DANSE RUSSE

Why is isolation less lonely?

On the day of her return to earth, an astronaut plagued by the isolation of space realizes that she wasn’t any less lonely back home. A tribute to William Carlos Williams’ poem, Danse Russe.

Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is richness of self.

If when my wife is sleeping

and the baby and Kathleen

are sleeping

and the sun is a flame-white disc

in silken mists

above shining trees,-

if I in my north room

dance naked, grotesquely

before my mirror

waving my shirt round my head

and singing softly to myself:

“I am lonely, lonely,

I was born to be lonely,

I am best so!”

If I admire my arms, my face,

my shoulders, flanks, buttocks

against the yellow drawn shades,-

Who shall say I am not

the happy genius of my household?

Director: Lilena Marinou

Producer: Kylan Tyng

DP: Martin Blanco & Hector Coles

AD: Morgan Gardiner & Julia Yelvington

Production Design: Kyle McKeen

AC: Carnie Bezalel

VFX: Alfredo Benavides Watmough

Astronaut: Avigail Bryger