Ellen on the Rope 1978

Overview

Ellen on the Rope is an energetically expressive study of performer Ellen Fisher working out on the rope in her Lodge Hall rehearsal space, itself a handsome room of classical proportions and lighting. Sousa’s film studies Fisher’s strenuous activity from a series of vantage points, creating a strobing rhythm by crossing the camera’s shutter speed with the rate of the rope traversing its frame. Unlike other athletic film studies, usually focused on body properties or close-ups of muscular exerti