HOMEWARD

Los Angeles Dance Project

HOMEWARD is a contemprary ballet created for Los Angeles Dance Project.  

To create the video sets artist James Buckhouse animated 180 of his drawmings and painting into multi-panel video projections. The video is cut to the propelling, urgent 5/4 rhythm of Bryce Dessner's score.

Buckhouse also created the costume's high-fashion atheletic wear look by transfering his paintings to satin organza for the women's dresses and to the tuxedo-piping on the men's joggers.

Chorepgraphy by Benjamin Millipeid
Music by Bryce Dessner  
Video and Costumes by James Buckhouse

A painting,
A dress. 

Buckhouse wanted to re-imagine his paintings to come alive with the movement of the body. In the end, this was achieved by transfering the paintings to satin organza for the women's dresses and to the tuxedo-piping on the men's joggers.

Here are a few of the sketches that went into creating the final design.  Digging into the history of fashion, Buckhouse explored different neck treatments and skirt lenghts (and layering techniques) before settling on the short athletic tunic for the women and "black-tie" joggers for men. 

Bryce Dessner's Aheym opens in 5/4 time (and later has moments in 3/4).  The time signature feels critical: there’s something about it being in five beats instead of four that propels us forward. 4/4 time matches our biology—the lub-dub of our heartbeat sets the internal prosody of our breath and our speech (it’s no accident Shakespeare wrote in his famous rhythm, it contains the pulse and flow we’ve heard since the womb), but what of 5/4 time?

The oddity of the extra 5th beat means we are always half-off of where we think we ought to be, nearly complete, yet constantly yearning. It’s the rhythmic equivalent of perpetual curiosity, resilience, diligence, rigor, endurance, and motivating telos to keep going, to keep searching, to keep seeking—you are not without hope and yet but still you are not yet home.

Think about what this means for your legs and arms as you walk to a count of five.

The two halves of you swap turns leading the way... first left is leading, then right, then left... you are pulled forward by both halves of you. How might this unlock some aspect of a person’s multiple identities, experiences, influences, narratives, and concerns?

Each part of ourselves informs every other part. This project has been a chance to collaborate to create a total experience.

James Buckhouse