Theo: Sojourner was the first dance film I had done that wasn’t with a friend for a little play around; I saw it as my first ‘don’t mess this up’ film job. I went on to shoot Honey for Robyn (which lead to the tour) and have just had a collaborative short for BBC Arts come out, so I’m grateful for my relationship with film and Sojourner being the beginning of it.
The project itself and my day-to-day are ironically super relevant giving that it’s a project we shot three years ago now? I am currently studying somatics, and the relationship between the body, movement and mindfulness, working on a few projects where film seems to be the common format of presentation, is very fitting with what I am doing today. I’m constantly investigating the rhythms of emotions and sensations, finding space to sink in, listen to the body, reflect and process – ‘temporarily vacating’ is a regular activity for me. Therefore, it doesn’t differ at all, which I am grateful for as most of the elements within the film are what inspire and motivate me most days.
Even during the tour the subject was always relevant. As we hopped from city to city, I was finding myself in new physical spaces, every other day, which of course influenced my emotional landscape as well as my mental and physical. There was even more necessity to ‘check-in’ because, on top of all the travelling, I was performing to fifty thousand people per show for eight months, by myself, for a short period each show. Being the only one performing on the stage of Madison Square Garden’s takes you on a little emotional rollercoaster; therefore, the relevance of Sojourner is very close to me.