ALL THAT IS SOLID MELTS INTO AIR

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4 contemporary dance choreographers examining the transformations of Beirut through site-specific dance.

All That Is Solid Melts Into Air is a dance/documentary film capturing the state of transition of Beirut through contemporary choreographers’ eyes. It is a result of months-long-discussions and collaborations between director Amy Dang and local choreographers. The choreographers were invited to create site-specific movement reenacting the memories at places where they felt the most related to. The film endeavours to amplify their physical and emotional attachment
through juxtaposing interviews, monologues and a series of urban landscapes. Filmmaker Dang spent 3 months there, speaking to the locals learning about the city as well as documenting theatre shows for choreographers, attending dance classes, etc.

<< I was interested in the politics and ontology of contemporary dance, especially site-specific dance. And I came across a book by André Lepecki where he discusses the relationship between the changes in the presentations, techniques, styles of contemporary dance and the Western history. I thought to myself: how is contemporary dance practice like in a place where this form of art is not originated from? What kind of narratives would I discover? The next thing I knew I was in Beirut chasing after choreographers and asking philosophical questions...

I learnt a lot about Lebanon through living there. The trauma, the concept of lost paradise, the divisions of the city, the country because of the religions, the refugees, all that...People tend to think of stereotypes when they think about countries with complex histories, therefore the turbulence becomes the centre of the topic. Or a weird analogy would be when you think about Chinese films you think about Hong Fu films - this only came to my mind as I am from China lol. I
guess I would like to point the spotlight to something else in a region, not just the subject covered by the media/literature 24/7. In the end I’m just very happy I made a dance film in Lebanon.>>

CREDITS