Modern dance, although not narrative in nature, conveys stories that go beyond verbal communication and straight to the heart of humanity. Rather than dialogue and voice overs, dance utilizes energy, emotion, and connection to the physicality of movements to tell a story. The audience does not need to be an experienced dancer to understand the message of a film. Through movement, feeling takes over, and understanding becomes its own dance between performer and viewer. Directed and choreographed by John Evans and Ani Javian, Breaking the Surface is a dance film that addresses the threat of global warming and rising sea levels, especially in New Jersey.
Some may wonder, why dance? And to that this film replies, because climate change is the issue of our lives, and art is the fruit of our life. This performance not only provides awareness for these issues, but it provokes an impetus for change by resonating with viewers on a level beyond typical communication. It brings attention to our topical, lifelong issues like climate change and rising sea levels - and our societal issues as a whole - in a way that is moving both literally and figuratively.
Every choice made by Evans and Javian, from costuming to chosen images, adds to the telling of this piece. From a color scheme of earth tones and pure white to the motif of ocean and water imagery, the film creates a striking contrast that immerses the viewer in a different world - a world that could soon be our very own.
In Breaking the Surface, the landscape of the film and camera techniques become storytellers as well. Part of the beauty of filming a dance performance is the chance to highlight perspectives that are not as easily transferred via stage. With wide overhead shots, tracking movements, and close-ups, the choreography is suddenly seen in an entirely new way. The camera itself often dances around the performers, sometimes showing a figure alone before switching to everyone coming together. Similar to the movements of the camera, the landscape plays a pivotal role in discussing climate change in the film. In fact, Breaking the Surface was shot locally, at the Rutgers University Marine Field Station in Tuckerton, New Jersey, providing a lens that is not distant, but close to our everyday lives.
Breaking the Surface uses a myriad of techniques: split screens, collage-like shots, freeze frames, drone footage, projections, super imposing, fading, overlapping images, to have the camera create a rhythm and dance in its own right while simultaneously providing a warning to the audience. As the image fades, the viewer is left with the parallel of how our world is fading due to climate change. As the drone rises, the dancers become smaller, showing the audience how tiny we are compared to nature, yet we destroy it in ways that are hurtful to all of us. This juxtaposition between man-made and natural runs throughout the entirety of the film. One particularly haunting example of this is seen through the movements inside of a cage. The shot is beautiful but harrowing, with performers climbing out of the restriction as rushing water fills the cage while painted projections illuminate the dancers from behind. It is an image that feels pressingly close to our potential future, predicting a possible outcome for humanity if action is not taken.
Another phrase in the film shows the performers bodies lying in the water while the camera twirls overhead. Just as the water ebbs and flows, so do the dancer’s bodies. What seems peaceful at first soon becomes foreboding, as viewers come to understand its foreshadowing of the end. An additional scene involves a physical warning sign in the background as the dancers move in front of it, similar to how the film is a warning sign for the audience members. Breaking the Surface is a call to action to all those who see it. Now is the time to stand up and make change against climate change, before it is too late.
Breaking the Surface screens as part of a triple bill with Emily Goodchild experimental film To Understand An Anemone and Manno Lanssens/Joy Bechtler’s Fandango, portrait of an opera workshop at the Fall 2023 New Jersey Film Festival on Friday, September 8. The film will be Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 7 PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ. Tickets are available for purchase here.
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