We think of ballerinas as these feathery, light dancers who move their bodies in ways that most people can. It’s an insanely intense sport that makes for a seemingly very delicate show. They’re usually seen as pretty or feminine or angelic. And they are.
But sometimes, they decide to switch it up.
Ballet is actually super versatile and while it can tell a beautiful story, it is a dance form that can also tell a heartbreaking, maybe even kind of spooky story.
Back in 2012, a trilogy of screendance films was released, starring a Canadian dancer named Dorotea Saykaly, who also choreographed all of the movement.
The trilogy is about our “tug-of-war with wilderness,” according to Duncan McDowall, who wrote and directed the videos.
“Here we explore a building’s decay. The choreography and original score are both in decrescendo to illustrate the building’s retreat from the physical world, and Nature’s advance on it,” McDowall says of this first video, “PAINTED,” in the series.
The clip begins in a run-down, industrial type of building. With concrete, exposed brick, and broken wood doors, it looks as if it was abandoned. The colors lack saturation and are very muted, created quite the spooky atmosphere.
We’re definitely being kept at the edge of our seat with this one.
The Saykaly appears in a black hooded dress as a ticking rings off in the distance. She is the only one there as she walks and raises her arm up, continuing to create a slightly scary tone.
We see a flash of a scary blackbird and then the music starts to kick in. Synchronized with the sounds, Saykaly also begins to break into dance.
Spoiler alert: The dance is so beautiful.
She keeps her face covered with her hood, which makes her seem very mysterious.
She kicks, pliés, slams her hands onto the ground, and eventually, her hood comes off and exposes her face. This is not the typical ballet we are used to. Instead, it’s aggressive and dark and powerful. There’s a different kind of energy there — angrier — but it does not take away from its beauty.
It’s absolutely breathtaking.
Saykaly continues to wander through the deserted building through dance. She doesn’t seem scared at all — in fact, it seems like she’s ready to face just about anything through the power of dance.
We see other rooms with decaying walls, ashes on the ground, and barely any light. The talented dancer takes us through all of it.
At the end, she surrenders as she gives up and lies on the ground. Then we see brushes of grass which, presumably, is a metaphor for our tug-of-war with the wilderness, as the director explained.
The performance made such a mark, it even won Best Dance Film at the 2012 Fastnet Short Film Festival and was nominated for Best of Festival and Best Original Music.
It also garnered nearly 6 million views, going viral.
It also got so much good feedback, with people commenting, “absolutely mesmerizing,” “magnificent outstanding,” and “this is what anxiety feels like” (they meant that in a good way, we assume).
One person even joked: “Imagine if you’re walking in the wilderness and find an abandoned building and when you look through a window you see this woman in black just dancing by herself. I would tip toe the hell out of there.”
Check out the stunning performance below. You’re bound to have your breath taken away!
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