DANCES OF THE MIND
DANCES OF THE MIND
This film was shot with a Super 8 camera on 16 mm film. I was guided through the creation process at The Austin School of Film in the Experimental Film class. The entire process from start to finish was extraordinary and an immense learning experience for me, not only in the technical aspects but also in learning about my own creative process as well.
Experimental and Avant-Garde film making is about using film as a medium of expression without being so caught up in the narrative. "Dances of the Mind" is an exploration, observation and experience of movement.
The film itself is a living, breathing specimen and we are here to observe it, much like we go to the aquarium to observe a fish swimming around the corals. This film has life, has breath, and has a heartbeat. We are just here to observe the movement of the film as it flows from scene to scene. Throughout the film there is that subtle underlying “breath", similar to our own autonomic functions (breath and heart beat, etc.) that are always working in the background without our constant awareness.
Memories are a reflection of your own perception. Just like memories, shadows dance along the truth using the lights around them to create the images that we see. I'm always drawn to how they mimic our movements but change with the light of the sun. They are an illusion that is moving and changing, just like our own minds in every passing moment. What we see within us, and what we feel is a reflection dancing along the truth, a partner in the dance that follows its lead but is warped by our own light. When I stare outside my window to see the trees dancing along the breeze, its simple to see waves of green but my eyes were always drawn to the grays dancing just beneath.
"Dances of the Mind"
"I feel the Earth spinning beneath my feet. The Sun is my guide. The moon is my reflection, sending into my heart those forgotten truths of which I must be reminded. The sea calls to me. The wind sends whispers from the waves and I am reminded that I am one with the wind and the sea. With the movements of my mind, I am dancing with the shadows of my memories. I breathe in the life that exists in our present, and I drift with time into the unknown of the future. In my mind there is harmony."