Interoception

new media dance film

Interoception is a contemplative dissection of flamenco, where the inner connections between the artists weave an immersive improvised experience. It is a metaphor that portrays the juxtaposition between the mind of the performer and the colorful blend of emotions that arise in the thrill of the moment. In this journey, viewers delve into the inner world of a flamenco performer, which echoes through dance, music, poetry, digital painting, and video art.

Anastassiia Alexander (Calgary, Canada)
artistic direction, dance, video art, video production

Gabriele Kuzabaviciute (Vancouver, Canada)
digital and video art, video production

David Ledo (Calgary, Canada)
technical direction, video art, video production, photogrpahy

Jonathan Lewis (Calgary/Mexico city)
violin, music composition, music direction, sound production

Ricardo Sánchez (Mexico city, Mexico)
guitar, voice, music composition

Anastassiia Alexander & David Ledo
poetry

This work was created for the 2020 Virtual Victoria Flamenco Festival, based on the concepts developed during the Flamenco Rosario’s Creative Residency at the 2019 Vancouver International Flamenco Festival. It speaks to the creative process and improvisation that is so fundamental to flamenco.

Film Premier:
2020 Virtual Victoria Flamenco Festival
Victoria, BC, Canada
July 24, 2020

Screenings:
Buena Mezcla (presented by Flamenco Rosario)
Vancouver, BC, Canada
March 24 – April 2, 2020

2020 Virtual Victoria Flamenco Festival
Victoria, BC, Canada
July 24-29, 2020

Work-in-progress showings:
Vancouver International Flamenco Festival
Scotiabank Dance Centre
Vancouver, BC, Canada
September 21, 2019

INTEROCEPTION
Anastassiia Alexander & David Ledo

Our heart beats 100,000 times per day,
the same number as hair strands on our head.
We take a breath 20,000 times per day,
as much as the skin’s surface area in centimetres squared.
Our blood runs through the body at 5 kilometres per hour,
the speed we walk on Earth in our endless journey to discover…

INTEROCEPCION
Anastassiia Alexander & David Ledo

Nuestro corazón late 100,000 veces al día,-
el número de cabellos que cubren la cabeza.
Y los pulmones respiran 20,000 veces por día,
que coinciden con el área de la piel nuestra.
La sangre, que las venas recorre,
viaja a 5 kilometros por hora, –
la velocidad en que nosotros, los humanos,
diambulamos esta Tierra …

Artwork: Gabriele Kuzabaviciute

This piece began as a collaboration between visual artist Gabriele Kuzabaviciute and myself during the Flamenco Rosario’s Creative Residency in 2019. Under the mentorship by Mexican choreographer Ricardo Rubio, we were intrigued to expose the unseen world of emotions and inner workings of a human being through the surprising combination of flamenco dance and body paint. During our live improvisations together we created stories of movement and brush strokes, where the paint and rhythm become alive in a unique entanglement of light and sound right in front of the viewer. As Gabriele painted on me while I moved, a silent conversation between us emerged: are the dancer and the artist responding to each other’s inner experiences or influencing them… Or are they cocreating a new state of being?

The COVID-19 pandemic interefered with my plans of creating a live show and we had to adapt to the circumstances. The result is this new media film where dance and digial art blend together and transport us into new states of reality.

Working on this project was also an experimentation with the concept of digitally mediated asynchronous improvisation in times when we weren’t able to meet in person and had to work across cities and countries. The methodology we followed is like a digital telephone game where artists pass around their work, such that: everyone can create, as well as react and improvise to each creation. In addition, there are no repetitions to the order in which artists layer their work to the collective piece. In this way, Interoception also speaks to the creative process and improvisation that is so fundamental to the flamenco artform.