Space
The issue of space has always intrigued Margie Medlin and she has explored it in much of her work. Although the Quartet project is not about space per se it does explore the concept of space particularly from a Dancers point of view and obviously the use of space.
It is apparent in her film “In the heart of the eye” that she is particularly interested in the focus of the dancer and the performance from the dancers view point. Sheenjoys the choreographyof cinematic space. Although she is interested in the dancers point of view and their realtionship with their space she realises on its own it is not enough to hold your attention. In fact it can be almost senseless. However soon as the dancer becomes part of the space and you see the dancer it changes to a vision of beauty that makes total sense. Margie is fascinated by these two opposing views of the same routine, one senseless the other completely over whelming and engaging. The video above was called Personal Space and was part of the Quartet project. The performance is stunning almost mesmeric but the cinemotography is on another level again, words fail me when I watch this.
At different times the dancer and robot seem intimate and other times apart. A confusing concept I know but that is the feeling I get. When you glimpse through the robots eyes you get an almost voyeuristic view of the dancer. Some of the audience said they also got the feeling they were watching something from the past when watching through the robots eyes, almost as though it was a faded memory they were recalling. As the performance goes on the personal space gets compressed as the robot and the dancer get more involved and inter twined, almost beckoning each forward. They become initimate invading each others space, the film from the robot becomes more alluring as we see the closeness of the dancer. Finally their eyes meet and it fades to black. These images mean many different things to different people, but then people’s relationship to space is very personal. Some found the later images alluring others found them uncomfortable which says more about the viewer than the images.
