How to reach a dialogue between dance, photography and the topic of shame?
How to challenge existing imagery on this topic? How embodied emotions influence us and the space we occupy? What does it mean to go deeper in this collaboration? How to challenge ourselves? Which methods to use to reach multiple points of conversation?

During the second week in Flausen residency, we really tried to go further into these questions. It was quite an intensive week, full of movement exercises, photoshoots, meeting with a university group who researches the topic of shame, our mentor Miriam and creative director of the Pilkentafel theatre.

Methods of the week:
– Individual photoshoots;
– Movement exercises using previously conducted interviews about shame;
– Dance exercises using interpreting postures and creating dance sequences from them;
– Theoretical research and sharing;
– Taking an opportunity to intensify movement exercises with university group;
– Getting feedback on photography results from our mentor and university group;
– Reflections and sharing.

Revelations of the week:
– in order to get more intimate between the movement and photography, we organised individual photoshoots, where each performer was given a task or an activity while being photographed. Moving with a fragile object or other props as if it was a body part of a dancer, shaving hair, capturing dancers clothes in static and moving positions. Going to a very close up situations gave us a possibility to capture body movement, which is not usually seen by the dancer themselves in the act of movement, choosing the angles mostly from the back and avoiding direct eye contact to the camera.
– We felt like it was a safe space for us to explore in front of the camera, but what happens in reality, how it looks and what kind of meanings it creates in the viewers mind is a big difference.
– University group workshop was quite an intense experience as we tried to intensify movement exercises by having more participants. We might have not been prepared on the effect it might have on us individually, of what it means to be exposed.
– Feedback of students pointed out empowering aspects on the photography that we shared with them, which we might not have intentionally considered before.
– Moving exercises made revealed that feeling exposed is very much related to how we move in the space.