A narrated story about a man-made sand landscape, a desert in Poland, told from a mover's perspective and captured by photographic imagery. A storied encounter that brought up bewilderment mixed with inspirational hope for a more mature human sensitivity. photography - Katarzyna Warańska movement - Anna Dako, Marta Bury music - Ibou Sora costumes - Anna Dako, Karina Mińkowska Pado narration and edit - Anna Dako production - In The Open by DUNAMI - MOVEMENT ARTS WELLBEING CIC BŁĘDÓW DESERT, POLAND 2019

A movement story by Anna Dako inspired by the seasonal landscapes of North-East Scotland, confronted with a deep urge for the warmth of the Southern Sun. Emerging from the winter season into much needed sunlight, this relational story builds on experiencing LOVE as arising through sensual opposites, which enable movement as primal, ephemeral motion (or emotion) that encompasses the Earth's origins of creation. Blurred somewhere between self-love and erotic fulfilment, the expressive movement of the elements permeates embodied historicity of the Self while recognising life's temporal nature of constant change, both within and around, in the natural world. Dancing with the feminine and the masculine energies of the Self takes its own course of free expression, but keeping the feet (and the hands) on the ground remains the only true compass for navigating life's complex journeys. A film by IN THE OPEN - OUTDOOR ARTS INITIATIVE Produced by DUNAMI - MOVEMENT ARTS WELLBEING CIC www.dunami-somatics.com movement, story and narration by ANNA DAKO camera and photography by NICK JONES music by KOROLEKO MOUSSA DEMBELE costumes by ANNA DAKO edited by ANNA DAKO locations: ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND | ALBUFEIRA, PORTUGAL MARCH 2024

GEN(D)EROS-ITY OF ROOTS or AMOR LIBERI MOTUS IN THE OPEN - OUTDOOR ARTS THEATRE INITIATIVE by DUNAMI - MOVEMENT ARTS WELLBEING CIC featuring movement story by ANNA DAKO camera and photography by NICK JONES music ‘FREE MIND’ by TEMS costumes by ANNA DAKO edited by ANNA DAKO locations: ALBUFEIRA, PORTUGAL | ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND, UK MARCH 2024 MOVEMENT STORY by ANNA DAKO: Gen(d)eros-ity of Roots or Amor Liberi Motus   Nothing but the truth of a heart a dancing transformation of sand and leaves of self and other of otherness within oneself Homecoming Release The fire of return to the beginnings to the roots beneath it all Listening to the two streams of the heart black and white syncopating together Mirroring one another’s affections Empowering the beat from within sucking the nourishment touching the ground and tuning to the frequencies of a mother of a lover of a fighter giving life to motion and letting the birthed movement enliven the spirit in return through fragility through vulnerability dependency and being invisible to the world of material longing Staying true to the gifts passed over through generational wisdom My movement keeps choosing to live in connection to gentleness and its hidden powers I’m staring into the ram’s eyes from a bird’s perspective  my eyes are often closed With eyes closed the world becomes felt and freedom awakens in trust It awakens in respect for the sensed The slow and the fast Gentle change thrives on differences that enable attraction First in reactiveness then in dancing together only to get lost in soulful constitution of the feminine and the masculine The flowful mix of life currents within one bloodstream Life is a single event with many time waves and many cycles of return The cycles permeate one another some from within and some from the times beyond ourselves Like sand and leaves the polyrhythmic nature of creation fills my very core in solid stance and in light flight The head bones know it all They relate to the unthinkable easy and connect the past with the future in immersive nowness that only the dance itself knows I cannot catch it for you But you can watch it emerge It feeds on consuming itself It is the impossible The phantomized paradox The life’s real talent A beloved curse A complicated life line lost somewhere between the cold north and the warm south You can figure it out for yourself when attempting to catch a dreamy thought perhaps Gone, isn’t it? Materializing an idea can only happen in time and times keep changing with every daily spin around the sun That is the beauty of the core truth The solid and the ephemeral The aged and the new At the roots the source always springs from its own impossibility Like the waterfall and the moist ground owing their existence to the dry old stone and the cosmic energy of the Earth’s glorious beginnings For the Earth remembers being  a burning body of rock shot into thin air catching momentum processing cooling in space making droplets become clouds transforming into layers of fertility and growing networks of effable relations that made life spark eventually somewhere between the hot Sun and the cool Moon In universe’s capacity motion comes to life through difference but it also unifies and creates oneness You can understand me as I understand you In love we are one but love is not possible without entwining otherness or connecting within the imaginary Sense that Embrace your heart beat it adores fine-tuning through sensing a difference as it is the different the separate and the distant that helps you see the whole you within the bigger life’s sameness Life feels one for all that is Far into the deep soulfulness of cosmic co-creation Move or let the life move you Do both hopefully See that there are always many sides to the same history like sand and leaves caught at different times of change We live as we go we love as we dance Try to remember that the coarse-grained sand may in time become smooth And that the leaves will keep adopting different colours during the same calendar year Inspiring flexibility of traits makes a strong armour for securing integrity Change lives in the air as much as it lives in water and earth All elements unify and differentiate through the very possibility of each breath given or taken In sound or silence absence or presence Somewhere between a childish cry and a wise sigh I can find my freedom to embrace the temporary within the abundance of hidden roots underground human or beyond human   To dance is to breathe to breathe along all other To dance is to reveal deep truths in their endless forms of colour-sprung light And I believe that life on land and its artful origins endlessly need our strength and humility cultivated at right times and for the right cause   Dwennimmen

