Participate in DFA’s Town Hall Meeting and Artist Survey!

photo: Kerry Welsh

Calling all dance film-makers:

To close out this year’s Dance On Camera Festival, the Dance Films Association is holding a Town Hall Meeting for the Dance on Camera Community on Saturday January 17th from 4-7pm taking place in the Gallery at Walter Reade Theater (Lincoln Center Plaza on 65th Street btw Broadway and Amsterdam).

The meeting will begin with a half hour panel discussion led by Marlon Barrios-Solano dedicated to new on-line platforms for screendance with representatives from Kaltura and TenduTV. Following this, you are invited to participate in an open discussion about dance film issues that are important to you (moderated by Zach Morris from the Dance Film Lab). After the meeting, you are invited to continue the conversation informally over coffee/tea at the nearby Le Pain Quotidien at 60 West 65th Street.

In conjunction with this event, I have collaborated with DFA to produce an artist survey of the field.  If you are unable to attend, we would still like to get your input to help us improve our services and programs for you. Whether you are currently making dance for screen, or thinking about doing so, we want to hear from you about what your needs and interests are. Please take a moment to participate in this brief online survey.

Take this survey

Thank you for your participation, your feedback is very important to us. We look forward to compiling the results and will share them with you here in the early spring.

-Anna Brady Nuse

Pioneer Dance Film Educator, Ellen Bromberg at Kinetic Cinema

Dance for the Camera Workshop

On Wednesday January 14th, Kinetic Cinema will kick off it’s new season at Chez Bushwick with special guest curator Ellen Bromberg, a professor of dance at University of Utah and a pioneer educator of dance for the camera.

photo: Kirk Schwartz

Bromberg will show dance films created by choreographers and filmmakers who have attended her workshops in Victoria, BC and Regina, Saskatchewan over the past five years. These workshops have attracted experienced artists in many genres providing them with the opportunity to explore dance film as a new way of seeing and framing the moving body.

Over the  years there have been many notable teachers and alumni of Bromberg’s Dance for the Camera Workshops. Former guest teachers have included Bob Lockyer (former producer at the BBC) and Douglas Rosenberg (video artist). Attendees have included Karen Kaeja (Co-Artistic Director of Kaeja d’Dance in Toronto), Kelly Hargraves (L.A. film-maker), Christopher House (Artistic Director of Toronto Dance Theater), Marta Renzi (New York choreographer and film-maker), Alejandro Valbuena (Filmmaker from Bogotá, Columbia), and Lee Henderson (Visual Artist from Univ. of Regina). Ellen Bromberg, recipient of a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship, is a choreographer, media artist, dance film curator and educator. Her choreography and films have been seen throughout the world and she has received numerous awards and grants for her work. Ellen is currently an Associate Professor of Modern Dance at the University of Utah.

Here are all the details:

Kinetic Cinema

Wed. January 14, 8pm
Tickets: $10 (pay at door)
Chez Bushwick
304 Boerum St., Buzzer #11
Brooklyn, NY 11206
Trains: L to Morgan Street, exit back of the train. Turn LEFT outside the station. Turn LEFT onto Boerum Street

In addition to curating this screening, Ellen is organizing four workshops in New York during the Dance On Camera Festival from January 6-9, 2009 2-4pm at Dance New Amsterdam. For more information and to sign up for a workshop click here.

Kinetic Cinema explores the intersection of dance and the moving image both on screen and stage. Each month Pentacle’s director of Movement Media, Anna Brady Nuse invites a special guest from the fields of dance and the media arts to share films and videos that have inspired or moved them. These could be works for screen that feature dance, are kinetic-based, or have been influential on their work in some way.

Kinetic Cinema is a co-presentation of Chez Bushwick and Pentacle, and is part of “PRIME MOVER: Dance on Camera From Chez Bushwick” a weekly dance, visual & media arts series each Wednesday at Chez Bushwick in Brooklyn. The series includes Kinetic Cinema on the second Wednesdays of the month, Prime Mover (curated by Jonah Bokaer and other guest artists) in the third Wednesdays, and artist-moderated topical Salons on the fourth Wednesdays.

If you would like to receive announcements and email up-dates about future Kinetic Cinema programs please send us an email.

******************

Post Script:

For anyone interested in taking Ellen’s Dance for the Camera Workshop this summer in Victoria, BC, there is a special early bird discount for the workshop being offered right now in honor of her Kinetic Cinema program. Check it out here.

A Guide to the 2009 Dance On Camera Festival

It’s already that time of year again, when the Dance On Camera Festival rolls into Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater. Over two weeks (Jan 6-Jan 17th) there will be screenings, panels, workshops, a Round Table, and a Town Meeting. Here are some of the highlights to put on your new 2009 calendar!

SCREENINGS

The DOCF shows a combination of dance for camera features, dance for camera shorts, revivals, and dance documentaries. I have tried to categorize the programs below, however please check their official schedule and program descriptions, as the dance for camera shorts get squeezed into many programs.

Most of the programs take place at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center Plaza. For tickets and info go to: http://www.filmlinc.com/buytickets.htm

Also check out the discounts on tickets available for Dance Films Association Members here.

Dance For Camera Features:

VSPRS Show and Tell

Sophie Fiennes, 2006, Belgium; 72m

I’m not sure if this is a documentary, a dance for camera piece, or archival footage of a performance, but it sounds intriguing. The description on the Dance Film’s Association’s website says it’s a “hybrid marvel—part performance, part documentary– in which dance, drama and music fuse to mesmerizing effect.” The filmmaker, Sophie Fiennes (“A Pervert’s Guide to Cinema”) collaborated with Alain Patel of Les Ballets C de la B, to create a contemporary interpretation of Verdi’s famous religious work “Maria Vespers.”

