Slip (2008) is a collaboration between Urbanvessel and director Chelsea McMullan. The focus of this 6-minute experimental dance and music film is the collision between the public and private worlds of the baths. The film was inspired by an unexpected encounter during Urbanvessel’s performance of Slip (2006) at Harrison Baths. Shot in a single take, the film weaves together the day-to-day routine of swimmers and the haunting presence of a solitary woman (Linnea Swan) who comes to the changing rooms to transform herself.
Yvonne Ng‘s choreography instills the everyday actions of showering and washing oneself with a grace inspired by Tai Chi. The soundtrack by Juliet Palmer and Jean Martin creates a poetic counterpoint to the surreal choreographic and visual language of the film. Using source material recorded on location, the soundtrack creates unexpected connections between image and sound, heightening the film’s sense of the everyday transfigured.
Director: Chelsea McMullan
Producer: BRAVO Fact!, Geoff McLean, Cole J. Alvis
Cinematographer: Maya Bankovic
Editor: Avril Jacobsen
Choreography: Yvonne Ng
Sound: Juliet Palmer & Jean Martin
Screenings include: Toronto International Short Film Festival, Cinedans (Amsterdam), Dance Camera West (Los Angeles), Loikka Dance Film Festival (Finland) and the International Dance and Electronic Media Festival (Mexico City)
Awards: Best Experimental Short and Kodak Award for Best Cinematography (Toronto International Short Film Festival)
Dancers: Alaine Denley, Andrea Lui, Andrea Mapili, Antonnette Lim, Aura Carcueva, Becky Bridger, Cara Spooner, Chloe Ariane Whitehorn, Jessica Grosdanof, Joy Kamibayashi, Kate Nakervis, Linnea Swan, Mairéad Filgate, Meredith Jane Thompson, Nika Mistruzzi, Ophelia Wang, Sierra Michaelides, Tonia Szkurhan, Victoria Kucher,
Urbanvessel 