FAM // Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company + Genevieve Carson

HUMANSHAPES + LOS ANGELES CONTEMPORARY DANCE COMPANY △ FAM
director / Nathan Kim
creative director + choreographer / Genevieve Carson
producers / Rachel Scandling + Benjamin Shearn
editors / Benjamin Shearn + Nathan Kim
costume designer / Sami Martin Sarmiento
makeup + hair / Josiah Cracraft
camera assistant / Xavier Hamel
wardrobe assistant / Megan Feely
makeup assistant / Lawrencia Colding
music / Jamie xx
featuring / Kate Andrews, Joseph Badalamenti, Christian Beasley, Genevieve Carson, Hyosun Choi, Jamila Glass, Tess Hewlett, Andrew Pearson, JM Rodriguez, Ryan Ruiz, Drea Sobke, Tiffany Sweat
LACDC:
www.lacontemporarydance.org
/ lacontemporarydance
/ lacontemporarydance
LIKE: / wearehumanshapes
SUBSCRIBE: th-cam.com/users/subscribe_wid...

[@sophieheron5118]

SO GOOD

[@Festivalencuentrodanza]

C'est le reflet de mon âme

[@owenkjartanson7476]

The Salton Sea is such a strange and beautiful place. Love the light in those abandoned buildings.

[@DylanLPeyton]

very nice!

[@RuidosaAlma]

INCRIDIBLE

[@iBreatheDanc3]

Beautiful!

[@WorldByTheTale]

That was well done

[@Sarra_Starr]

The first thing I noticed about this choreographed video is that it takes place in LA!
Love!
As I read further, I noticed that it was filmed at the Salton Sea.
This tells me a little bit more about the story the dancers are trying to tell.
The dance begins with dark undertones, from the music playing in the background ("Sleep Sound", Jamie xx), to the costumes- which are skin-toned, slightly raggedy, and seem to match the Salton Sea's abandoned, almost barren setting.
The dancers start off frozen in form, without their bodies moving at all.
This evolves into a locomotive form of dancing- incorporating themes from modern dance like, "free form" dance, Isadora Duncan's natural movement techniques in organic pattern, M. Graham's beautiful contraction and release movements, and Doris Humphrey's fall and recovery technique. We also see Jose Lion's rebound & recovery, and the "body drop" technique.
We can see examples of esplanade; everyday human movement when the dancers are discovering their surroundings by walking and their exploring of the abandoned buildings (maybe we can assume these were once homes; maybe their homes).
We get a sense of the dancers "waking-up" to their surroundings. If we take into account the fact that this was filmed at the Salton Sea, we can see that the dancers are almost "waking-up" to their desolate surroundings. Where there once were homes, and a small city, the Salton Sea is now a "skeleton town", the homes and attractions deserted but still standing.
The dancers seem to still find beauty in this place, remain together as a "family", and at the end of the video- their costumes transform from the pale, raggedy, natural skin-tone colors into brighter hues of pink, yellows and blues.
I think this signifies re-birth, re-growth, and reintroduction of life in a place that seems so desolate and perhaps hopeless- but still contains the potential for beauty, life, and discovery.

[@humanshapes]

Thank you for sharing your thoughtful insights!

[@kitsmcbits]

Love this so much!!