Corporeality of Space vs. Spatiality of Bodies: Site-Specific Dance on Film

In site-specific performances, architectural spaces play an important role, becoming performative entities rather than a passive backdrop for an action. However, the narratively rich and environmentally overpowering spaces that inspire site-specific dance interventions can easily overpower the action or the bodies, giving the impression that everything works because of the strong aesthetic presence of the space. As a direct consequence, from an initial intention to performatively engage the spaces into becoming an equal participant of an action, spaces may be reduced to an overwhelming backdrop – an aesthetically pleasing and visually dominant element of the performance, yet, lacking the essential dialogue between the space and the body/bodies. Exploring the corporeality of spaces through the presence and the actions of the bodies interacting with them, we infer that in an ideal performative setup, without the bodies, we cannot not experience the space, and without the space, we cannot not feel the presence of the bodies. Through the analysis of a short dance film, which is a part of the immersive multimedia performance, Skopje, the Great Escape, filmed in the burnt-out main hall of the Central Post Office in Skopje, North Macedonia, I discuss strategies of bodies as mediums through which we can strive to address this fragile equilibrium. Within the film, the spaces of this powerful sculptural architecture, which became even more visually engaging through the visible traces of the catastrophic event, had multiple roles: from inspiring the movements through the space by reacting performatively to its morphology, rhythms, shapes and levels, to the way the direction and the cinematography were conceptualised. Avoiding both the approach of an architectural film and the filming of choreography in space, the bodies and their movements function as a medium through which the audience can explore and get a tangible experience of the space.