Friday, Jan 9, Walter Reade Theatre, 8:30pm (repeats on Jan 11, 6:15pm)

Historia

Karsten Liske, 2007, Germany; 2007; 45m

A young woman’s short life is visualized in the dramatic interplay of choreographic and abstract images. Awarded the price for best film work at NapoliDanza Festival 2008.

This program will also include Nora by Alla Kovgan and David Hinton with Zimbabwean choreographer Nora Chipaumire. A gorgeously shot portrait of a woman’s life growing up in revolutionary Zimbabwe.

Saturday, Jan 10, Walter Reade Theatre, 8:45pm (repeats Jan 11., 4:15pm)

Revivals:

Busby Berkeley Celebration – Saturday January 10

Don’t miss an entire day of programs paying homage to the great master of kinetic cinema!

Under the Influence of Busby Berkeley (Gallery, Sat. 1/10,2:30pm)

Dance Film-maker Kriota Willberg surveys a great range of films, music videos, and commercials that have been directly influenced by Berkeley, also notable because it will include an excerpt from Fünf ‘n’ Twist by yours truly! Other contributors in the line up include Richard James Allen, Jess Curtis and Kwame Braun, Michel Gondry, Kat Green, Jennie Livingston, Lucky Strike cigarettes, Anna Brady Nuse, Nuvaring®/Schering Corporation, Jonathon Rosen, Keith Schofield, and Kriota Willberg.

Dames - Ray Enright with Busby Berkeley, USA, 1934; 90m (Walter Reade, Sat. 1/10, 4:00pm)

It’s the 50th Anniversary of Dames! Revel in the pageantry, the  bathtubs, alarm clocks, blondes, and brunettes all dancing in perfectly geometric, kaleidoscopic style.

Gangs all Here – Busby Berkeley, USA, 1943; 103m (Walter Reade, Sat. 1/10, 6:30pm)

Featuring Carmen Miranda in her “Tutti Frutti” hat!

The Blue Bird

Maurice Tourneur, 1918 film, US; 81m

Celebrating dance in classic silent films, The Blue Bird is based on the play of the same title by Nobel Prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck.

Sunday, Jan 11, Walter Reade Theatre, 2pm

Ishanou (The Chosen One)

Aribam Syam Sharma, India, 1991; 91m

This film was one of the notable hits of the 1990 Cannes Festival.  Based on a story by Manipuri writer MK Binodini Devi, THE CHOSEN is a rich melodrama that contrasts ordinary domestic life with the strange rituals of the Meitei matriarchal cult.

Friday, Jan 16, Walter Reade Theatre, 3pm (repeats Jan 17, 1pm)

Dance For Camera Shorts:

EMPAC DANCE MOViES

Wednesday Jan 7, Walter Reade Theatre 9pm

This is a great collection of shorts commissioned by EMPAC in 2007 through The Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and the Performing Arts. I got to see this program at EMPAC’s grand opening weekend back in October (see my earlier post), and am so happy it is making the tour of other film festivals for all to see. Some of the gems of this program is the hauntingly beautiful Nora, an abstract portrayal of Zimbabwean dancer Nora Chipaumire’s life and coming of age during the Chimurenga revolution (repeated on Sun Jan 11th @ 4:15pm), and Propriedad Horizontal a clever choreographic study in a narrow space from Argentina.

Jiri Kylian & Hans Hulscher collaboration

Thursday, Jan 8, Walter Reade Theatre
4pm -  (repeat Jan 17,3:30pm)

Three productions by Jiri Kylian and Nederlans Dance Theater shot for television by Hans Hulscher. They include Wings of Wax, Petit Mort, and Sleepless. Kylian’s own dance film Car Men, was one of the best shorts shown at last year’s festival. The works on this program are  stage pieces adapted for television, and will likely be beautiful for screen.

Magnetic Cinema, Matchbox, Sens 1

Thursday, Jan 8, Walter Reade Theatre 8:45pm
(repeat Jan 16, 1pm)

I’m excited about this program of three dances for the camera that promise to be truly cinematic as well as choreographic. It starts out with Pierre Coulibeuf’s Magnetic Cinema inspired by French Canadian choreographer Benoit Lachambre’s “Lugares Comunes”. The program of Coulibeuf’s films shown last year was sufficiently intriguing and environmentally arresting to make me want to see more. Matchbox by Daniel Belton from New Zealand is an evocative “partnership game” played out on a jazzy dance floor with dazzling physicality. In Sens 1 two dancers—Francesca Bonato and Magalie Bouze from Compagnie des Indes- joined like Siamese twins by their left feet, move around a crackling bubble-wrap carpet that resembles a dimly lit boxing ring.

Innovative Shorts

Friday, Jan 9, Walter Reade Theatre 6:15pm (repeats on Jan 11, 8:30pm)

A marathon program of 11 shorts that cover subjects ranging from birth (Manuelle Labor by Marie Losier in collaboration with Guy Maddin) to Martha Graham (Bardo by Richard Move) to women imitating their dads dancing (Dance Like Your Old Man by Gideon Obarzanek & Edwina Throsby). I live for stuff like this!

Kinetic Cinema with Dance Film Pioneer Educator, Ellen Bromberg

Wednesday Jan. 14, Chez Bushwick at 8:00 pm

Kinetic Cinema will feature a program curated by Ellen Bromberg, a professor of dance at University of Utah and a pioneer educator of dance for the camera. Bromberg will show dance films created by choreographers and filmmakers who have attended her workshops in Victoria, BC and Regina, Saskatchewan over the past five years. These workshops have attracted experienced artists in many genres providing them with the opportunity to explore dance film as a new way of seeing and framing the moving body.

