Invisible Threads

Featuring: James Pett

Directors: Rick Guest & Kate Dawkins

Assistant Director: Frankie Lodge

Director of Photography: Stephen Langmanis

Design & motion graphics: Kate Dawkins

Music: Are U There? Mura Masa [part 1] Retina by Ellen Allien & Apparat [part2]

 “Invisible threads are the strongest ties” - Friederich Nietzsche.

“Unseen forces constantly pull at us in a never ending and tangled web of conflicting emotion, the tugging strings of fear and of desire. Though made before the Covid-19 pandemic, these themes and the struggle between them are eternal. 

This film features the dancer James Pett, who at the time was dancing with Studio Wayne McGregor. In the safe space of the studio, working in an environment of mutual trust, James danced in complete freedom, without choreography or judgement, to two pieces of music chosen spontaneously by him. At first he responded directly to the music and his movement was led by it, but as time went on, the invisible threads started to pull and his subconscious under currents and turbulent emotions revealed themselves. In this piece his frustrations and desire for self expression become self evident, as does his spirit of defiance to overcome these obstacles. None of this was discussed prior to filming him and there were no rehearsals, just the footage you see here as feelings become flesh.

These themes are incredibly poignant as we go through the collective oppression of this pandemic and its enforced isolation; our creativity and desire to be heard will inevitably find a way to the surface. We all struggle with invisible threads, but we are not alone.”

Rick Guest