46th Dance on Camera Festival, July 20-24, Lincoln Center

Between Yourself and Me--a documentary on the innovative immersive theater works of Third Rail Projects--will screen at the 46th Dance on Camera Festival this month at The Walter Reade Theater.

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For most of its 80 minutes, Lucinda Childs, Great Fugue by Beethoven (France, 2017) stays confined within the studio bubble, offering outsiders a dry, if rare, insider's view of the making of a contemporary ballet by one of the queens of New York postmodern dance. French filmmaker Marie-Hélène Rebois captures the choreographer at work with Lyon Opera Ballet to master the challenging surprises of a Beethoven piece. Dancers' sleek bodies skim across a tall, wide expanse of window panes in cool, fluid, friction-less partnering (which, with just a touch of daring, easily could have been rendered same-sex and gender-nonconforming). Happily, the final twenty-or-so minutes give us a handsome finished work--intricate for all its quiet lack of fuss; airy and shot through with light. World premiere Monday, July 23 (6pm) at the 46th Dance on Camera Festival, co-presented by The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Dance Films Association.

Also, check out the festival's world premiere of Between Yourself and Me (USA, 2017; 28m), co-produced with Dance Films Association, a look at acclaimed immersive theater troupe Third Rail Projects (Then She Fell) and Gravity Hero (USA, 2018, 70m), Trey McIntyre's reflection on his decision to shut down his successful, ten-year-old Boise, Idaho dance troupe.

Dance on Camera runs from Friday, July 20 through Tuesday, July 24 with all films screening at The Walter Reade Theater. For schedule information and tickets, click here.

The Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue), Manhattan

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Charly Wenzel: Seeding a career in American dance

Germany-born dance artist Carly Wenzel 

(photo above by Humberto Carreno;

below: a Wenzel selfie)

Guest contributor Charly Wenzel tells the story of her journey from Munich to her new home--New York City--and from classical ballet to the intimacy and power of immersive theater.

Seeds

by Charly Wenzel

I clearly remember a moment, when I was 11 or 12. I sat in my high school class in Munich, Germany and somehow came across a picture of New York City. Looking at the picture, I was struck by a feeling of homesickness. I distinctly remember that it wasn’t a feeling of curiosity or the hope of  traveling there someday, but I was feeling HOMEsick. How could I be homesick for a place I had never visited? A seed had been planted that would bring me here where I am today.

At age 6, I started taking ballet classes--another, more important, seed. I begged my parents to put me in ballet class for one reason only--all my friends were already enrolled. Experiencing my first years of ballet--and especially performing onstage in our yearly productions--ignited a fire in me that, to this day, still burns strongly. The diary I kept at the time consisted of loose pieces of paper that I didn’t even keep in a particular place, but they all pretty much said, “I can’t wait for my next ballet class!!!”

Right around the same time that I saw that picture of my future home, I transferred to a much more serious and rigorous “ballet school.” The school consisted of a trailer made into a ballet studio, where my dad’s high school teacher colleague--Miss Wood, from England--was allowed to offer ballet classes. There weren’t many students; my class eventually consisted of only myself and one other student. There was no place to hide, and Miss Wood was no joke. Licensed through the Royal Academy of Dance, she prepared us for our RAD exams. Miss Wood taught us hard work and discipline, and there were definitely times when I wanted to give up. Thank God I never did!

Meanwhile my high school put on yearly talent shows where I showed my first choreographies--either solos or duets that I made my poor friend, who had no dance experience or interest, perform with me. I was also enrolled in our theater program, and the rare time my teachers ever heard me speak was when I performed in some of the leading roles of Shakespeare, Ionesco and others. I was extremely shy and introverted, but I became alive onstage, finding freedom in playing a character as well as in expressing myself through movement.

Miss Wood never gave me the impression that I could dance professionally some day, and I knew I wasn’t going to be a ballerina. I didn’t know that there were other forms of dance until I was about 15 years old. I started taking jazz and modern dance at the Iwanson School in my hometown Munich. They offered a three-year professional dance program. So I told my parents that I would become a dancer. A lot of people looked at me like I was crazy but, as far as I was concerned, it was not up for discussion.