Admission is $10; tickets can be purchased at the door.
Chez Bushwick is located at 304 Boerum St., Buzzer #11 in Brooklyn, NY 11206.
Trains: L to Morgan Ave. Exit back of the train. Turn LEFT outside the station. Turn LEFT onto Boerum Street.

Showings on Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery Screen:

A program of dance for camera shorts will play continuously in the Gallery outside of the Walter Reade Theatre including: Arising by Ben Dolphin, Caution by Susannah Newman, Embodiments of Silence by Tim Glenn, An Issue of Trust by Allison Fischer, Multiplied Subtraction by Michael Cole, and Reincarnation by Takeshi Kushida.

Documentary Programs:

Ballerina

Bertrand Normand, 2007, France; 77m

For the balletomanes out there, Ballerina profiles six of the rising stars of the Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg Russia. This film has been receiving rave reviews and was recently released on DVD from First Run Features. This program will be  accompanied by Play: On the beach with the Ballets Russes featuring archival footage of dancers from the Ballets Russes frolicking on the beach in Sidney, Australia during their 1936-1940 tours.

Wednesday Jan 7, Walter Reade Theatre 6:15pm  (repeats Jan 8, 1:30pm)

Antonio Gades: The Ethics of Dancing

Juan Cano Arecha, 2007, Spain; 56m

Here’s one for Flamenco lovers. This new documentary reveals previously unseen images of the dancer’s work, including his choreography for “Ad Libitum” danced with Alicia Alonso and an excerpt from “Giselle” in which he performed the role of Hilarion, among other surprises. The program is accompanied by two shorts by David Fernandez: Objects in Mirror are Closer than They Appear made with members of ABT and NYCB, and Icarus APR (Annual Percentage Rate) a solo based on a modern interpretation of the Icarus legend.

Thursday, Jan 8, Walter Reade Theatre 6:15pm (repeat Jan 9, 2pm)

The Dance of the Enchantress

Adoor Gopalakrishnan & Brigitte Chataignier, 2007, France; 70m

A film that explores the beauty of the Indian dance form of Mohiniyattam (“mohini means enchantress and attam translates as graceful movements) from the  southern state of Kerala. Both devotional and sensuous in nature, “Mohinitattam” lays emphasis on romance—the shades, colors and moods of love.

Friday, Jan 9, Walter Reade Theatre, 4pm (repeats Jan 16, 9pm)

American Masters Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About, with Panel

Judy Kinberg, 2008, USA; 112m

How does one describe a genius like Jerome Robbins—the choreographer/director who transformed the Broadway musical and left an indelible mark on the world of classical ballet? Here is a sneak-peek at an extraordinary documentary that explores this complex figure in all his contradictory colors. See it on the big screen prior to its PBS airing on February 4th.

Friday, Jan 16, Walter Reade Theatre 6:15pm

WORKSHOPS

Through the Lens

Study each day with four award-winning filmmakers

Jan 6-Ben Dolphin (director of ARISING)
Jan 7-Alla Kovgan (co-director of NORA)
Jan 8-Daniel Belton (director of MATCHBOX and AFTER DURER)
Jan 9-Douglas Rosenberg (co-director of OF THE HEART)

Workshop co-ordinated by Ellen Bromberg

Held at Dance New Amsterdam.

Click here for more info and to make reservations.

PANELS:

Judson Memorial Church Programs with Movement Research

Two discussions with screenings January 6 and 13, 2009, 7pm, Free

January 6th discussion led by Stacy Spence
Theme: Narrative/Abstract and Environments

With excerpts drawn from Helenka by Karen Rose, Black Spring by Benoit Dervaux, Mobius Strip by Vincent Pluss, and Night Practice by Susanna Wallin.

Stacy Spence is a New York choreographer, dancer, teacher who has worked internationally as a member of the Trisha Brown Company. He is a 2008 Movement Research Artist in Residence.

January 13 Discussion led by Karl Cronin and Pavel Zustiak
Themes: Power of Limits, Human/Animal Interaction & influence,
Cultural relationship to environment

With excerpts drawn from Alt I Alt by Tobjorn Skarild, Touched by David Hinton, Poem by Maia Sørensen, Inearthia by Simon Halbedo/Nazario Branca/Maren Sandmann, Reines d’un Jour by Pascal Magnin, and Lacho Drom by Tony Gatlif.

Jury Prize Awards Reception

Saturday, Jan 1oth, Walter Reade Theatre 7pm in Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery, RSVP

Presenters Roundtable Brunch

Sunday, Jan 11, Walter Reade Theatre 11:30am in Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery

PANEL on New Online Distribution Platforms for Dance Media

Saturday, Jan 17, Walter Reade Theatre 4:00-4:30pm in Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery

Led by Marlon Barrios Solano with representatives from: TenduTV, Kaltura, Reframe, Dance-Media, and Dance-Tech.net in the Gallery

TOWN MEETING!!

Saturday, Jan 17, Walter Reade Theatre 4:30-6:00pm in Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery

TOWN MEETING for the Dance on Camera Community moderated by Zach Morris of the Dance Film Lab in the Gallery. Everyone is invited to participate and lend their voice to the discussion about dance film issues pertinent to them. After the meeting, members are invited to continue the conversation informally over coffee/tea at the nearby Le Pain Quotidien at 60 West 65th Street.

