Candy Apple
Last month BODYART filmed Candy Apple, a dance film that explores women’s self-realization through the context of media. Candy Apple was filmed at Northwestern State University of Louisiana’s long-forgotten natatorium. Thirteen Northwestern dance students and three young dancers from the local community came together to create a new work at the bottom of a derelict swimming pool. Candy Apple was Inspired by Busby Berkeley and Niki Minaj, featuring overhead dream ballet sequences and gestures that explore gender normativity and the hypersexualization of the female body.
Made in Collaboration
This project was made in partnership with longtime collaborator and former company member Brett Garfinkel. Garfinkel is currently chair of the Department of Theater and Dance at Northwestern and it was such a pleasure to reconnect on another creative project.
We love having women in positions of leadership on our projects, and Candy Apple was no different. BODYART invited two more returning collaborators, Tulane alum Becky Allen (Rehearsal Direction) and Tulane graduate student Rachel Slater Carter (Camera Op). Allen was an essential collaborator on Digital Magpies and Carter has hosted Dance Happy Hour and provided artistic direction for BODYART’s upcoming Placeholder project in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
Collaboration is an important tenant of BODYART’s mission and we are so pleased that many former collaborators want to continue working together. We want to work with you too! Do you want to get involved? Let us know here!
Beauty in the Decayed
As many of you know, BODYART draws a lot of inspiration from abandoned spaces. In 2014 BODYART launched The Decay Project, a film residency program where BODYART collaborates with communities that have experienced economic or natural disaster. The Decay Project uses dance and movement practices to encourage residents to celebrate (and reconcile) their personal memories surrounding a place that has been destroyed, helping those most affected to heal and move forward. The residency culminates with a dance film that captures the essence of a lost space and its impact on the community.
What’s next?
Candy Apple is the fifth dance film to come out of The Decay Project. However, it is the first in a series of films and performances that will investigate the hypersexualization of the female body. Early next year, BODYART will present a live performance in the bed of a semi-truck featuring similar themes. This summer we’ll finish editing Candy Apple and begin submitting it to film festivals over the next year. We’ll update you along the way, but for now we hope you enjoy these images from the process.
