A Sinking Calm
Expressive typography
A visual language based on research, media studies, typographic studies, and image stylizations was developed based on the ballet dance performance, ‘The Dying Swan’ by Ulyana Lopatkina. The dance used the song Le Cygne (Carnaval des animaux) by Camille Saint-Saëns.
- Marks and gestural expressions involved creating a series of studies while listening to the chosen music, considering mood, rhythm, and tone.
- Writing exercises included creating descriptive words and short phrases related to the dance performance.
- Type studies involved selecting relevant word sets and completing studies that examined meaning through typeface selection, typographic treatment, and form alteration.
Gestural marks
Type studies
Mini posters
Type layer
Stylizations
‘The Dying Swan’
Dancer: Ulyana Lopatkina
Music: Le Cygne from Carnival des animaux by Camille Saint-Saëns
Choreographer: Mikhail Fokine
Context
The ballet follows the last moments in the life of a swan. It was first presented in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1905. The ballet has since influenced modern interpretations of Odette in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.
The dance became the symbol of the New Russian Ballet. It was a combination of masterful technique with expressiveness. It was evident that the dance could and should not only satisfy the eye, but also touch the soul through the medium of the eye.
The dance consists mainly of upper body and arm movements and tiny steps called pas de bourrée suivi.
Ulyana Lopatkina
“As a person transforms from the earthly state into the next one, the soul is accompanied by a lot of turbulence. As I dance, I want the viewer to reflect with me how that feels – for instance, when death is liberation from pain and suffering. In that regard, you can see it as a happy moment. Or one may fear new experiences, the unknown… Or perhaps there is resistance – an unwillingness to separate from the comfort of earth…Or, you can feel sadness…”
Sketches
