Forever flow of wet long fingers

A secret connection, invisible strings attaching us, strangers, lovers, only seen sometimes, early early in the crispy morning light - stretching across vast landscapes. We are melting like icebergs, affecting land across latitudes and spanning apparently disconnected geographies.
Elisabeth Raymond

Forever flow of wet long fingers was made by Elisabeth Raymond (SNDO - Choreography). It is a choreographic exploration of sound and the shifts and movements in each others bodies that happens when we move our inner waters. Its a multidisciplinary tale combining dance, sound and video, letting them exist in a collective heartbeat.

From Building an instrument, adiary: 'I have this idea, to build an instrument that can be connected by two people and that the only way to play it is to lean out and through the tension, we play. It comes from an image from my childhood, of us all being connected trough invisible strings. I started to speculate how these strings would sound. (...) The 17th of december, i have an appointment with Yuri to build the electronic instrument. I go to his house and we build it together. (...) After Christmas me and Amber have the first try out of the instrument. It works. It feels completely unbelievable. But it works.

This instrument became not only a symbol of an umbilical chord but also something bigger, the sound of melting icebergs. The piece is situated at the north pole, we are warmly dressed, the light cold, there is a videoinstallation of melting icebergs and flesh connected to flesh. Its projected upon fabrics with holes in them. The audience sits around. Close to the performers.

We are all in this together now. The room is a body dependent on other bodies, we are collectively changing the resonance of the room as well as changing the resonance of the world.'

Recommendations

Bojana Mladenovic, artistic director SNDO - School for New Dance Development: 'Following a path of sound making, collaborating with a student from the Conservatory and a dancer from Modern Theatre Dance expanded and unfolded this work in new ways. Elisabeth spent a great amount of time, engagement as well as additional personal funds in building a truly unique instrument. The soundscape and imagery evoked that of melting ice and in the piece Elisabeth focused on the raw physicality of the performers while expanding the field of choreography to sound-art and video installations and making the work one of a highly multidisciplinary and professional nature. This incredibly poetic and powerful performance awakens both social and political topics concerning vulnerability and climate change, which are burning topics of our times.'

Elina Birkehag, artist and graphic designer: 'I found thepiece to be rich, poetic and layered. (...) I am curios to see what will happen with the instrument in the future. I think there is a future for it, or hybrids of it, and I can imagine fruitful collaborations with both visual artists, dancers and musicians.'

From the jury report of the Graduation Prize: 'With Forever flow of wet long fingers Elisabeth Raymond really adds something to the choreographer's toolbox. She has not only developed an entirely new instrument, but also manages to create beautiful poetic and unique images with it. The mutual dependence of the dancers, the paper-thin lines that hold them together and the delay in the movements are of a deep beauty. This performance manages to go beyond the boundaries of the discipline and would also work excellently as an installation in a museum. An impressive achievement!'

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