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A DANCE FILM














A DANCE FILM BY

ALBERT “THE GHOST” ESQUILIN
&
PETRA RICHTEROVÁ





FEATURING

ALBERT “THE GHOST” ESQUILIN








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ORIGINAL MUSIC & LYRICS BY

IMAN OMARI
&
CAVALIER






“Petra Richterová’s latest foray into dance photography is the collaboration “Are You Hearing Me?,” a short film made with renowned Bruk Up dancer Albert “The Ghost” Esquilin. Using conventions of Catholic Baroque art, Richterová transforms her subject into the everyman of contemporary life, flaunting the drama of the now, while exposing the street as the real theater of this dancer. Like the Caravaggisti centuries ago, her use of tight composition isolates the dancer’s portrait in the foreground picture plane. While The Ghost clearly has a typical slender dancer’s physique, the raking light and sharp diagonal angles give the subject a heroic status elevating his repetitive and stylized movements into a kind of shamanic spectacle. The technical virtuosity of the filming is most evident when the smoke tremulously cascades along one side of the dancer’s face as he moves in his metered series of controlled poses and postures characteristic of freeform Bruk Up.”

Anne Swartz, PhD
Professor of Art History, SCAD 

"How can you capture a Ghost in it's TRUE form? Petra did that!"

David "Twice Light" Adelaja, dancer
NUUK9z



                           

FILM SYNOPSIS

Inspired by tenebrist aesthetics of 17th century European painting where dramatically illuminated subjects emerge out of dark space, ARE YOU HEARING ME? evokes a sense of the mystical and paranormal in a Hip Hop context. Creating an austere, classical aesthetic unencumbered by setting, the film presents contemporary freeform street dance in an intimate and uninterrupted hand-held cinematographic style. Converting life’s existential quandaries into sensual performance, Bruk Up dancer Albert “The Ghost” Esquilin melts into the sound, becoming visual music, meticulously precise and full of emotion. He expresses the full spectrum of the human experience—joy & pain; love & fear, and ultimately, life & death. The subtle neck lock (muscle contraction) is fundamental to his movement. Frames accent the beat and pivoting helps give identity to the body’s flow of motion. Combining forms, patterns, textures, and flows with facial expression, Ghost communicates in a transcendental spatial language based on smoothness, illusion and originality. Fusing Hip Hop bling with a taste for the occult, he is dressed in all black and adorned with the timeless sheen of gold. He also dons the white eyes of trance-possession, transcending the human realm. We never see Ghost’s feet; we are paradoxically confronted with dance disembodied, bringing our focus to the intention and feeling of the performance. Through the geometry of Ghost’s improvisatory dance style inspired by the irregular patterns of vapor and smoke, we are taken into the realm of the invisible. Original music and lyrics by Iman Omari and Cavalier.

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ALBERT “THE GHOST” ESQUILIN & PETRA RICHTEROVÁ -  director & producer

ALBERT “THE GHOST” ESQUILIN - choreography / freeform possession

IMAN OMARI & CAVALIER -  original music & lyrics

PETRA RICHTEROVÁ - cinematographer

ROBERTO GARCÍA MATUS - editor

PETRA RICHTEROVÁ, C. DANIEL DAWSON, J.R. DENIS - lighting

PETRA RICHTEROVÁ & ROBERTO GARCÍA MATUS - color

DAMIR SANCEVIC - vfx

PETRA RICHTEROVÁ, ROBERTO GARCÍA MATUS, NOAH TOWNE - graphics

PETRA RICHTEROVÁ - photographer





LYRICS

ARE YOU HEARING ME? 

Yeah 
Could never be seen never be felt
They just want my shell

Could never be seen never be felt
They just want a shell of my outbursts
Within there’s a level of hell
I try to repel the devil to outskirts
Need a counselor burned an ounce first
While I’m watching my house burn to the dirt
Trynna out learn all the doubt, hurt
Be empowered from that work (worth it)
One thing for certain nothing is certainly
There’s gotta be a purpose
Starting to interpret this personally
I aint really built for circuses my circuitry some nerve
Third eye third degree lines are unblurred
Permanent marks your concern with my dark side
While returning my heart internally scarred
Self surgery parts of me discerning
If it’s self serving or serving the God
I’m just turning the knobs
Tuning in to the ghost of my future self
Every blue moon I take the oath again
Renewal when the smoke’s adrift
I’m finding new life on the shelf
But moonlighting as that hopeful kid
Who got so much to give

All I’m giving but nobody can give back
Never felt peace not even where I live at
It’s the child in me that I’m trynna get back
Can somebody help me please oh
I know you feel me
All my problems are reaching to the ceiling
Get me to the part of life that’s fulfilling
Can you give me what i need oh

Oh I never would've thought I’d be here
I just wanna make the pain disappear
All the knowledge you provide I’ve applied
Tell me when will you decide to supply

Chorus
All of the love I need
Peace and security
These aren’t difficult things
Are you hearing me?
All of the love I need
Peace and security
These aren’t difficult things
Are you hearing me?

Fighting it, fighting it while I’m writing this
Am I a finalist is this the final round
In this life I’ve lived
Vital sign light ahead
Pitch black hidden baggage gift wrapped round my best
Foot forward distorting which coordinates is the exit
To get it going seems it’s hardest to let it go
When the sun’s setting and it’s set in motion or set in stone
This a best effort to put the lessons on metronome
Release the blessings I’m dedicated
Heaven knows the deal
I promise to keep my back bone
I even promise to lead and keep the pack going
Long as I’m breathing there’s reason to keep a track open
And in that moment magnum opus
Smoke clears no fear
When you see the bottom gotta steer the boat til the coast clear
Most aware the me of old is a ghost here
In the sea of hopes you disappear
Or be your own peer (pier) oh yeah

Oh I never would've thought I’d be here
I just wanna make the pain disappear
All the knowledge you provide I’ve applied
Tell me when will you decide to supply

Chorus
All of the love I need
Peace and security
These aren’t difficult things
Are you hearing me?
All of the love I need
Peace and security
These aren’t difficult things
Are you hearing me?
All of the love I need
Peace and security
These aren’t difficult things
Are you hearing me?
All of the love I need
Peace and security
These aren’t difficult things
Are you hearing me?








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