philippe decoufle.

This dance film was created by one of my favorite choreographers, Philippe Decoufle. Most of my work over the past couple of years found some sort of inspiration in Decoufle's world. He was originally trained as a circus performer, then studied under Alwin Nicolais. He has an amazing ability to create beautiful, imaginative experiences with movement and design.

This is "Codex 4" from a collection of other Codex pieces. His Codex pieces are each inspired by a different part of Codex Seraphinianus, a book written and illustrated by the Italian artist, architect, and industrial designer, Luigi Serafini. (Don't be turned away by the cover art.) Serafini spent 30 months in the late 1970s creating a 360 page illustrated encyclopedia of an imaginary world, written in an imaginary language. I wish I could get my hands on a copy, they are very rare.

Decoufle choreographed many pieces based on the illustrations in Codex. I love his ability to build characters with simple movement and gesture, not to mention incredibly imaginative costumes and design. The two dancers in "Codex 4" have amazingly clear effort qualities, even if the movement seems pedestrian. The camera brings a fantastical point of view that distorts the size of each dancer, and I love the choice of music.

And who am I kidding? I mostly just want that paper dress.

By the way, it seems that I might have lead some of you astray with my excitement about the "announcement." As originally mentioned, it is a project that Sam and I are working on. So, sorry to disappoint....but, no I am not pregnant. Oh, such wild imaginations!