While most of my peers enrolled in college programs for jobs in demand at the time, I started my full-time training at the private Iwanson School. Unlike universities in the US, most German universities don’t have dance programs. Getting a college degree in contemporary dance in Germany is pretty much impossible. This made my decision even more incomprehensible to a lot of people. However, dancing every day all day for three years, I was completely in my element. I performed in a duet that I choreographed with a classmate and was awarded a scholarship for a summer at Ballet Academy Stockholm. My teachers wondered why I never performed like that in class. Again, it's the stage where I come alive.

Carly Wenzel
(photo: J. Ryan Roberts)

After finishing the program, one of my classmates and I applied to the Alvin Ailey school to improve our technique. To my surprise, we got accepted; the whirlwind began! The plan was to stay in New York for a year and then return to Germany. Fifteen years later, we’re both still here.

After graduating from Ailey, I worked as a dancer in any imaginable capacity--dancing for a range of contemporary companies; being a show girl in a Russian dinner club; traveling all over the country and abroad as a backup dancer for a Japanese Pop singer; dancing in music videos and dance films; dancing with big puppets in a children’s show, and so forth. Meanwhile, I always worked on my own choreographies and presented my work all over New York City.

I was inspired to make my first dance film when my singer/composer friend Kristin Hoffmann gave me a piece of music. The story I heard and was inspired to tell required a different medium, especially because of the images that came to mind. I made my first film Global Tides, which won several awards and was accepted by many film festivals. Excited about the endless possibilities for film to bring a vision to life, I later made Licht and most recently Schein.

Schein speaks about how gender-role expectations confront women, how they are supposed to present themselves. Women are much more harshly scrutinized for their appearance than men are. We are expected to underline our so-called femininity. However, the resulting objectification of women makes us vulnerable to discrimination and aggression in male-dominated society.

A couple of years ago, as I reflected on my performance career, knowing that I was far from done, I browsed through audition notices by mostly brand-new companies whose directors were at least ten years younger than me and who couldn’t offer any compensation. I knew If I was going to perform for someone else again, it would have to be someone with more experience than me. It would have to involve a process I could learn from, one that would help me continue to grow as a performer. Thinking back to my acting days, I craved more character- and story-based work. I auditioned for Third Rail Project’s Then She Fell, honestly not knowing what I was auditioning for. A fellow dancer, who was in the TSF cast, had posted “you want this job” on Facebook. I guess I just believed her.

I was asked to read lines in the audition, which came as a complete--but very pleasant--surprise!

I think the universe was looking out for me yet again. I was hired, and the show turned out to be everything that I was looking for and more. I was still in the rehearsal process when I got to see the show for the first time, and I was a sobbing mess at the end.

The show, based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, takes place in a mental ward. An audience (fifteen people, maximum) is split into separate groups and led through different rooms in the building. Along the way, they encounter various characters and have many one-on-one interactions with them. It’s a magical, surreal environment in which the audience becomes a part of the story.

To be a part of something so truly special is nothing less than a blessing, and I couldn’t be happier or more thankful. In the last two years with the company, I have been performing six shows a week with a total of around 450 shows. While it is hard work, and I’m definitely feeling my 36-year-old body, it has been an extremely rewarding experience. Seeing the audience transformed and genuinely touched by their experience makes you feel like you are a part of something bigger.

We live in a time when most people spend the majority of their day in front of a computer or smartphone screen and most of our interactions are through social media and e-mail. I truly feel that, as performers, we can provide healing for people through much needed human interactions and an escape from daily worries. Immersive theater allows people to reconnect with their imagination, to fully be in the moment and to have all their senses activated instead of just passively consuming information and entertainment.

I somehow knew this even before my first visit, but New York has become my home and has felt like home from the moment I arrived. And even though I miss my family and friends in Germany, the dance community here has become my family. The support from fellow artists--as well as their enthusiasm to create and collaborate--constantly inspires me.

(photo: Yi-Chun Wu)

Charly Wenzel is an award winning choreographer whose work has been presented in her native Germany, as well as at Dixon Place, Judson Church, the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, The Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, Steps on Broadway, The Secret Theater, Connecticut College and many other venues in and around New York. She worked as the choreographer for several recording artists for their live performances and music videos and she choreographed for a number of dance films.

