Wanderlust – applying a method of the romantic era for screendance making

• Main Author: Salzer, Heike
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: https://research.tees.ac.uk/en/publications/50c9160d-7d9f-4ef0-bc15-71f35fe11acc

This paper proposes the re-occurrence of romanticisms in screendance in the 21st century. Wanderlust is a term derived in Germany in the romantic era (1795–1848) describing the strong desire to explore the world. The experience of nature and the subjective emotional responses formed the stimuli for romantic art, which was a reaction to the industrial revolution, and the concerns for humanity in that new technological era. The Romantics aimed to convey their individual emotive responses to the audience, trying to make the viewer feel part of it, which was often achieved via new ways of composition and form. These broke in many ways the traditions of the classical era, creating art that had neither been planned, or pre-conceived; art which was purely inspired by an emotional response to place and which challenged narrative, rhythm and forms that had been applied before. Romantic art is therefore characterized by spontaneity and contemplation, expression of emotions and the belief that the artwork will purely form out of the experience and unity with nature. This presentation reflects on how a similar process has been employed in the screendance works of the author, which solely follows an intuitive and visceral process of creation. The screendances created in Iceland between 2010-2014 (Salts) and 2015 (WECreate) were developed via a Wanderlust approach, travelling through landscapes without a pre-formed agenda. By screening examples, the author will share the discovery of similarities of themes of the romantics from almost two centuries ago with the way her screendances have been developed today. The presentation draws on the ‘model of influence’ in site-specific choreography by Hunter (2015), McCormack’s (2015) theory of atmospheric choreographies, Edmunds (2010) ideas of spatial influence in filmmaking, and Norman’s (2010) argument, which is in the spirit of romantic artists, that ‘Screendance can speak to our shared humanity…referring us back to our own bodies and our particular perceptions of space’.