Dissonant

"Some of my works are filmed almost performatively, with one plan sequence, very little montage and often on film stock. For example, I work with five ten-minute rolls of film, so five takes are filmed but not edited, and one of those five takes has to be good. That creates a certain tension, like doing a performance. It's as if you're going on stage, but minus the audience." Manon de Boer, 2022.

In the film Dissonant, we see dancer Cynthia Loemij listen attentively to Sonata No. 2 for solo violin written by the composer Eugène Ysaÿe in 1923. Loemij has a strong memory of this piece from her very first performance with the dance company Rosas. At the end of the sonata, she suddenly breaks into a series of movements, a two-minute choreography performed without music and repeated several times. The choreography is sometimes interrupted by black sections, signalling the moments when Manon de Boer is changing the 16mm film stock. The length of the film roll determines the film edit and the brief absences of images create a tension that evokes Loemij's presence purely through the sounds of her dancing.

Manon de Boer is interested in physical memories or how dancers remember choreographies, movements and gestures through their bodies. She also explores the creative possibilities of repetition. Dissonant is a kind of memory game in which the dancer first listens carefully and then follows an "internalised" musical score. It cues in a sort of physical listening in which music is evoked without being present. We hear only the sounds of the dancer's movements and breathing, providing an alternative soundtrack. Loemij repeats the dance sequence six times. This repetition makes the subtleties and variations of her choreography even more visible.