Wolfgang Kolb, who passed away last year, studied film at INSAS in Brussels. For several years, he filmed the work of dancer and choreographer Roxane Huilmand as she collaborated with the Rosas dance company.

Together with Huilmand, he created such works as Muurwerk (1987), in which he translates her choreography into cinematic language. The surrounding architecture becomes an integral part of the work, sometimes in opposition and sometimes an accompaniment to the dancer’s body.

In Muurwerk, we see a dancer’s confrontation with a limited space. A wall forms the boundary of Huilmand’s movements. She tries to escape the wall but returns to it again and again. In its own way, the camera also wants to break with the dimensional wall. The editing is jumpy. Close-ups of hands and feet tear apart the imposed limitations of space. Dancer and filmmaker fight the same battle.