Finally, in case I’ve missed anything, here is a link to more last minute news about the festival. I’ll keep posting about events throughout the week. Hope to see you there!

Dance On Camera Festival – Week 2 events

We’re now into week two of the Dance On Camera Festival, and there are still many more great events to catch!

Below is the list of up-coming events. I highly recommend tonight’s shorts program at BAAD curated by the fabulous Arthur Aviles. I’ve heard that it will also include some live dancing, so come up and boogie-down in the Bronx!

Dark Room by
Peter Bebjak at BAAD 1/10/08

* Festival 2008 Schedule * *
Walter Reade Theatre, Lincoln Center Plaza
165 West 65th Street
January 2-6, 11, 18-19 2008 (1-4 shows daily)
Tickets and daily schedule (Cash only at box office
Read descriptions and times for the 14 programs

- see my run-down of the programs here

Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD)
January 10, 2008, 6pm, $10
841 Barretto Street, 2nd Floor (718) 842-5223
Take Number 6 train to Hunts Point
Shorts and live dance, Read program descriptions

Lincoln Center Plaza Cafe
Saturday, January 12th, 11am
MEET THE ARTIST: Director Hans Beenhakker and dancer Prince Credell,
of SHAKE OFF
, a six minute short made in one take! (program 8 at Walter Reade
Theatre). The artists discuss their creative process along with
moderator Ellen Bromberg in a program supported by the Consulate
General of the Nederlands.

Berkeley Carroll School
181 Lincoln Place, Park Slope Brooklyn (between 7th and 8th Ave)
January 12, 2008, 7pm, $10
A celebration of Loie Fuller - live dance, screening and discussion
Brooklyn, Read more

Festival Awards Ceremony & Champagne Gala
Alvin Ailey Studios
405 West 55th Street, 5th Floor
January 13, 2008, 6:30-8:30pm, $75
Honoring Savion Glover and the Jury Winners Read more

Spoke The Hub
The Gowanus at 295 Douglas Street
(between 3rd and 4th Avenues). Brooklyn, NY
 (718) 408-3234
January 15, 2008, 7:30pm, $10
Brooklyn. Read more

Here’s a convenient google map to help you find your way to these events.

View Larger Map

Kinetic Cinema – a great success!

Thanks
to all who attended the first Kinetic Cinema screening on Monday. If
you weren’t there, a large wonderful crowd turned out at
Collective:Unconscious in Tribeca to watch seven fabulous short dance films from
the Dance On Camera Festival. Two filmmakers attended: Noemie LaFrance,
choreographer of two Feist videos (1234 and My Man My Moon both directed by Patrick Daughters) and Charlotte Griffin, director of the film Raven Study.
They shared great stories and insights about making films with dance, and a good time was had by all.

Be sure to check out the Feb 4th screening with dance
critic and media maven Brian McCormick! Details will be posted here
soon…

Here’s the Feist video 1234
Notice the lack of cuts – it’s all one continuous take!

Reminder: Kinetic Cinema/Dance On Camera Festival screening tonight!

Just a friendly reminder about the Dance On Camera Festival screening tonight curated by yours truly for Kinetic Cinema at Collective:Unconscious at 7:30pm.

Featuring seven fantastic international shorts including Feist’s music video “1234″ choreographed by Noémie LaFrance, Charlotte Griffin’s sexy “Raven Study”, and Victoria Marks’ political duet “Not About Iraq,” you’re sure to find something to get excited about in this program.

Don’t get left out! Make your reservation now before this underground, hipster hole-in-the-wall sells out!

Details:
Kinetic Cinema – 2008 Dance On Camera Festival Shorts Program
Monday January 7th 7:30pm (and the first Monday of every month thereafter)
$5 admission

@ Collective:Unconscious
279 Church Street (just south of White Street)
New York, NY 10013
Trains: A to Canal or 1 to Franklin
www.weird.org
TICKETS: 212.352.3101
VENUE:212.254.5277

Dance On Camera Festival Part 2

Horizon of Exile
The last two nights were cold and blustery. It made the treks out to the Walter Reade Theater for the opening days of the Dance On Camera Festival feel like a expedition to the Yukon in search of gold. Watching Program 2 I found a few flashes that caught my eye. Isabel Rocamora’s HORIZON OF EXILE is gorgeously shot in the deserts of Chile. The setting, cinematography, and overall mood was mesmerizing, but I was hoping to feel more of an emotional punch from the subject matter of women in exile. To me the choreography was a little overwrought, but perhaps I was a victim of my own expectations. Chamecki/Lerner’s “FLYING DAYS” was my favorite of the night. Cute, whimsical and to the point. The Pina Bausch documentary was interesting if you are already a fan. For Pina devotees it has some wonderful moments with the mistress of avant spectacle herself, with some candid memories of the tough early years.

Here After
Last night I caught the only screening of Vim Vandekeybus’ new film “HERE AFTER” made with his Belgian dance company Ultima Vez. It was amazing. I usually can’t take too much angst, but somehow I was able to stomach this relentless Freudian vision of hell and actually enjoyed it. It was dark beyond belief but the choreography and camera work were so engaging and gripping, I just couldn’t take my eyes away. There is a scene of women putting men (who are playing babies) on poles, and I was reminded of a joke by the British comedian Eddie Izzard that there are certain subjects you just can’t sell on screen, like putting babies on spikes. Well, now I’ve seen it…

Tonight’s programs are both of shorts. I highly recommend the 6:15pm screening of Classic shorts. These are some of the best dance for the camera pieces made in the past 20 years. Come out from the cold and be carried away by some REAL moving pictures!

