Such is the case with the short dance film Train Train, which also doubles as a music video for the wonderful and singular piano music of Koki Nokano. The film—one of my all time favorites by filmmaker, Benjamin Seroussi—is part of a series of works by Nokano, deftly entitled “Pre-Choreographed.” According to the choreographer, the amazing and articulate Damien Jalet, “Benjamin suggested shooting in this incredible tower whose bare iron structure has the rhythm and aspect of an abandoned train track.” The aforementioned building is the—stripped for refurbishment—and “haunting” Pleyel Tower in St. Denis, Paris, which in the film’s beginning looms like a ghostly and abandoned skyscraper.

In Train Train, Seroussi, Jalet, and dancer Aimilios Aropoglou, explore gestural movements that I found to be reminiscent of a train conductor. And with a mixture of almost Chaplinesque prancing, running, fall and recovery, the dancer redefines apparent “clumsiness” as dance. What is incredible is that choreography, and camera work together, with editing of course, to eloquently visualize the chaos and tension within the score itself. And in the process they seem to quite successfully break all kinds of rules and conventions, making both shots and movement that might otherwise translate as awkward or dizzying—look brilliant.