When you look up at the colorful dancers moving in slow-motion, projected on video screens high on the walls of Widener Library in Harvard Yard, you stop and watch. This is David Michalek’s “Slow Dancing.”
There is something utterly fascinating, vulnerable and slightly comical about watching the movements of more than 40 dancers develop in “almost irritating” slow motion, as multimedia artist Michalek describes it.
“What I was trying to get to was a certain slowness that has a certain affect quality about it. A kind of slowness that is almost irritating. The key word being almost. You stop looking at the figure as whole and you are into the figure and begin to live in its parts,” said Michalek.
On approaching the exhibit in front of Harvard University’s Widener Library, I immediately noticed the silence the videos had created, even with numerous people watching on a chilly spring evening. The silence was a telling sign of the collective awe in witnessing every subtle motion of dancers moving in such a slow state, the motion is undetected by the human eye.
Seeing “Slow Dancing” is a surreal experience. I felt like I had entered a time warp, where I had been granted special vision that could analyze the detail of every facial expression, gesture and movement.
Michalek filmed the dancers using the same type of high-definition camera used by golfers in order to study the faults of their swing. Standard film records at 30 frames per second, but Michalek’s camera films at 1,000 frames per second. Originally, the dancers are only dancing for five seconds, but the camera hyper slows their performance to roughly 10-minute segments.
After performing a classic ballet influenced routine in “Slow Dancing,” Jill Johnson said her facial expressions really surprised her. “I wasn’t thinking about my face and how intimate it was to see oneself before the movements are happening. The body and your face anticipate the movements,” she said. Johnson is Harvard University’s Director of the OFA Dance Program and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Music.
The fact that the videos showcase ethnically diverse dancers from many different dance styles is very transparent. I especially like the hip hop and Native American dancers. You can see portraits of the 40+ dancers involved here.
From New York City to Dublin, the exhibit has shown in 20 cities around the world.
It reminds people in crowded cities to stop and watch for a moment. Almost anyone can relate to “Slow Dancing” because it stimulates contemplation of the human form. According to the National Endowment for the Arts, only 8 percent of the U.S. population will ever see a live dance performance, which makes the exposure of “the art of dance” highly important.
Michalek stressed his desire to make this a public art exhibit so that more people can appreciate dance. In the future, he hopes to explore the neurology of spectators reacting to his exhibit.
“I do have a hankering to figure out a little more about why people stop for hours. So many people I have encountered have said to me, ‘Gosh I feel like I have done yoga, I feel like I went to see my therapist, I feel like I took an afternoon nap. I feel good,’” he said.
Go watch “Slow Dancing” at Widener Library in Harvard Yard from 7-11 p.m. every night until Sunday, April 29.
