'Slow' moves in revelatory ways

August 02, 2008|Karen Campbell, Globe Correspondent

BECKET - At first, the floor-to-ceiling image projected on the back wall of Jacob's Pillow's Doris Duke Studio Theatre appears to be a still photograph. Indian dancer Shantala Shivalingappa, regal in a traditional peach silk gown, stands legs bent, feet pointing to the side in a stylized posture from the live movement snippet she's just performed onstage.

But ever so gradually, the image seems to breathe, to stir to life. In David Michalek's video-portrait project "Slow Dancing," Shivalingappa's five-second phrase is stretched into a 10-minute video. That might sound tedious, but it's a surprisingly revelatory experience for the attentive. In real time, the naked eye can perceive only so much. In Michalek's hyper-slow-mo world, we can see how a seemingly simple move requires remarkable effort, how muscles prepare for a jump or a foot rebounds when it reconnects with the floor. The result celebrates the stunning beauty of the human form, both in motion and in stillness.

Michalek's high-speed, high-definition camera, which was developed by NASA, shoots a whopping 1,000 frames per second. This allows Michalek to play back video many times slower than real time with crystalline clarity, allowing for the perception of extraordinary detail in movements ranging from the seemingly simple to the obviously complex.

"Slow Dancing," which features videos of more than 40 dancers, premiered at Lincoln Center last year and has been presented elsewhere several times since then. But this exclusive Pillow program is the first theatrical presentation pairing three video portraits with live performances by three distinctly different dancers, chosen to help "democratize" dance in all its rich variety. Between videos, Pillow scholar Suzanne Carbonneau interviews Michalek and the dancers about the process.

Modern dancer Fang-Yi Sheu, considered one of the finest interpreters of Martha Graham's work, said she found viewing the slow-motion dance of herself "very scary" in how much it revealed, but also "contemplative." Her video portrait offered a study in gravity and hydrodynamics. She asked for a costume that looks like "moonlight on water." It's an apt description for the cream-colored satin that flowed like liquid silver with every move. Undulations cascaded up and down her body like great waves, her long hair flying like sea spray. In slow motion, it was sheer poetry.