Charly won several awards for her dance films Global Tides, Licht and Schein, which have been shown at film festivals around the world.

Charly danced at the Bavarian State Opera in Germany and performed with Naganuma Dance, Keila Cordova Dances, Regina Nejman & Company, Earl Mosley/Diversity of Dance, Erick Montes, Bodystories: Teresa Fellion Dance, LolaLola Dance Theater, Eddie Stockton, Morningside Opera, DexDance, Hydroflo Movement Company, Soul Movement and other companies and independent choreographers in and around New York City. She is currently a company member of Third Rail Projects, performing in their Bessie award winning production Then She Fell.

Charly was the Rehearsal Director and Associate Artistic Director of Naganuma Dance and she worked as the Rehearsal Director for Shadow Box Theater.

She is currently the Rehearsal Director of Bodystories: Teresa Fellion Dance.

www.charly-wenzel.com

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Girish Bhargava, 76

Girish Bhargava, Film Editor Who Captured Dance, Dies at 76
by Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times, November 17, 2017

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Danni Gee celebrates Ailey and ten years with SummerStage

Danni Gee performs her solo
in Judith Jamison's Riverside.
(photo: Roy Volkmann
for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater)

On Wednesday, August 16, Dance Films Association and SummerStage will co-sponsor a screening of Great American Dance: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at Central Park's Rumsey Playfield.

In addition to Revelations, the beloved Ailey signature piece, the documentary features Wayne McGregor’s Chroma, Ronald K. Brown’s Grace, Robert Battle’s Takademe as well as behind-the-scenes interviews with members of the troupe. Doors open at 7pm, and the screening starts at 8pm.

The screening is free and will be preceded at 6pm by a special Revelations workshop, which is also free. To attend the workshop, you must pre-register with an RSVP to: RSVP@CityParksFoundation.org.

Danni Gee, formerly a principal dancer with Philadanco and Ailey, celebrates her tenth season this year as curator of dance for New York's SummerStage. Below, read her reflections on recovering from career-ending hip injury, pursuing her passion for music and the happy opportunity, now, to partner with Dance Films Association in presenting an evening devoted to the glories of Ailey.

Danni Gee and Leonard Meek in Ailey photo shoot
(photo: Andrew Eccles)

EYA: I'm curious about any support you might have called upon as you moved towards a new career following your dance injury. Who or what could you call upon--particularly as a woman and as a woman of color--for practical or psychological or moral support as you stepped into an important new role?

DG: When I initially stopped dancing, I went into a pretty deep depression. My family helped as best they could, especially my mother, but in hindsight, I should have gotten professional help. Getting therapy, unfortunately, was something that was frowned upon; too much stigma attached to it.

I believe what saved me was turning to music. I reconnected with Kathy Sledge, of Sister Sledge, whom I worked with as a backing dancer briefly before joining Alvin Ailey, and she hired me again, but this time as a singer. I toured with her for close to eight years as "the baby sister." Around this time, I also started my band Suga Bush. Writing and performing really helped me through that dark time.

I did seek help years later, as there was still lingering sadness. My therapist helped me properly mourn the loss of my dance career and fully embrace my new life.

EYA: What challenges did you face in the beginning? How did you learn to cope with them?

DG: In the beginning, the challenges were mostly dealing with the loss of my dance career and artist life. So much of my identity had become enmeshed with being an "Ailey dancer." Along with that, there were some financial challenges. I received compensation, as it was a work-related injury, but it is only a portion, as you know, of your salary and doesn't last forever. Thankfully, I naturally have a pretty buoyant personality. I refused to let myself get too down as I was truly grateful to have had at least the experience to dance for two such wonderful companies [Philadanco and Ailey].

I eventually landed in fitness and started teaching aerobics. I was also starting to make some money from singing which was great. I have been blessed to not only sing with Kathy Sledge but also Gloria Gaynor and Cher.

