This study examines the aesthetic transformations and implications of dance films situated within aquatic environments, with a particular focus on Julie Gautier's underwater dance film Narcisse. To this end, it first explores existing discourses on sc...
This study examines the aesthetic transformations and implications of dance films situated within aquatic environments, with a particular focus on Julie Gautier's underwater dance film Narcisse. To this end, it first explores existing discourses on screendance and underwater dance, and then offers a detailed analysis of the work's mythic motifs, corporeality, spatial dynamics, and technological dimensions. The study highlights how Narcisse exemplifies an expanded aesthetic framework for underwater dance films. As a pioneering figure in this genre, Gautier demonstrates that underwater dance film is not merely the documentation of choreography performed underwater, but rather a contemporary artistic practice that integrates narrative, sensation, environment, and technology. Narcisse reveals how dance, in interaction with nonhuman environments and technological mediation, can cultivate ontological imagination and inventive modes of perception. The work offers significant insights into how such practice intersects with contemporary discourses on environmental crisis, identity deconstruction, and gendered sensitivity.