Thank you to everyone who submitted or nominated work for the second week of our videodance contest. We enjoy getting a chance to see your own interpretations and explorations of this week’s theme.
If you didn’t get a chance to participate this week, fear not! This contest will be happening every week so there are plenty of chances to submit your work or nominate the work of others. Our next theme is Modern or Classical. All submissions are due by June 16th, and the contest winners will be announced on June 19th. Please scroll to the bottom of this post for more details on next week’s contest.
This week we explored the theme: Improvised or Choreographed. As we looked at the this week’s submissions and nominations, many questions came up for us about what makes a work primarily improvised or choreographed. Could a piece be considered improvised if the dancing was choreographed but the camera work was improvised? What if only one performer was choreographed while the rest are improvising? Does a planned and highly structured improvisation fit better in the category of choreographed? While there may be no definitive answers to these questions, the winning videos this week were chosen in part because they seemed to fit together as a contrasting pair, like two sides of the same coin. Both were shot in site-specific locations, and involve pedestrian spectators reacting to spontaneous performances by trained dancers. There is an element of surprise in each, but the level of control and pre-meditated planning seem to be vastly different.
Without further adieu, this week’s winners are….
“Contrust” an excerpt from Chapter 4, by Elad Weissman and Teddy Productions in Israel.
And
“Sound of Music | Central Station Antwerp (Belgium),” produced by Vtm in Belgium.
IMPROVISED
“Contrust” an excerpt from Chapter 4, by Elad Weissman and Teddy Productions
This video is an excerpt from Elad Weissman’s 2007 film about ten dancers dealing with love and fear in an ultra-urban world. (Fun fact: The dancers in this film are famous in Israel for being contestants in “Nolad Lirkod – Born to Dance” a reality tv show, similar to America’s “So You Think You Can Dance.”) While the dancer in this excerpt may have had some choreographic direction, for the most part his movements look improvised. Additionally, the camera work is reactive to his movements and has an unplanned, spontaneous feel. One gets the sense that this shoot was set up on the street with very little premeditated planning, except to capture a dark urban street environment within which to improvise. We get to see real spectators’ reactions, and their surprised faces tell us that this performance is strange and spontaneous. This excerpt is one of several chapters from Weissman’s 42 min film that are viewable on YouTube. Each are site specific, and consists of a dancer or dancers interpreting and embracing the mood that the music and location exert.
CHOREOGRAPHED
Sound of Music | Central Station Antwerp (Belgium)
This video documents a publicity stunt that was used to promote a Belgian television show looking for non-actors to audition for the “Sound of Music.” Like the famous “T-Mobile dance” that took place in a crowded London Train station, this piece simulates a flash mob convening to perform a choreographed routine to the Sound of Music. What makes these kinds of stunts so brilliant is that no one knows who is a real innocent bystander, and who is in on the act. Throughout the piece almost two hundred performers pop into the dance, all disguised as pedestrians from all walks of life. The element of surprise in this piece gives it an improvisational feel, however the coordination necessary to pull off such a massive stunt is only possible through meticulous choreography.
Now tell us what you think! We look forward to hearing your thoughts on what is “Improvised” and “Choreographed”.
NEXT WEEK’S CONTEST
Theme Three: Modern or Classical
Submissions are due by Tuesday June 16th. Winners will be announced on Move the Frame on June 19th.
Modern and classical – what do these terms mean to you? For classical dance you may think of ballet or other traditional and highly refined styles such as Baratya Natyam and Kabuki Theatre. Modern dance may be anything that came after Isadora Duncan or, you may think only post-modern/post-Judson Church dance is truly modern now. Film also has modern and classical styles such as the Silent era and Hollywood classics versus the French New Wave and New American Cinema. For next week’s theme we want to examine both the styles and execution of dance as well as the filming techniques used. What is it that differentiates them? Submit or nominate a film for one of the categories and tell us why.
HOW TO SUBMIT
* Submissions may be made by anyone – artists, film makers, and anyone who knows of online videos that fit the weekly themes.
* The video submitted must be under 10 minutes long.
* Pick/Submit one video to represent only one of the weekly themes.
* Send the link of the video to Movement Media
* The video submitted needs to be embeddable, ie hosted on YouTube or another sharable online video platform.
* Include a short biography/artist statement (if it is your work).
* For every submission, include a short summary that describes why you have chosen a particular video for the contest and describe how it relates to the weekly theme.
* Include a brief synopsis of the video.
* Include a link to your website (if you have one)
* Include your email address
Email all information to movementmedia@pentacle.org
If your submission is chosen for the weekly contest, we will contact you directly
Impetus for Contest Participants
* Have your videos seen by an online audience who’s interested in movement-based video.
* Receive publicity for your work/work of others
* Receive comments and feedback
* Automatic consideration for live screening at Kinetic Cinema in NYC.
* Automatic consideration for Movement Media’s Online Dance Film Festival in September 2009 (information and submission guidelines to be announced in late June).
Move the Frame 
I love the train station dance!