ONETAKE

An International Residency Series

Residency 1 : July 2023

Location: Cologne Germany

Medium: Film

Collaborators: Sophia Gamboa, Mio Ishikawa, Sean Lammer, Moscelyne ParkeHarrison, Jeff Schaul

Upon arriving to Germany, the collective had two objectives: to come back into touch with its site-specific roots and to conceptualize materials for a future proscenium work. Seemingly disparate in nature, we soon realized the value in developing a site-specific and proscenium work in dialogue with one another. We first began with the concept of our film: a three part study researching how a choreographed sequence can develop and emerge seamlessly from one of the most uncontrolled environments: a pedestrian scene. We were interested in creating three one-shot studies - a solo, a duo, and a trio - in which we made use of natural movements, rhythms and tasks to form a choreography that could blend easily into the background of an urban environment yet arrive gradually to the foreground of the viewer’s perspective through repetition, duration and physical evolution over an extended period of time.

Our research led to a very fruitful collaboration with local filmmakers Jeff Schaul and Sophia Gamboa who not only wanted to collaborate on this vision but to also capture footage for a project of their own: a short documentary distilling the essence of our collective reunion and the process of the residency.  

As is typically the case, it quickly became evident that our site-specific and studio research were deeply and inextricably connected. Our work outdoors not only had an impact on our movement vocabulary, but also an influence on our ideas for stage design and how to translate natural structures and urban plannings to a proscenium setting. Before long, we were marveling at skate-parks and everyday promenades. 

Over the course of the 10 days, we strived to work minimally, building from the inside-out, and stripping an idea down to its purest form.  While our past residencies as a group felt more focused on extending ourselves to the limits of our collective imaginations and physical capacities, this one felt centered in practicing a more disciplined approach of extricating and honoring the essence of something.

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Photo by Kele Roberson