Trait dansé

"Trait dansé" is a set of 25 pictures that has to be considered as a whole, as a single piece. The subject is the renowned Swiss-born dancer Anne Martin. Aged 70, she decided to choreograph for the first time. Her piece is called "Umwandlung" ("Conversion"). The formal purpose in "Trait dansé" is to slip into the gap between graphic arts and photography, namely between contemporary comics and photography. As in contemporary comics, Traits dansé uses the layout and the layering of frames to build and emphasize the narration. The viewer's mind interpolates the acting between the frames and concatenates the energy of both layers. Namely, in Trait dansé, the background layer is made of long exposure false-color pictures. It reminds of watercolor and transcribes the fluidity of the choreography, whereas the front layer transcribes its graphic aspects. The exclusive use of backlight and of negative images on textured paper allow the front layer to look like Indian ink. It shows very few details of the dancer's expression and focusses on the silhouette. The narration is driven by the movement of the dancer from one frame to the other, and by the spatial arrangement of the frames t