“The Weight Shifts To The Other Side” is a short dance film visualizing the painful process of becoming light, discovering your shadows and embracing them as you would your inner self.
I tend to gravitate towards ideas I find hard to talk about so when at the end of last year my mental state was in shambles, my mind was blank and I was left with feelings I didn’t know how to explain any other way but visually. I felt numb and in a dark place I didn’t know how to escape. I started writing about compositions/images I could make that explained what I was thinking which led to having 4 or 5 scenarios. Those writings of images were more for me to help describe what I’m feeling but I got annoyed at how potentially tedious that would soon become.
I would feel numb so often to the point of feeling as if my body was in an emotional meditative state. I was inspired by how bodies can move and conform to tell stories. Since I didn’t know how to put my thoughts in words at the time – movement would be the closest thing to visually elaborate.
I enjoy creating work that has a glimpse of an idea but can be seen through multiple perspectives. SarahIsoke’s choreography weaves the feelings of the locations I had in mind with Mal’s composition he created afterwards so well.
Mal’s composition flows through Saraisoke’s movements so perfectly. Mal and I went back and forth trying to figure out the sound and how it fits into the story for longer than I thought we would. We worked off of when we would be inspired by a sound instead of looking for something.
The melancholic pace and sort of off putting structure reminds you that not everything makes sense but the feeling always subsides. Some sounds that you hear once and never again until the very end exist as a moment of reflection that you might not even realize happens.
In order to finish the project I had to continuously go back to those moments. It was interesting reflecting and deconstructing these ideas further after I wasn’t in that mental space anymore. I could see more clearly why my head was all over the place but in a way it was hard to bring new ideas in that state because I wanted the experience to be authentic to that moment specifically.
Directed by Jordi Perez
Starring and choreography by SarahIsoke
Composed by malsounds
Credits by Gabe Reyes
Jordi Perez is a Dominican American photographer and filmmaker based in New York City. He focuses on demystifying the intimate, mundane and surreal feelings and thoughts that we encounter on a daily basis. His work is informed by his passion for experimentation and the need to explore identity @vintageaztec www.jordiperez.co/