Program 7 – TRIBUTE TO PASCAL MAGNIN
(Fri Jan 4: 6:15pm)

Program 8
(Fri Jan 4: 8:30pm; repeats Fri Jan 11: 6:15pm)
Live performance by Company XIV on January 11th
Program introduced by dancer extraordinaire Richard Move

Dance On Camera Festival @ the Walter Reade Theatre
Lincoln Center Plaza,165 West 65th Street
(1 train to 66th Street)
Warning: due to construction at Lincoln Ctr you need to walk west on 65th street from Broadway, go up a flight of stairs on the right to get to the box office.

Kinetic Cinema Screening Jan. 7th

Happy New Year! What better way to start 2008 than by seeing some wicked cool dance films and videos? On Monday January 7th at 7:30pm I will present a special program of of international dance film shorts in conjunction with the Dance Films Association’s 36th Dance On Camera Festival. This program is part of Kinetic Cinema, a videodance screening series happening on the first Monday of each month at Collective:Unconscious in Tribeca. After the Jan 7th kick-off event I will invite a special guest from the dance community each month to show films and videos that have inspired their work in dance. Come see why dance and film go together as well as chocolate and peanut butter (or champagne and chocolate-dipped strawberries)!

Feist’s 1234

Kinetic Cinema
Monday January 7th 7:30pm (and the first Monday of every month thereafter)
$5 Admission

@ Collective:Unconscious
279 Church Street (just south of White Street)
New York, NY 10013
www.weird.org
TICKETS: 212.352.3101
VENUE:212.254.5277

For the Dance On Camera Festival program I have selected  seven shorts from among 200+ festival entries that represent some of the freshest new visions by leading dance filmmakers today. The program includes “1234″ – an award-winning music video by Feist directed by Patrick Daughters with choreography by Noemi LaFrance (who will be in attendance); “BLUE” – a suspended moment before a pianist begins to play by Elif Isikozlu; “PANORAMA ROMA” – a rotating timelapse film shot over 24 hours in the center of Rome by Italian choreographer Anna de Manincor; “RAVEN STUDY” – a sleek duet between a beautiful Louise Brooks-like dancer and a Rock drummer by Charlotte Griffin; “ANIMALZ” – a crew of urban b-boys from Brighton that go feral by Sergio Cruz; “PLANT” – a haunting exploration of a decaying bomb factory by The Body Cartography Project and Olive Beiringa; and “NOT ABOUT IRAQ” – a dance film that questions the relationship of words and experience, government rhetoric and reality by choreographer Victoria Marks with dancer Taisha Paggett.
Click here for a video preview of Feist’s “1234″.

Kinetic Cinema explores the intersection of dance and the moving image both on screen and stage. Each month I will invite a special guest from the dance community to share the films and videos that have inspired or moved them. These could be films that feature dance, are kinetic-based, or have been influencial on their work in some way. The guest curators will come from a range of backgrounds as performers, choreographers, critics, and filmmakers. Upcoming guests include Brian McCormick (Feb 4th), Jonah Bokaer (April 7th), Levi Gonzalez (May 5th), and Kriota Willberg (June 2nd).

DFA’s 36th, annual internationally touring Dance on Camera Festival & Symposium January 2-19, 2008
DFA’s 36th annual Dance On Camera Festival is the oldest dance film/video festival in the world that sparked an explosion of activity amongst artists, curators, writers and a curious audience. The Festival has been co-sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center since 1996 and has toured to over 70 venues internationally.
For festival schedule, tickets and info: www.dancefilms.org

Introducing Kinetic Cinema (and reflecting on 2007)

Before introducing my latest videodance venture starting in the new year, I feel the impulse to reflect on 2007 and share some of the experiences that have led me here to the brink of a new jumping off place.

Panorama Roma by Anna de Manincor

Last January I was the festival coordinator of the 2007 Dance on Camera Festival. I spent several intense months from Sept-Dec 2006 soliciting and receiving entries, coordinating prescreenings, watching almost 200 submissions, and practically living at the Walter Reade Theatre during the first two weeks of 2007. It was a very rewarding experience, but I found that that very few dancers from my community, the New York modern dance community, came out to see the amazing work we were showing. There were many reasons for this, one being that the timing of the festival is right after the holidays, and it always bumps right up on APAP, the biggest gig-getting event of the year in New York. It’s hard to compete with a dancer’s chance to drum up some income, but I felt that more could be done to bring awareness to dancers of the power of dance for the camera.

In an attempt to address this, I curated a special program of videodance shorts by American artists at Galapagos Art Space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I did this because the work of local and US based artists is generally under-represented in the Dance On Camera Festival outside of the documentary category, and I wanted to attract local audiences by showing work by people they knew. The strategy worked. We had more people than we could squeeze in standing, and we even had to turn some away at the door! This showed me that the community was interested and hungry to see dance for the camera, we just needed to involve them more.

In the spring, Zach Morris (of the Dance Film Lab) and I decided we wanted to build upon the momentum of the Galapagos showing and start a bimonthly dance film screening series. We had huge ideas for programming from showing the greatest videodances we knew of, to programs that showed the entire history of dance film. In May 2006 we produced “Wicked Cool Dance Films” featuring all our favorite films and had a rousing discussion with the audience and filmmakers after the screening. We seemed to be off to a good start. The only problem was that we had no money or time. Galapagos was cheap but it wasn’t free, and Zach had too much on his plate to continue. I wanted to keep it going, but I knew that I couldn’t do it on my own.

