Stuck in Liminality

Stuck in Liminality

Born out of a pandemic crisis, Choreo Dance Film Festival (CDFF) celebrates the diversity of Choreomundus students and alumni by bringing together dance films around the world. CDFF is dedicated to promoting Dance as Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) and to bridge the gap between dance and film.

Synopsis

Imagine going through a ritual when the liminality seems to never end. That is what the film captures, the feeling of uncertainty due to the extended transitional phase. It was created during the nationwide lockdown in South Africa, where I accidentally got stuck. It was supposed to be only a short stay on the way back to China but ended up being a year of being stuck in liminality.

Director – Valentina Polkovnikova

Valentina is a performance artist, dance anthropologist, and educator. She belongs to the sixth cohort of Choreomundus and her research focus was the contemporary dance culture at festivals in Europe. Currently, she is based in Shenzhen, China where she leads a contemporary dance group and teaches dance in an international school.

Intrigued by the concept of ‘cultural body’, she explores in her work the traces of influence that societies and individual experiences leave in the bodies. She comes from a staged folk dance and contemporary dance background, but her interests extend to other movement practices such as yoga, climbing, martial arts and rituals.

Being involved in dance education, Valentina is passionate about developing a multicultural dance curriculum. She believes that dance is a powerful medium of transmission for more than just movement patterns. Through dance, one can develop cross-cultural awareness, a deeper relationship with the body, and a healthy life attitude.