Julie Gautier Captures Sublime Choreography in the World’s Deepest Pool.

GIF courtesy of Colossal.

After first watching Julie Gautier‘s ethereal subaquatic ballet AMA, I’ll admit I did Google how long a human can hold their breath underwater. Apparently, the Guinness World Record is currently set at 24 minutes and three seconds—which is quite a bit longer than the French choreographer and filmmaker’s feat here, but I’m still astonished and hypnotized by the short she created for International Women’s Day earlier this year.

Julie Gautier might as well be some sort of mythical character from the sea (Neptune? Poseidon? Elisa from Guillermo del Toro’s recent Oscar-winning film The Shape of Water?). She refers to herself as an underwater author and director, and has produced a virtual pool of otherworldly short films in water, including co-directing the clip for British producer Naughty Boy’s 2015 tune ‘Runnin’(Lose It All)’, which features the voices of Beyonce and Arrow Benjamin. While she works closely with her husband, freediving world champion Guillaume Néry, Julie is totally self-taught when it comes to choreography and the camera.

AMA, she says, is without any essential meaning, and simply dedicated to “all women of the world.” The clip takes its name from the Japanese word for ‘woman of the sea’ and the name for Japan’s traditional shell collectors. It was shot in the eerie, almost clinical depths of Y-40 pool (AKA The Deep Joy) near Venice in Italy, which is the deepest pool in the world and just shy of 40 metres deep, making Julie’s immersed slow dance and graceful rise to the surface all the more striking and extraordinary.

See other examples of Performance Art on Yellowtrace.