Official Selection Scottish Landscape Awards Film Credits: Production, Artistic Guidance and Choreography: Anna Dako; Movement Artists: Laura Booth, Shayne Lilith-Moon, Sofia Kondylia; Instrumentals: Magi Winmill-Hermann; Filming: Anna Dako, Bircan Birol; Assistance: Diana Monteiro Toombs; Photography: Noemi Dako © Anna Dako No portion of this film may be copied or used without the express permission of its creators 'FOREST WITHIN' was produced during the time of lockdown, when touching or wandering about felt like forms of transgression. The only resources to sanity – access to local nature reserves, were too reduced. The film was made in the annihilated part of a forest in Aberdeenshire. As movers and compassionate human beings, we wanted a dialogue with the place and let it speak for itself in movement. ‘Forest Within’ is about an embodied reflection upon inclusive ways of being. 'FOREST WITHIN' is an official selection for the Scottish Landscape Awards 2023, organised by the Scottish Arts Trust (www.scottishartstrust.org). With a first prize of £10,000, the Awards offer Scotland's biggest prize for contemporary landscape art. The stellar line-up of judges includes influential art world figures Ade Adesina RSA, Marian Leven RSA, David Mach RA HRSA, Barbara Rae RAE CBE RA RSA RSW (chair), and Jane and Louise Wilson RA. Open to individuals or collaborating artists who work in any medium – from miniatures to installations, the judges have chosen entries in a wide range of materials and forms including 2D works in paint, charcoal, collage, textiles and photography as well as sculptures in glass, paper, stone, wood, metal and more. The competition also includes entries in film, animation, sound, performance, multimedia and virtual reality. It is a biennial competition and exhibition, open to anyone over 16 years born, living or studying in Scotland. The stated aim of the Scottish Landscape Awards is to ‘redefine the boundaries of contemporary landscape art’ by reflecting all dimensions of natural and/or man-made environments with works that may be imaginary, surreal, abstract, documentary, ecological, realistic – anything is possible as long as the work carries a strong sense of place or context. The inaugural Scottish Landscape Awards exhibition is on at City Art Centre in Edinburgh from 4 November 2023 to 3 March 2024. Occupying two floors of the gallery, the exhibition showcases the very best in Scottish contemporary art. The awards will then be held every 2 years in different locations around Scotland. #landscapeart #landscapeartist #skyarts #filmart #animationart #animationartist #skyartslandscapeartistoftheyear

HUG TREE Feeling into the qualities of rest and support. A restorative, silent conversation with a tree in Somatic Felt Thinking. Movement meditation and editing by Anna Dako Camera by Ronald Dako Aberdeen, 2021

Of Rocks and Other Kin based on: On How to Feel Think in Movement: 5-Day Outdoor Movement Experience with Self-Filming designed by Dr Anna Dako movement, voice, words and filming: Valeria Lembo concept and movement methodology: Anna Dako editing: Bircan Birol supervision and consultancy: Anna Dako location: Anacapri, Italy October 2020 with special thanks to Norman Veens for his supportive presence and to the lizards that kept us company more info at: www.dunami-somatics.com

'Forest Within' - Site-specific movement production on Selfhood, Sanity and Intangible Treasures within Human Kind(ness) movement: Laura Booth Shayne Lilith-Moon Sofia Kondylia instrumentals Magi Winmill-Hermann: production assistance Diana Monteiro Toombs filming Anna Dako Bircan Birol on-site assistance and photography Noemi Dako artistic guidance and choreography Anna Dako location Countesswells Forest, Aberdeen location consultation Forestry and Land Scotland production In The Open - Outdoor Arts Theatre November 2020 more info at: https://www.dunami-somatics.com/in-the-open