Shift | Digital Stage

Director: Claire Marshall

Director: Kevin Holloway

Director: Amelia Le-Bherz

One duet | Four times | One Story Taking an eight-minute duet situated in various locations and repeated four times, choreographer Claire Marshall investigates how the sense of story shifts with the consideration of location, cinematography, and digital editing. The duet features dancers Richard Causer and Lucy Hood as a discordant couple stuck in a rut, looping manipulative behaviour as the four stories eventually merge into one. An unconventional production, Shift employs experimental filmmaking processes, including location and editing, to shape the story rather than adhering to a prefabricated narrative. Shift was created as one of the creative outputs of Claire Marshall’s Master of Fine Arts (Dance) at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, in 2019. In 2020 it won the New York Dance on Camera’s ‘Best of Fest’. Between 2021 and 2022, Shift was programmed in numerous festivals including Silk Road Film Awards, Cannes, Obskuur Ghent Film Festival, Belgium, DanceLens, Dancehouse, Melbourne, Cascadia Dance Film Festival, Canada, Birmingham International Dance Festival, Defy Dance Film Festival, Nashville, London International Screen Dance Festival, The Festival International de Vidéodanse de Bourgogne, Kadoma International Film Festival, Osaka (Winner) and Brisbane International Film Festival. “In Claire Marshall’s 30-minute “Shift,” it’s the rotation of location that signifies. We see a man and woman whom the credits call a “discordant couple” grappling in a backyard, then suddenly in a pool, a playground, a bar, a tunnel. The artful editing, combined with the obliviousness of peripheral figures, conveys the self-absorption of a sexual unit and their pattern of repetition” – NEW YORK TIMES review for the Dance on Camera Festival- 2020 Presented by Claire Marshall Trigger Warnings: adult themes, coercive control. PG – not recommended for children under 15 years of age without parental/guardian guidance. Cast: Richard Causer and Lucy Hood Cinematographer: Kevin Holloway Choreographer, Director, Editor, Costumier: Claire Marshall Hair and Make-up: Amelia Le-Bherz