Between the Rooms

Programme Note

A NOTE FROM DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER KIM BRANDSTRUP

Anna Clyne called me at the peak of lockdown asking me to work with her on Between the Rooms. We both agreed that the poetry of Emily Dickinson, who lived alone in one room for the last 20 years of her life, seemed strangely topical. And very appropriately the first part of our collaboration took place between Anna’s secluded workroom in upstate New York and mine in London, on Zoom.

The prep for the shoot and the initial rehearsals were held at a similarly cautious distance—and in masks.

However, when the date of filming finally arose in early May of 2021, when the masks and distance were abandoned, the sheer exhilaration of the dancers being able to freely move and touch again was palpable. It was the first time Alina and Matthew had ever danced together and the chemistry was instantaneous—the liberating sense of close physical proximity and touch were unmistakable and very moving.

Thus this sense of longing for touch and closeness—after a year of isolation—has become an important part of the film. However, Emily Dickinson’s solitary life was a clear and personal choice and the film celebrates her poetry’s powerful ability to evoke the physical world outside the room—a celebration of our ability to conjure up, through poetry, music, movement, an imaginary otherness even when we are alone in our rooms.