in an unknown way, profess my love, and ask for forgiveness as I witnessed and felt our destruction. Me, a micron, engulfed by you, aching to be with, not on or beside. A blurred sense of edge, boundary, or limit, just expanse and spirit, until I had to come back- a painful and forced extraction to come back to this other side.
“and now she’s all I think about. A heartbreak I never saw coming. Pulling my heart, obscuring my nearest memories” - Hannah Larrabee
Created by: Alexandra Lockhart Music Composition by: Nathan Wheeler Violin: Chris Jussell
Filmed in Svalbard.