From the quest to reclaim all-American Adonis imagery—as championed by Bruce Weber's iconic 90s Calvin Klein ads—to a gym or juice-cleanse obsession, the ever-changing relationship with our bodies is never far from conversation. For Bertil Nilsson, the London-based Swedish director of Bromance, the body and its movement is his sole method of communicating with his subjects. Through an interest in circus arts and natural landscapes, his work presents contorted nude figures displaced from their everyday contexts.
“The film explores the intimacy of physical interaction between guys—their 'bromance'”
“It’s based on them being friends, exploring the intimacy of physical interaction between guys; of their 'bromance,'” says Nilsson of dancers Beren D'Amico, Charlie Wheeller and Louis Gift from the experimental acrobatic company, Barely Methodical Troupe [site], which won the Total Theatre Award at Edinburgh 2014 for its live performance or Bromance. “The concept of the film was to set something unusual in the real world, almost a documentary in the most abstract of senses.”
A tense showdown between former partners at the Blackpool Dance Festival is the focus of this clip from the upcoming Ballroom Dancer. Ukraine-native Vyacheslav ‘Slavik’ Kryklyvyy, a ballroom professional specializing in the Latin American style who appeared as Jennifer Lopez’s on-floor partner in 2004’s Shall We Dance?, is the temperamental and determined protagonist of the film by Danish directors Christian Holten Bonke and Andreas Koefoed. The duo’s intense portrait has screened at the Copenhagen documentary festival CPH:DOX and the Tribeca Film Festival, where they won Best New Documentary Filmmakers.
The story charts the new partnership—both in and out of the spotlight—of former world champion Kryklyvyy and Anna Melnikova as Kryklyvyy attempts to regain his top place on the international circuit while going head to head with his previous partner and current Open British Champion Joanna Leunis. “We were interested in these big couples who are privately and professionally entangled,” explains Bonke. “We thought it would be a film about relationships and love and how you deal with being professional at the same time.”
Originally the directors intended to film three pairs but they quickly decided to focus on Kryklyvyy: “He had so much at stake and as a character; he reeks of drama.”