Fast forward to this fall. I started blogging on Great Dance which seemed like the perfect way to spread the gospel of dance for the camera without needing much to get it going. So far Move the Frame blog has been an incredible experience and has opened up many new networks and distribution opportunities for me and my mission. I’ve made oodles of friends from all over and love the interactivity the blog platform allows. But despite the new connections, I still feel like I haven’t been able to address one of the issues closest to home: how to get the New York dance community turned on to videodance.

In October Zach forwarded me an email. It was from Caterina Bartha, the director of Collective:Unconscious a theatre and screening space in Tribeca. She was looking for a curator for a monthly dance film series they wanted to launch in 2008. She had been talking to Deirdre Towers at the Dance Films Association about doing a screening for the Dance On Camera Festival there, but she wanted to continue this as a regular event. Zach declined because his work had taken off in a big way, but he recommended me for the position. My gut reaction was “Yes! This is exactly what I’ve been wishing for.” They were offering free space, a projectionist, admin support, and a regular time slot to do whatever I wanted. But at the same time I was worried I couldn’t make the time commitment. I’d be in school part-time, working almost full-time, blogging, and trying to work on my own videodances. Still I felt like this was too good to pass up.

Then I got an idea. What if I took the web 2.0 approach, and made this a user-generated series? If I wanted to attract dancers from my community, maybe I should give them the reigns and let them bring in the work? What media is turning them on? How has it shown up in their performance work? If I could get dancers to think about these questions and share their own ideas perhaps they would see the value of integrating videodance into their dance practice. The idea of Kinetic Cinema was born.

Kinetic Cinema explores the intersection of dance and the moving image both on screen and stage. Each month I will invite a special guest from the dance community to share the films and videos that have inspired or moved them. These could be films that feature dance, are kinetic-based, or have been influential on their work in some way. The guest curators will come from a range of dance backgrounds as performers, choreographers, critics, and filmmakers. Upcoming guests include Brian McCormick, Jonah Bokaer, Levi Gonzalez, and Kriota Willberg, to name a few.

To kick off the series I’m taking a slightly different tack because it is being held in conjunction with the Dance Films Association’s 36th Annual Dance On Camera Festival.  On January 7th, 2008 at 7:30pm, Kinetic Cinema will present a special program of seven international dance film shorts I have selected from among 200+ festival entries. These films and videos represent some of the freshest new visions by leading dance filmmakers today. The program includes “1, 2, 3, 4″ a catchy music video by Feist with choreography by Noemi LaFrance (who will introduce her film), “PANORAMA ROMA” a rotating timelapse film shot over 24 hours in the center of Rome by Italian choreographer Anna de Manincor, and “NOT ABOUT IRAQ” a dance film that questions the relationship of words and experience, government rhetoric and reality by choreographer Victoria Marks with dancer Taisha Paggett. (click here for the full program)

On February 4th dance critic and founding board member of nicholas leichter dance, Brian McCormick, will present a program of videos and films that have been integral to his life with dance. Brian is particularly interesting because he comes from a background in video art which led him to dance. His first introduction to movement-based arts were through the experimental videos of Bill Viola, Mary Lucier with Elizabeth Streb, Shirley Clarke, and Joan Jonas. I’ve haven’t explored this type of work very much myself, and I’m looking forward to learning just as much from his program as the audience will.

Although the series hasn’t started yet, I already feel like it is fulfilling an important mission that began for me over a year ago with the Dance On Camera Festival. By galvanizing the local community and linking our efforts with the world community via the web and other forms of media, some large scale shifts can happen. The revolution will not be televised, but I will do my best to blog about it, and hopefully all the small actions by dancers and filmmakers happening around the world will link up and become a great wave of change sweeping the dance world into the 21st Century!

If you are in the New York area on the first Monday of the month, please come see what’s playing at Kinetic Cinema. Screenings will start at 7:30pm. $5 admission.

Collective:Unconscious
279 Church Street (just south of White Street)
New York, NY 10013
www.weird.org
TICKETS: 212.352.3101
VENUE:212.254.5277

Kinetic Cinema is part of The Collective for Loving Cinema Series, a weekly themed-film series curated by Anna Brady Nuse, Stephen Kent Jussick, Matt Kohn and MM Serra and presented by Collective: Unconscious. Each week of the month has a specific theme: Week 1 – Kinetic Cinema (Dance on Film), Week 2 – Experimental Queer Film (MIX @ C:U), Week 3 – Speakeasy Cinema (a mystery film with post screening talk back with various film luminaries!) and Week 4 – Jewels and Gems (the best of the Filmmakers Co-Op) . The Collective for Loving Cinema Series is supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Dance on Camera Festival 2008 Pt. 1

Get ready New York. The 36th Annual Dance On Camera Festival & Symposium is coming to town, and it will start immediately after the new year. You need to be prepared, with notes and itinerary in hand, in order to discover all the gems that are embedded in this festival. No worries, Move the Frame will provide guidance and a road map through these jam-packed two weeks. For this post I will concentrate on the basics and the 14 programs at the Walter Reade Theatre at Lincoln Center. In a follow-up post I will give a run down of other special events happening around the city (one of which I am curating at Collective:Unconscious!).

Horizon of Exile, photo: Nic Knowland

The basics:
What: Festival info can be found at www.dancefilms.org, the website of the Dance Films Association.
When: January 2-19, 2008
Where: The main location of the festival is at the Walter Reade Theatre: Lincoln Center Plaza,165 West 65th Street. Tickets.

