Reading Space in CDK’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”

CDK’s filmed “Somebody That I Used to Know” can be approached through the space between dancers, not only through their timing. A group can perform movements together while changing its distances, facing, levels, and pathways. Those spatial decisions help turn many bodies into a readable composition.

The film appears in the San Francisco Dance Film Festival’s 2024 program, which credits Sergio Santos Reis, Jowha van de Laak, and Mauro van de Kerkhof for choreography. Its documented collaborative authorship is a useful frame for examining the group’s organization without inventing a rehearsal story.

Space is more than the size of the room

NSW Department of Education’s dance vocabulary distinguishes shape, level, direction, pathways, and floor patterns as parts of space. These terms offer a practical way to describe what a group is doing rather than relying on a broad reaction such as “perfectly synchronized.”

▶Play performance video

Start with a small group in one part of the frame. Notice the distances between its members and the direction each faces. A change in relationship can be visible even when the dancers remain near the same location. Conversely, traveling across a room can preserve the group’s internal shape.

Make a three-stage spatial note

1. Before: describe the arrangement of people in plain terms, such as close together, spread out, or facing different directions.
2. Transition: follow the route by which the arrangement changes.
3. After: identify what is different in the resulting group relationship.

This example is a notation method, not a claim that the film follows one repeated formation. It helps keep the visible result attached to the movement that creates it. A striking still image shows a destination; the choreography also includes getting there.

Level and size are different variables

A movement can stay low while becoming large, or remain small while occurring high in the body’s available space. Separating these variables prevents a description of “bigger movement” from concealing several different changes.

The same applies to the group. More distance between dancers is not automatically a wider individual gesture. One describes the relationship across the ensemble; the other describes the dimensions of a body’s movement.

“Bittersuite” provides another filmed comparison

The accompanying CDK “Bittersuite” upload changes the musical work while retaining the company context. Use it to compare spatial organization rather than expecting the same formations to recur. The useful connection is a group’s choreographic language, not an assumption of identical staging.

▶Play performance video

Pick one transition in each film and describe it using the same two variables, such as direction and distance. Holding the vocabulary steady makes the differences clearer without requiring a frame-by-frame reconstruction.

The showcase restores a stage-wide problem

The final video identifies CDK’s 2024 World of Dance Eindhoven showcase. A stage document presents a different spatial frame from a purpose-made dance film. The area available to the audience and the camera becomes part of how formations are read.

▶Play performance video

Do not mistake a change in camera framing for a change made by the dancers themselves. Track both when necessary: the performers may alter their arrangement, while the recorded view can also change which relationships are visible.

The result is a more concrete account of the work. Instead of only noting that the ensemble moves together, describe how its people occupy, cross, divide, and reconnect space. That vocabulary makes the group composition visible as a developing sequence.