A new short film from Corey Baker Dance, Lying Together, is available for the first time through BBC’s Culture in Quarantine and on the United Nations Environment Programme YouTube channel, aiming to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity for our health and that of our planet. It was released on World Environment Day, Friday 5 June.
Lying Together was filmed in rural and urban settings across Hong Kong, including aerial footage of the dancers performing on the tops of the city’s highest skyscrapers, performed by Chen Zhiyao, Amber Lewis, Li Jiabo, Ma Renjie, Forrest Rain Oliveros and other members of Hong Kong Ballet with musical accompaniment from FKJ.
Corey Baker Dance creates work across film, TV and theatre using unusual locations, including Antarctica: The First Dance, filmed on the icy continent and featuring Royal New Zealand Ballet dancer Madeleine Graham. Baker is currently creating the new short film Swan Lake Bath Ballet for BBC/The Space, filmed in the (filled) baths of elite ballet dancers from around the world.
Spaghetti Junction, the companion film for Lying Together, also featuring Hong Kong Ballet dancer Forrest Rain Oliveros and two dancers from Birmingham Royal Ballet was filmed on location beneath Birmingham’s famous motorway intersection.
Bruno Pozzi, UNEP’s Europe Director, said, “nature is behind our food, water, air, climate and medicine. We also know that being close to nature is good for our mental health. Yet biodiversity is under threat like never before. We must breathe life into our cities with more green buildings and spaces and sustainable transport. This film and accompanying music sends out a powerful message to our eyes and ears—let’s celebrate nature and set our relationship with it on a new track”.