Dancing Through Gardens (Durch Gärten Tanzen)
Germany / Indonesia / France 2014
(DVD Release – Berlin 2015)
Duration: 140 min
A poetic and insightful artistic documentary about dance and memory involving 3 generations of women and 3 countries. The movie has won three international awards and Oxana Chi was honored to receive the title of Ambassador of Peace for this outstanding dance_film_opus Dancing Through Gardens. French Filmmaker Layla Zami accompanies seasoned artist Oxana Chi in the production and performance of her unique dance solo Through Gardens. Oxana Chi choreographed the piece in memory of Tatjana Barbakoff, a Chinese-Jewish-Latvian dancer who inspired many painters, photographers and sculptors of the 20th century. Layla Zami did most of the cinematography, depicting the artist and her process in a very sensitive manner.
The film shows Oxana Chi's outdoor performance in Indonesia for a 5,000 persons audience, her rehearsals, her costume production, and her research about the 1920s/30s dancer Tatjana Barbakoff's biography in Berlin and Paris. The French-German film production was funded by the French governmental Award "Envie d'Agir", the Jewish Foundation "Zurückgeben", Interflugs/Berlin Arts University, and private sponsors such as Nigerian engineer Emeka Ebulue and French Executive Director Alex Zuckerman (Fimor company).
German premiere: Berlin 2014. USA Premiere: Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, 2018. The multilingual DVD was released in 2015.
»An innovative dance_ documentary_ fiction_ film presenting the biography of Tatjana Barbakoff, great Chinese-Jewish-Latvian
artist of the 1920s, through the graceful artistic eye and body of Oxana. Watching and sensing this powerful movie, the audience is invited
to travel alongside two dancers between past, present and future merging in the timeless feeling of now.«
Book Writing Women's Lives, Yeditepe University, Istanbul 2014
»Der Film Durch Gärten Tanzen will die Erinnerung an eine fast vergessene Ausdruckstänzerin wachhalten. Das geschieht
hier nicht auf die übliche Weise, sondern einfühlend in Form einer überaus persönlichen, poetischen, dabei reich facettierten "Rétrospective
emotionelle", die nicht zuletzt im Werk der Wahlverwandten das Wesenhafte einer Tatjana Barbakoff erspürt. Und das greift tiefer, als
es eine bilderreiche Doku je vermag.«
Hartmut Regitz, TANZ Magazine, 2018
»Your dance, your words and your film reached the depths of my soul. Words are not enough to express how intensely
I identify with your images and perspectives.«
Celine Madé, Berlin 2015
Produced by lichiverein, made possible in part with the support of the French Ministery Program "Envie d'Agir" FMS Paris (Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah), Interflugs UdK Berlin Arts University and private sponsors.
Gold Awards for Dancing through Gardens
Oxana Chi is honored to receive the International Gold Award as a Filmmaker of Inspiration and the title of Ambassador of Peace for her outstanding dance_film_opus Dancing Through Gardens dedicated to the memory of the dancer Tatjana Barbakoff.
Layla Zami & Oxana Chi receive the International Award of Recognition Winners for European Documentary
Filmfestival Documentery & Shorts International
Jakarta 2016
Tour History includes:
Festival Salon Qi @ Cinema & Multi purpose Hall Filmbühne am Steinplatz – Berlin 2014
Pratt Institut – Berlin 2023
ELES Studienwerk @ Kino Intimes – Berlin 2023
BGHRA: Black Arts & Resistance @ Davidson College – North Carolina 2021 (Film Talk)
Dance Studies Association Conference @ Rutgers University, New Brunswick – New Jersey 2021 (Film Talk)
Forum Film @ American Memorial Library (AGB) – Berlin 2021 (Film-Talk)
WECAN Conference – North America 2021 (online: Film & Workshop)
University Settlement @ The Festival Open Arts LES – New York 2020 (online Film Talk)
Invited guest artist: film screening and artist‘s talk @ Pratt Institute, History of Art and Design Department – New York 2020
International Education Week @ Pratt Institute – New York 2018
DVD Release – Berlin 2015
Salon Qi Festival @ Cinema Bundesplatz Kino – Berlin December 03, 2017
DVD at the Exhibition Themenraum Tanz
in Cooperation with Tanz im August @ American Memorial Library – Berlin July 25, - August 31, 2017
Event series In Memory of May 8, 1945 @ EW Building – University Osnabrück June 01, 2017
Program brochure (page 24)
Exhibition Helen Dahm Museum Ein Kuss Der Ganzen Welt Oetwil – Switzerland 2016
MLT International Symposium, Heinrich Heine University – Düsseldorf 2016
Europa-University Viadrina Center for German-Jewish Literature and Cultural History, Exile and Migration – Frankfurt Oder 2016
In*Vision Festival – Brandenburg 2016
Woman culture center Frauenkreise – Berlin 2016
Woman culture center Begine – Berlin 2016
Woman culture center SUSI – Berlin 2016
Gesellschaft Macht Geschlecht Feminist University Festival Program – Bielefeld 2014
Aktionstage Gesellschaft Macht Geschlecht – Program 2014 (on page 5)
Culture Center AJZ – Bielefeld 2014
Film series at xart splitta art space & publishing house – Berlin 2015
Women Culture Center Schokoladenfabrik – Berlin 2015
