Honeybee, your dance partner is death

This film depicts the life of a honeybee and her final dance with untimely death in an experimental waltz sprinkled with documentary and found footage. It is Inspired by the German post-World War I propaganda posters, which featured a line from Paul Zech’s poem, “Berlin, halt ein.” The poster translates in English as “Berlin, stop! Come to your senses. Your dance partner is death,” and includes an illustration by Louis Raemaekers of an upper-class woman dancing the tango with a skeleton. The posters spoke of the disparity in Berlin between the elite class, who entertained themselves with dancing and music while the other half of the population was starving. In the same way, I believe, many members of present society live without regard for the long-term consequences of their actions while ignoring the plight of honeybees, who, through pollination, provide us with flowers and food.

Premature death, for the honeybee, may come from transportation of hives, climate change, and as shown in this piece, by pesticides and varroa mites (often called “vampire mites”). Thus, as death approaches, so do these realities introduced through public domain imagery and the visage of Nosferatu, who represents not only the vampire mites and tragic death, but also the German Expressionism time period from which the posters in Berlin appeared.

A collaborative effort, “The Buzzy Waltz” was composed by Travis Duncan and choreographed by Micah Spears. The dance was performed by Matt Hall, Cyndi Parr, and Micah Spears with music by Travis Duncan (guitar, kazoo) and Kirk Farber (marimba). The cinematography is by Jamey Hastings and Ralph Giordano.