Kaitlyn Busbee: Introspect is a
solo improvisational dance film that I created with a
dancer Elizabeth June Bergman, and it delves
into the psyche of one's self and the idea of being
a person being looked upon and what that does to you.
The gaze is something that if you're studying film in
college it would be a shocker if it didn't come
across your classroom.
And so it's this idea of what happens to a person
who is on screen when they're being looked upon
as an object rather than just a person.
And so particularly with our film if that is done
upon somebody how does that change them?
And so with the dancer in our film we see sort of
this split personality, split psyche come about
and this battling of who takes precedence in the
end.
Are we able to continue to claim our individuality
and our autonomy?
Or does the idea of being looked upon as an object
kind of overpower the person that we are?
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Busbee: Literally this film was shot over two afternoons and it
was really just us hanging out and kind of discovering
different visuals that fit into this narrative that we had
developed. And so the Englert Theatre in Iowa City was
gracious enough to open their doors and really just kind of
let us utilize the theatre as if it was a playground. We kind of
had an overall arc to the story and where we wanted this
character to start and where we wanted her to end. And then at
that point we would just play music as we were shooting and
then she would bring about her improvisational dance skills and
let that kind of come to life in whatever way it wanted to or
needed to. In terms of the specific shots in the film we
knew we wanted to work with mirrors in different forms. So
we knew we wanted to work with mirrors that were together and
full and mounted or together on the ground. And then we knew we
wanted to work with broken mirrors too.
So we simply had the idea of okay let's put a shattered
mirror on the aisle leading up to the stage and play with that.
And really at that point it was just Elizabeth starting at the
back of the audience and working her way up and finding what that
movement was.
I think from an historical stance the idea of the gaze
being directed at women, you have to look at history and the
role that men and women have played throughout our history.
And you have to look at where we're at now and kind of what
women are reclaiming, the power that they are reclaiming
in their everyday lives. And it's fascinating to kind of
trace that line throughout history. And it has been a
struggle, it has been a battle for equality essentially.
I think we're further along now than we were, than probably
we were when this idea, this concept of the gaze and film and
dance was coined. But I think we have a long way to go.