View Larger Map

Other locations:

Alvin Ailey Studios
405 West 55th Street, 5th Floor

Berkeley Carroll School
181 Lincoln Place, Park Slope Brooklyn (between 7th and 8th Ave)

Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD)
 841 Barretto Street, 2nd Floor (718) 842-5223
Directions: Take Number 6 train to Hunts Point

Bruno Walters Auditorium, New York Public Library
111 Amsterdam Ave (between 64th and 65th St)

Collective:Unconscious, 279 Church Street (between White & Franklin Sts.)

Donnell Library Center, The New York Public Library
20 W. 53rd Street, New York, NY
(across from Museum of Modern Art)

New York State Theatre, Lincoln Center

Spoke The Hub
The Gowanus at 295 Douglas Street
(between 3rd and 4th Avenues). Brooklyn, NY
 (718) 408-3234

Programs at the Walter Reade Theatre:
This is the home base of the festival with 14 programs and over 44 films to see. Where to begin!? Since the programs are just numbers, and don’t have titles, it can be really hard to figure out which ones will suit your tastes and interests. To help you navigate, I’ve categorized the Programs by type (as best as possible), and starred** the films and programs that I’m super excited about. The types are: narratives, experimental, shorts, ballet films, documentaries, and classics.

Narratives:

Program 4 (Thurs Jan 3: 9pm)

**HERE AFTER, Wim Vandekeybus, Belgium, 2007; 65m
From the creator of BLUSH (shown at DOCF in 2006), Vandekeybus is back with another dark and intense narrative about a mad tyrant who enforces infanticide in an isolated town. Sure to be bone crushing and stomach churning. Vandekeybus proves that dance films are not just fluffy and whimisical, but can be the stuff of nightmares as well.

**Program 9 (Sat Jan 5: 4pm; repeats Sun Jan 6: 8:30pm)

**THE BENTFOOTES, Todd Alcott and Kriota Willberg, USA, 2007; 75m
A ‘mockumentary’ a la Spinal Tap, The Bentfootes is a tongue-in-cheek exploration of American dance from post-revolutionary times to the present. Introduced by the directors

Experimental:

**Program 2 (Wed Jan 2: 8:30pm; repeats Thurs Jan 3, 4:15pm)

**HORIZON OF EXILE, Isabel Rocamora, United Kingdom/Spain, 2007; 22m
A breath-taking film of two women journeying across a desert landscape. Testimonials of Iraqi exiles are woven into the soundtrack with Jivan Gasparyan and singer Surma Hamid, an Iraqi exile now living in London. A MUST SEE!

**Program 10 (Sat Jan 5: 6:15pm; repeats Fri Jan 11: 1pm) Three intriguing films by Pierre Coulibeuf.

PAVILLON NOIR
Pierre Coulibeuf, France, 2006; 24m
A collaboration with Angelin Prejlocaj. His works invent a place and a language on the borderline of the other arts, critiquing established forms and questioning representations of reality.

**BALKAN BAROQUE, Pierre Coulibeuf, France, 1999; 63m, clip
Experimental fiction. The autobiography, both real and imaginary, of Marina Abramovic, Body Art artist. The film composes the life aesthetic of a woman in her era, with a personal history strongly marked by the Yugoslavia of Tito, everyday violence, the experience of physical and psychic limits…

LE DEMON DU PASSAGE, Pierre Coulibeuf, France, 1995; 14m
Landscapes in which characters appear, disappear and reappear, seemingly trying to make a connection with one another but always in transition

Shorts:

**Program 2 (Wed Jan 2: 8:30pm; repeats Thurs Jan 3, 4:15pm)

LIFEFORCE #3, Lene Boel, Denmark, 2007; 10.5m
A man gets pulled into a machine.

FRAGMENTATION, Suzon Fuks, Australia, 2007; 5.8m
Two guys find an awkward connection over the morning newspaper.

FLYING, Phil Harder, Rosanne Chamecki, Andrea Lerner, USA, 2007; 4′37m
By New York dance favs, Chamecki/Lerner.

Program 4  (Thurs Jan 3: 9pm)

FANTASTIC FLOWER SHOP, Pawel Partyka, Denmark/Poland, 2001; 15m
An award-winning animated short set in a flower shop at closing time.

LIFE FORCE #1, Lene Boel, Denmark, 2007; 14m
An inventor gets carried away by the music in a pair of headphones and his machines come alive and dance with him.

**Program 7 – TRIBUTE TO PASCAL MAGNIN (Fri Jan 4: 6:15pm)

**REINES D’UN JOUR, Pascal Magnin, Switzerland, 1996; 28m
A striking film set in the Swiss Alps with rolling dancers, cows and villagers.

**CONTRECOUPS, Pascal Magnin, Switzerland, 1998; 23m
An intense urban duet between a man and a woman.

CARGO, Kelly Hargraves, USA, 2007; 4m
A man stuck at a pit stop on the road of life.

BOY, Rosemary Lee, Peter Anderson, UK, 1994; 6m
A boy transforms into a super hero while playing in the sand dunes.

**MOTION CONTROL, Liz Aggiss/Billy Cowie, UK, 2002; 8m
Two of my favorite dance filmmakers, Aggiss and Cowie are always quirky and always kick ass! This short is featured on the new Dance for Camera Vol. 2 DVD, and I can’t wait to see it!

**Program 8 (Fri Jan 4: 8:30pm; repeats Fri Jan 11: 6:15pm)
includes live performance by Company XIV on January 11th

**SHAKE OFF, Hans Beenhakker, The Netherlands, 2007; 9m, 35mm
An award-winning film featuring soloist Prince Credell as he moves through different times an spaces all in one shot. This is one of my favorite dance film techniques, when the camera and the body are choreographed seamlessly.

