Dunedin choreographer and film-maker Daniel Belton reaches down in pain and rubs cramp from his calf.
"I've just done a 12-hour stint in the editing suite," he complains.
"I seem to dance for a couple of months and then spend a couple of months sitting down editing all day.
"They're very different work processes and it's hard on the body."
Belton has just finished his latest film, Line Dances, which had its world premiere in Dunedin last night.
"I started this project in 2007, so what people will be seeing is three years of my work," he says.
"It was completely made right here, in Dunedin.
"That's why I was so excited about premiering the work here, at the Dunedin festival, before it goes global.
"These works will have a strong life. I don't usually say that, but I feel much more confident about this work than I have with a lot of my past stuff."
Line Dances is a suite of seven dance films.
"They're a celebration and tribute to the world of theatre through cinema. Making the screen space into a theatre space.
"They're full of commedia characters, like the fool, harlequin, goose girl, sailors and acrobats.
"Each film responds to a work by visionary Swiss artist and musician Paul Klee.
"They're tributes to his work and have the same titles he used.
"They're dance, music, Paul Klee and quantum physics all carefully fused together," Belton says.
"We live in a 3-D reality and perceive the world from that reality.
But the quantum physics aspect of the work delves into M-theory [a theory outlined by American theoretical physicist Edward Witten in 1994].
"M-theory is about 11 dimensions, which is pretty out-there," he muses.
"I want to present an idea of what that's like on a screen. It's an illusion. It starts quickly in the film.
"One of the opening sequences took me four days in the editing suite."
It is a tribute to Belton's powers of persuasion that Lines of Dances features a stellar cast, which includes Sir Jon Trimmer, Katie Hurst-Saxton, Donnine Harrison, Emmett Hardie and Courtney Poulier.
He even talked celebrated Dunedin fashion designer Tanya Carlson into creating the costumes for the film.
A new keyboard work has also been composed by Anthony Ritchie and the piece will be performed live by him before each performance.
"His work is so beautiful. I showed him the stuff we filmed and he went off and made a really accessible and lyrical composition.
"He was so generous and low-key about it," Belton says.
And he breaks away to rub another cramp out of his calf.
Line Dances screens again at the Metro Cinema at 8pm today and tomorrow.
