“astonishing … exquisite slow-motion … executed with an appositely otherworldly grace.”
The Telegraph

"innovative poetry of weightlessness"
Wired Magazine


"I let go with one hand, turned,
and for the first time since I left the airlock I seriously looked at the earth;
I come from there ... but ... I was falling …
With each breath I inhaled the beauty of the earth from afar …
I was my own spaceship, a small human satellite circling the earth;
the earth, the moon and me."

- NASA astronaut, Steve MacLean


FALLING live accompaniment by Errollyn Wallen by dan_farberoff




What is FALLING?
FALLING is an innovative dance film by director Dan Farberoff, composer Errollyn Wallen and choreographer Henri Oguike, together with the director of the Canadian Space Agency and NASA astronaut Steve MacLean. It was selected by the prestigious FIPA (International Festival of Audiovisual Programs) in Biarritz, as well as for Barcelona's Videodansa International Prize at the IDN festival. The film was commissioned by Channel 4, ABC, Arts Council England and Australia Council for the Arts, and produced by Nikki Weston at MJW Productions.



What’s it about?
Errollyn Wallen's conversations and correspondence with Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean served as the initial trigger. Steve’s journal entries, following his spacewalk on Atlantis shuttle mission STS-115, and emailed to Errollyn from space, are poetically evocative, and reveal a richness and a fragility that are to be found in our own human existence. Errollyn and director Dan Farberoff set-out to create a film that would encapsulate a sense of falling without ground, applying this astronaut’s heightened perception to show how all of us are, in effect, space-walking/falling to Earth in every moment and with every movement.



How was FALLING made?
Director Dan Farberoff and choreographer Henri Oguike worked together to develop the choreography and camera work that would allow them to convey the loss of gravity, of perspective and of orientation; the uncertainty of direction; the loss of ground and the shifting sense of time whilst in space. Dancers Laura Peña Nuñez and Nuno Campos were coached in the use of trampolines, in falling from great heights and in aerial work, having to endure long, arduous days of clinging to wires, of being continuously dropped and crash-landed, similar to the extremes of the astronaut’s training. The dancers interact very closely in mid air, with great precision, to produce the eloquent moments of tenderness in the film. Errollyn’s evocative text and spiraling music provide a spellbinding soundscape, with Steve’s narration layered on and woven in.




Where can I see FALLING?
FALLING was aired on Xmas, 27th Dec, as part of 4DANCE: DANCE 4 FILM on Channel 4. It toured with the Henri Oguike Dance Company 10th Anniversary tour, 22 Jan - 27 Mar 09, culminating with two dates at London's South Bank Centre, with live accompaniment by Errollyn Wallen. Selected screenings:

8-11/1/09 BARCELONA - at the
Image, Dance and New Media
Festival of dance and the moving image
where ‘FALLING’ was selected for the Videodansa International Prize

20-25/1/09 BIARRITZ - at the prestigious
FIPA, International Festival of Audiovisual Programs

22&23/1/09 CAMBRIDGE - Cambridge Arts Theatre

10/2/09 BRIGHTON - Corn Exchange

11/2/09 MALVERN - Malvern Theatres

26/2/09 MANCHESTER - Contact

4/3/09 BURY ST EDMUNDS - Theatre Royal

12/3/09 JERSEY - Jersey Opera House

14/3/09 LIVERPOOL - New Brighton Floral Pavilion

24&25/3/09 LONDON - Southbank Centre, London (SPECIAL PERFORMANCE WITH LIVE ACCOMPANIMENT BY ERROLLYN WALLEN!)

27/3/09 BRACKNELL - South Hill Park

11-26/7/09 SALENTO FILM FESTIVAL - Italy





Credits:
Original concept by: ERROLLYN WALLEN and DAN FARBEROFF
Director: DAN FARBEROFF
Music composed and performed by: ERROLLYN WALLEN
Choreographer: HENRI OGUIKE
Dancers: LAURA PEÑA NUÑES & NUNO CAMPOS
Narration written and read by: STEVE MACLEAN
Camera: MARK JOHNSON
Electrician: GARY DONOGHUE
Rigger: STEFAN KOPEC
Costume Designer: ALICE WOLFBAUER
Production Co-ordinator: SAMANTHA EARL
Archive: NASA
Graphics compositing: JELLYFISH PICTURES
Recording Engineer: GERRY O’RIORDAN
Editor: JOHN MIDDLEWICK
Director Dance Board, Australia Council: JENNIFER MCLACHLAN
ABC Commissioning Editor: MEGAN HARDING
Executive Producer for Arts Council England: DELIA BARKER
Executive Producer for Channel 4: JAN YOUNGHUSBAND
Producer: NIKKI WESTON
Executive Producers for MJW Productions: ANNE BERESFORD & MARGARET WILLIAMS



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