**MORNING HERD, Rick Harvie, New Zealand, 2007; 7.25m
I got to see this film in the pre-screening I attended. A young and adorable farmer boy takes a romp with his cows.

DESCENT, Noemie Lafrance, USA, 2003; 5m
A film of Lafrance’s signature dance that took place in a twelve story stairwell.

CAR MEN, Boris Paval Conem and Jiri Kylian, The Netherlands, 2006; 28m
A parody of the famous opera, this black & white film is set in a coal mine and centers around a ’scrap car’ reminiscent of the futurist Czech Tatra of the 1930s.

**Program 9 (Sat Jan 5: 4pm; repeats Sun Jan 6: 8:30pm)

**DIVA, Liz Aggiss, UK, 2007; 3.50m
A jaded dance diva processes up the red carpet.

INEARTHIA, Simon Halbedo, Nazario Branca, Maren Sandmann, Switzerland, 2006; 2:15m
A creative attempt to spin the Earth.

NIU NIU’s STORY, Mariel McEwan, USA, 2007; 6.22m
Dance, animation, and humor reveal the training and career of a young Chinese girl, Jia Wu, who was born to dance.

SCRAP LIFE, Su-En, Sweden, 2006; 8.30m
An homage to the art of recycling set at a scrap yard.

**Program 14 (Fri Jan 18: 6:15pm)

Film critic Armond White surveys how Hollywood musical choreographers inspired new generations of pop dance choreographers. (I went to see White’s music video program at Scanners a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. This should be a fascinating and very fun program for pop culture freaks.)

Ballet films:

Program 1. (Wed Jan 2: 6:15pm; repeats Thurs Jan 3: 2pm)

SPARTACUS, Vadim Derbenev and Yuri Grivorovich, Russia, 1975; 94m YouTube clip
A recently restored 1975 ballet film based on Yuri Grigorovich’s staging for the Bolshoi Ballet. Features many stars of the company.

Program 3 (Thurs Jan 3: 6:15pm; repeats Sat Jan 5: 1pm)

FELIA DOUBROVKSA REMEMBERED, Virginia Brooks, USA, 2008; 37m
A tribute to the great Russian ballerina and renown SAB teacher. Introduced by the director. Maria Calegari will be part of the Q&A on the Jan. 5th screening. Allegra Kent will attend as well.

SLEEPING BALLERINA, Ludovic Kennedy, United Kingdom, 1959; 29m
A BBC doc on Olga Spessivtzeva (1895-1991), the Aurora of Diaghilev’s 1921 production of ‘The Sleeping Princess’. Her career was cut short by mental illness, reputed to have come on onstage during the “mad scene” of “Gisele.”

HAPPY TO BE SO, Yelena Demikovsky, USA, 2007; 47m
A documentary about Oleg Briansky and Mireille Briane, former principal dancers, renowned ballet teachers, founders of the Briansky Saratoga Ballet School and a dynamic duo for more than 50 years.

**Program 13 (Fri Jan 11: 8:30pm; repeats Fri Jan 18: 8:30pm)

**WATER FLOWING TOGETHER, Gwendolen Cates, USA, 2007; 77m
This splendid documentary is a compelling cinematic portrait of former NYCB Principal Dancer Jock Soto. Introduced by the director and Jock Soto.

Documentaries:

**Program 2 (Wed Jan 2: 8:30pm; repeats Thurs Jan 3, 4:15pm)

*PINA BAUSCH, Anne Linsel, Germany, 2006; 44m
There have been many documentaries on Pina Bausch, and yet, I never tire of seeing one more. This film goes into her background and development as a choreographer, from obscurity to greatness. Should be fascinating.

Program 5 (Fri Jan 4: 1pm; repeats Sun Jan 6, 6pm)

CHRISTOPHER HOUSE: AHEAD OF THE CURVE, Rosemary House, Canada, 2007; 48m. Trailer
An exploration of the art and inspiration of celebrated Canadian choreographer Christopher House, the artistic Director of Toronto Dance Theatre who will be performing at the Joyce Theatre at the end of January, 2008.

FEEL THE EARTH MOVE: THE GROS MORNE PROJECT, Anne Troake, Canada, 2007; 51m
Anne Troake known for her wildly successful short PRETTY BIG DIG turns the camera on the cultural exchange between locals living near Newfoundland’s Gros Morne National Park and artists of Montreal’s Coleman Lemieux Dance Company, capturing the moment of creation and the spectacular work itself.

Program 11 (Sat Jan 5 8:30pm; Sat Jan 19, 3pm)

UNDERGROUND DANCE MASTERS: Final History of a Forgotten Era, Thomas Guzman-Sanchez, USA, 2007; 144m
A tour de force exploration of the origin, evolution, history and the creators of the Urban Dance forms of Boogaloo, locking, Popping, Roboting, Rocking and B’boying. Introduced by the director.

**Program 12 (Sun Jan 6 3:30pm; repeats Fri Jan 11; 4pm)

*INSIDE THE CIRCLE, Marcy Garriott, USA, 2007; 102m. Trailer
Capturing the raw power of a grassroots hip-hop movement, INSIDE THE CIRCLE tells the story of two talented b-boys, Josh and Omar, former best friends who become rivals when they join competing dance crews.

Classics:

**Program 6 (Fri Jan 4: 3:30pm; repeats Sun Jan 6: 1pm)

**JOUR DE FETE, Jacques Tati, France, 1949/1995, 70m. YouTube clip
A comedic genius, Tati’s films are full of visual gags a la Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. In this film a gullible postman tries to speed up his mail route aboard his bicycle to hilarious ends.

I will post about the other festival events soon.