Silk Dragons
An abstract film where journeys through imaginary urban landscape are portrayed on screen through layers of processed digital video dance and music.
The source material for Silk Dragons includes footage of dancers from Beijing Modern Dance Company, captured in location in Beijing during 2006-07 by director John Crawford with choreographers Gao Yanjinzi and Lisa Naugle.
Much of the film is set in siheyuan, the traditional courtyard houses that once lined the hutongs (alleys) of Beijing. These siheyuan houses and hutongs have since been demolished, as have many others, in the massive waves of urban redevelopment currently transforming Beijing. Composed by Alan Terricciano and recorded live in performance, the music for the film is a setting of text from a series of ancient and modern Chinese poems in contemporary translations by Arthur Sze.
Production date: May 2010.
Venues
- International Festival for Visual ArtsNerja, Spain. June 2010.
- UC Irvine Chamber Music SeriesIrvine, CA. May 2010.