Moving Still

MOVING STILL

Moving Still (2004)
Choreography Makeda Thomas
Costume Design Makeda Thomas
Performed by 3-5 dancers with music by various artists
Length: 12 minutes

Moving Still (2007)
Dance Photo Collaboration
Choreography and Performance Makeda Thomas
Photography Stefan Falke
Length: 7 minutes

When Stefan Falke and I collaborated on this project in July 2007, we drew on the spirit and history of Coney Island. I had originally created the work on dance students in Coney Island, Brooklyn. The hundreds of photographs we took there became a photo dance collaboration, which captured Coney Island iconography and restored both of our connections to the place. Only a few photographs were actually printed, capturing three historic rides: The Break Dance, AstroTower, and The Cyclone. As a dance work, 'Moving Still' lives in this vibrant spirit.

Collaboration with Stefan Falke
Featuring "Oya-O" by Raw Artistic Soul featuring Wunmi

"Waoh wicked.. ..You look beautiful and queen like!.. And the camera guy did a lovely job!"

-Wunmi Olaiya

Photography: Stefan Falke

After breaking off my studies to become a construction engineer I worked as a photographer’s assistant in Munich and later operated a silk screen printing studio in Hamburg. In 1985 I moved to New York where I worked as a photographer for German and Austrian magazines. Back in Hamburg in 1994 I was hired as a movie stills photographer for various film productions. I also started working on a personal long-term project about a stilt walking school in Trinidad in 1996. The project, called ‘Moko Jumbies: The Dancing Spirit of Triniddad', was exhibited at the photo journalism festival 'Visa Pour L'Image '(Perpignan/ France) in 2004 and was published as a photo book in New York the same year. In 1999 I became a member of the German photo agency laif. I have again been living and working in Brooklyn, New York, since 2002. More on Stefan Falke