A Dream of a Myth: FLOCK returns to Chicago with world premiere of “Holy Grail”

On November 20, prepare to enter a world of high fantasy with “Holy Grail,” the latest film by FLOCK, the internationally acclaimed dance company led by Alice Klock and Florian Lochner, making its world premiere at the University of Chicago. Directed, edited and written by Malcolm Wesley, the cast features Klock as the sorceress Morgana, Lochner as the tragic Sir Lancelot, Emilie Leriche as Queen Guinevere, Kevin Shannon as pure-hearted Perceval and Samuel Antinelli as King Arthur’s power-hungry son, Mordred. Music by Angus MacRae and costumes by Hogan McLaughlin complete the fusion of fashion, music, choreography and film to bring the legend to life like never before.

“Holy Grail” is two stories at once: One is the artist’s quest for their holy grail, shown in the making of the piece and the artist’s performance; second, the literal knight’s quest for the holy grail that will revive the King who has fallen into an enchanted sleep. “Holy Grail’s” original story borrows from a wealth of sources: Arthurian legend complete with adulterous love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere, courtly love poetry from the 13^th century, the pre-Raphaelite art movement from the 19^th century, romance novels and films like “Star Wars,” Indiana Jones,” “Excalibur” and Errol Flynn’s “Robin Hood.” Borrowing a thread from here, a thread from there, the film uses art across time to imagine the mythic past.

This new take on the Arthurian legend is the culmination of the myth-focused era of FLOCK, using their signature movement style, fierce yet refined, to elucidate the axiomatic values of ancient mythologies. “This movie takes those ideas to the extreme,” says Klock. “Very visual. Very physical. It has much more narrative focus than our shows. It’s an explosion of symbolism, dance, mythology, fashion.” All these elements come together in a maximalist way, allowing the filmmakers’ uncompromising “geekiness” towards the material to shine.

The film oscillates between worlds of reality and fantasy, between dancers and choreographers putting on a performance and a knight’s quest for the ultimate symbolic relic. The artist’s process in real world has a sense of place but feels limited and contained. The stage is the transition to fantasy, a metaphor for the transcendent experience a performer feels while performing. The fantasy is full-blown “Lord of the Rings”-style, shot in locations around Los Angeles—rolling hills, a verdant forest and the arid desert.

Fantasy scenes are covered in full dramatic language, where the events being abstractly acted out in dance are being literalized in the fantasy section. In the “real” world, Klock, awash in green and purple lighting vaguely resembling a pentagram, performs magical incantations, and in the fantasy section, translates to Morgana pulling a haunted mask from a veil to place on another character to make them do their will. “We’re dealing with contemporary dance but doing a lot of things that classical ballet does well,” says Wesley. “There’s a prince and a princess, it’s got a love duet that’s going to make you melt, it’s got those trapping that are part magic, and we think that magic is malleable and fun to use.” The film’s narrative follows a close line, which gives the viewer a sense of context during abstract scenes.

Dance in the film is treated with integrity, with performances shot in full, not piecemeal, and in multiple ways to give the feeling of catching something that is happening in a real space and not cooked up for a video. “We wanted to capture the magic of the stage and not interrupt it with weird movie shooting tricks,” says Wesley. “The easiest way to get great dancing from Flock and their dancers was to do full, uninterrupted performances instead of twelve-seconds at a time. The performance gets lost in the latter.” “After finishing each day’s shoot, I thought, ‘Wow, this really felt like a dance performance,’” says Lochner. “Doing four-to-seven-minute works repeatedly, it felt so good as a dancer… [and] we were able to focus on what we’re good at, our “flocky” way of partnering.”

Ultimately, their goal with the film is to present the dream of a myth. “We love dance films and what people have been exploring,” says Klock, “but feel that there is a subtle monotone to how dance has been filmed and edited. We wanted to produce a more effusive feeling, to make a dance film that has that joy of a pre-Raphaelite painting of Lancelot.” Under Wesley’s direction, the camera becomes better than the best seat in the house, capturing the movement ideas properly to show why Flock’s style is particularly exciting.

When it came time to decide where to debut the film, Chicago was the obvious choice. “We grew up in Chicago. It’s our dance home,” says Klock. “We were at Hubbard Street for a long time, the other two dancers in the film also danced for Hubbard Street, our costume designer works a ton for Hubbard Street—there’s definitely a reunion vibe. We love the openness and vibrancy of the Chicago dance scene. They’re excited to see something they’ve never seen before, and it felt like the right place to present a bold project.” This film is the most recent example of FLOCK’s giving back to the city that has given them so much.

Despite being ancient, some tales never get old. “Holy Grail” promises to be as much a feast for the eyes as it is for the heart, with a sweeping score, delicious period-specific costumes and choreography that pays deference to the myriad adaptations that came before.

FLOCK presents “Holy Grail” at Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society at University of Chicago, 5701 S Woodlawn, on Nov. 20 at 5pm. Registration is FREE at flockworksdance.com.