Light splashes the vinyl floor of a ballet studio. Silhouettes of tree branches flicker in striated patterns as bodies pirouette, sway and plié atop the light and shadow in abstraction. The dancers’ faces are obscured as the movements of their legs and feet fill up the frame. A new composition forms as a vertical foot ‘en pointe’ freezes. The foot stands in graceful defiance of human anatomy, proudly facing the audience as if a painting to be admired. Such a considered vignette opens Jo Willman’s senior thesis film, “In Space and Time,” a short documentary that examines the transition from pre-professional ballet training to ballet in a college environment.
“In Space and Time” features the voices of three performers in the student-run Harvard Ballet Company who chose a college education over professional ballet training. Willman, a film and media studies major with an environmental studies co-major who has been practicing ballet since she was seven years old and also dances with the Harvard Ballet Company, uses her film to grapple with her own relationship to dance.
“Coming into college, I felt a great amount of frustration … [in] letting the ballet side of myself go,” Willman said. “I wanted to explore the feelings that I felt going into college and see what three other dancers in the same position as me felt and how they dealt with that decision to pursue college instead of a professional career.”
A still from “In Space and Time” is pictured.
The film pairs interviews of the three dancers reflecting on their love and struggles with dance alongside rehearsal footage of the company. Reflections, light and shadow are consistent visual themes throughout Willman’s thesis as her camera lingers on fleeting moments of beauty. The murky reflections of the dancers, created by the well-polished floors, fill the frame in poetic showcases of their artistry. Other frames do not feature dancers at all, instead choosing to sit with the light spilling through the studio’s windows. When full bodies of dancers do appear in frame, Willman focuses on their unnatural contortions in the service of art. One of her subjects will position herself as if a table in a pre-dance warmup with flexed toes and fingers precariously balanced. Another will gracefully traverse the floor supported by nothing other than the tips of her toes.
These shots embody Willman’s intention of bringing artistic filmmaking to documentary. “In Space and Time” is not the archetypal PBS talking head documentary whose foremost function is to inform. Instead, Willman uses her camera to visually process the themes raised by her interviewees.
“Producing art is important because it’s how we comprehend everything that’s happening around us,” Willman said. “[It is] how we comprehend the crazy time that we’re living in … and it’s such an integral part to connecting people and educating people. … Without art … what is there to enjoy?”
While Willman herself is never featured, her film was also integral to processing her personal relationship to dance. Formerly thinking Tufts would be the end of her dance career, Willman has since continued her passion by completing a dance minor and joining the Harvard Ballet Company. Creating her thesis in her last year at Tufts continued to reaffirm her love of dance. “Through this process, I’ve both discovered how these three individuals have dealt with their relationship to dance through college, but also rediscovered my own love and appreciation for the art form.”
A still “In Space and Time” is pictured.
Directing an honors thesis as a film major was in many ways an unexpected path for Willman, who never intended to study film and entered undergrad with no prior experience. However, after an influential production class from Natalie Minik, a lecturer in the Film and Media Studies Program, Willman described creating a thesis as a “very natural decision.”
“A dance documentary film really felt like tying everything I had come to Tufts to pursue together,” Willman said. “It felt like the best way to put my appreciations for what i’ve gained from being at Tufts together.”
Willman credits her thesis colloquium —taught by Jennifer Burton, a professor of the practice in the theatre, dance and performance studies department — as inspiring her to complete such an ambitious project.
“It was very daunting. … I’m lucky enough that I’m in a thesis class alongside some very, very talented people,” Willman said. “Even though I feel out of my depth and I feel like maybe I can’t do this, we’re all in it together, and they’ve been incredibly supportive and a great group to work alongside.”
Nearing the end of college, Willman calls her thesis “the best part” of her FMS experience and said it influenced her postgraduate ambitions. “I think it’s also informed my future career goals,” Willman said. “Now I know I want to explore dance documentation.”
“In Space and Time” can be seen at the FMS Student Film Festival: Senior Honors Thesis on Thursday in Room LL08 in Barnum Hall.
