THE PANDEMIC DANCES
During a time when the world was confined to its homes, Richard Daniels turned inward, using movement, technology, and the limited space around him to document an extraordinary moment in time.
The Pandemic Dances is a series of five short dance films A Dance for A, Zooming, Nature Morte, Turbulence, and Test Kitchen created entirely within Daniels’ apartment using readily available tools including smartphones, computers, portable lighting, and green screen.
What began as an intimate response to isolation, distance, and the final days of his mother’s life developed into an autobiographical exploration of memory, emotion, and the body in confinement. The series continues Daniels’ long-standing exploration of technology as a medium for bringing dance to audiences beyond the traditional stage.
The films went on to receive international festival selections and numerous awards, preserving a distinct artistic record of the pandemic through movement and imagery.
Watch The Pandemic Dances below
“The Pandemic Dances” flows from my previous dance-on-camera pursuits. Sheltered at home due to pandemic, miles apart from and grappling with my mother’s final days, I created a small dance for her utilizing at-hand elements of lighting, sound, set. This first film is leading into a series seeking to capture the character of the moment in which we’re living through intimate dances in interior settings – my first effort to capture autobiographical work on film in movement and imagery.
