Choreographic and Spatial Layers in Jasmina Cibic's Screendance The Pavilion

Abstract

The paper is a case study of Jasmina Cibic's film The Pavilion (2015) in relation to the theory of screendance. The first part of the paper discusses the definitions of the term screendance by various researchers, and its position to related terms choreocinema, cine-dance, dance cinema, dance for the camera, dance on screen, dancefilm, and video dance. The second part of the paper is a close analysis of the film, synchronously focused on three key aspects: the choreography of the five female performers, the cinematic techniques, and the narration. The third part of the paper examines the role of the dancer Josephine Baker, to whom the film makes a reference. The paper concludes that the central choreography in the film is not that of the five female performers, but actually of the model of the pavilion which they animate. The choreography of the architectural model and the spatial reference to the body of Josephine Baker are as important semantic layers of the film as the choreography of the five performers.