Points Of Departure (POD) Ian Kaler

DE/AT-2021 38 Min. eng OF

Concept, Artistic Director, Performance
Ian Kaler

Music composed, produced and performed by
Hermione Frank aka rRoxymore 

Performance
Steinitzer Treppe Stephane „Peeps“ Moun and Ian Kaler

Voice Over
Jen Rosenblit

based on  PART ONE Harpy
Direction
Ian Kaler

Concept
Stephanie Rauch and Ian Kaler

Cinematography
Diara Sow

Camera Assistance
David Schwier

Video Editing
Dafne Narvaez Berlfein

Hawk Trainer
Ilka Simm

PART TWO
Text and Direction
Jen Rosenblit

PART THREE
Choreographer/Movement Director
Stéphane „Peeps“ Moun

POINTS OF DEPARTURE
Set Design
Stephanie Rauch

Lightdesign/Technical Direction
Thomas Zamolo

Acting Coaching
Catarina Campos Costa

Voice Training
Marian Hudek

Outside Eye
Chris Standfest

Coordination Set Design
Ben Clark

Live Camera Vienna
Dafne Narvaez Berlfein, Nils Olger, Barbara Wilding

Final Cut/ Editing
POD Film Dafne Narvaez Berlfein

Drone Pilot
Daniel Plath

Production Management
Martina Neu (Berlin) and das Schaufenster (Vienna)

Production
Ian Kaler

Coproduction
HAU Hebbel am Ufer, ImPulsTanz - Vienna International Dance Festival, Norrlandsoperan, PACT Zollverein

Supported by
Stadt Wien Kultur, BMKÖS

Funded by
Hauptstadtkulturfonds Berlin

Special Thanks
Waldhaus Großer Ravensberg Potsdam, Stadtverwaltung Steinitzhof Drebkau

POINTS OF DEPARTURE (POD) combines footage from the first and third part of the live performance "POD Hyphen" with voice-overs by Jen Rosenblit from the rehearsal process as well as newly filmed footage of Stephane "Peeps" Moun and Ian Kaler in a practice session at Steinitzer Treppe, an open-air location in Berlin Brandenburg.

The filmversion is based on Kalers new solo "POD Hyphen" for which he invited artistic companions to choreograph for him and with him. The live performance consists of three parts that are both independent and related. The opening video prologue with images of Ian Kaler and a falcon in the woods (cinematography by Diara Sow) is inspired by the mythological figure of the harpy. The idea of working with a falcon comes from conversations with the set designer Stephanie Rauch, who also created an extraordinary abandoned suburban car park meets edge of the forest scenario for the production. For the second part of the live performance, Kaler invited Jen Rosenblit to write and direct a monologue. The starting point was work conducted on a teenage character with fragments of inner monologues, stories, memories and journal entries somewhere between autobiographical and fictional narratives. The filmversion uses parts of the original texts by Rosenblit in a new arrangement of voiceovers recorded during the rehearsal process.
In the final part of "POD Hyphen", the choreographer and movement director Stephane “Peeps” Moun shared techniques from his practice with Kaler, which is marked by elements of house dance, hip-hop, tap dance and jazz dance. Together, they worked on merging Kaler’s own movement vocabulary with Peeps’ methods and approach in order to co-choreograph a hypnotic movement sequence that is as powerfull as it is subtle.
The filmversion POINTS OF DEPARTURE creates a poetic juxtaposition (editing Dafne Narvaez Berlfein) of the various footages and narrative threads and is accompanied by the mesmerizing electronic soundtrack by the Berlin music producer rRoxymore alias Hermione Frank providing a through line based on the live soundtrack of the performance.