21ST CENTURY DANCE FRIDAYS: THE VIDEOS OF DOMINIQUE PALOMBO

There once was a time where philosophers, artists and various wise men championed the idea that all plastic arts must remain separate from each other to retain their own purity. According to these people, there was no greater sin for one particular visual medium, like painting to exhibit the qualities of another medium, like photography, and combining mediums was definitely not allowed.

That was then, but this is now.

I present to you three videos by French director, Dominique Palombo.

“MOVE”

I found his video for designer, Rachel Roy, entitled “Move” while I was hunting for fashion films. And then it struck me how utterly perfect this video would be for our 21st century dance Fridays. In “Move,” contemporary dance takes center stage to showcase Rachel Roy’s designs. The choreography is fresh, the edits are clean and the clothes move in interesting ways. In many contemporary fashion films, including Palombo’s, we see that dance is no longer confined to the stage. We don’t necessarily have to buy tickets to the ballet to see quality choreography. In fact we don’t even have to be dance enthusiasts to appreciate the beauty of Palombo’s work. We are aware that there is dance happening, but it becomes more about the dance as a part of a visual language to serve the greater artistic vision, rather than pure dance for it’s own sake.

“Seeing Red”

“Contact”

Andrea Diaz for PhotoSynth