The position with SummerStage literally fell in my lap some ten years after I stopped dancing. I was recommended for the position by then-Theater Director, Freedome Bradley. Initially, the challenges came in the administrative side of the position: drafting contracts, artist payments, etc. I had never done that kind of work before. I had a great set of people around me and a fantastic mentor in Alexa Birdsong, who was the Director of Arts at the time. The other difficult part was having to say no to artists and companies who were looking to perform at the festival. Some of these people were friends I've known through my own dancing career. But, over time, I learned that not everyone is ready, and being truthful is best.

EYA: What has been some of the rewards of working as a curator for SummerStage?

DG: The biggest reward for me has been giving a platform to some truly talented artists who might not otherwise have been given such an opportunity in this city and definitely for companies of color. It's also rewarding for me to know that I am continuing Alvin Ailey's mission of "giving dance back to the people." I think concert dance can still feel very exclusionary to people, and I want our audiences to know that dance is for everyone. The other joy has been reconnecting with dancers and choreographers I've known for over 20 years, either through booking them to appear at the festival or having them attend a performance.

EYA: What lessons and values did you take away from your years with Philadanco and Ailey that you have found invaluable in your work in music and in curation?

DG: Discipline, discipline, discipline. You have to do the work to get results. Good time management is also key. And staying healthy, especially when we're in season. And being a team player. Knowing how to navigate through various personalities whether as a leader or part of the group is important. When you've toured with forty people for sometimes up to three months at a time, you learn this. And respect for others' time, space and individuality.

EYA: What's most exciting for you about the SummerStage screening of Great American Dance: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater?

DG: I am excited to share a film about a company that has been such a HUGE part of who I am and who I STILL am. Also, with this being my 10th anniversary season, I wanted to celebrate my legacy with SummerStage which includes dancing on this very stage with Ailey in 1993!!! I also love these ballets that are going to be shown in the film. It really shows the breadth of the company's repertoire and talent.

EYA: Tell us about the pre-screening Ailey dance workshop at 6pm.

DG: The workshop will be led by the amazing Nasha Thomas, also a former Ailey dancer. We were in the company together at the same time. She is now the National Director of AileyCamp/Spokesperson & Master Teacher for Arts In Education. I believe another Ailey diva from my time will also be on hand to assist, Miss Renee Robinson! The attendees will get to learn sections of Alvin Ailey's masterpiece "Revelations," namely, "I Been Buked," "Wade in the Water," and Rocka My Soul." It's the first time we've ever done a dance workshop at our Central Park location. I have them typically before all of my CityWide dance programs. Also, the class will take place on stage!

EYA: Do you have ideas or plans for future collaborations with Dance Films Association?

DG: Yes, I would love to collaborate with DFA in future seasons. They have been amazing to work with, with a special nod to Galen Bremer. Just lovely. I am looking forward to discussing several ideas for next year.

EYA: New York City has put an enormous effort into delving into how its arts organizations can better reflect and serve its many communities. When you think about our city's needs--and the needs of artists--what's top of mind for you?

DG: Maintaining diversity. Making everyone feel included. The fact that we have so many free programs including music, dance, sports and so forth, is incredible. We are also doing a lot more surveying at our programs to see what the reactions are and to inquire what people would like to see in their communities. There needs to be an open dialogue so our participation in their neighborhoods is not a forced marriage.

For SummerStage, I think the increased dialogue with community leaders, residents and centers is key. Maintaining respect with the community is fundamental, and listening to feedback, good and bad, whether it's from our audiences or the artists themselves is necessary.

EYA: Is there anything else that readers should know or might like to know about you, about SummerStage 2017, about the DFA collaboration or this specific screening?

DG: About me? Well that I am still active in my music endeavors, that I am very passionate about the work that I do here at SummerStage and that if you see me out in the park, you can always come up and say hello!

We are about two thirds of the way through our season and we have some incredible shows coming up in August and some benefit concerts (ticketed events) going into October.

Specifically about the film? Just come and enjoy a nice night out in the park, watching a film about one of the most iconic dance companies in the world. There are some great on-camera interviews and rehearsal footage as well.  We may also have a special guest coming to introduce the film, but I can't give that away!

*****

SummerStage at Rumsey Playfield, Central Park
(map/directions)


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Kick those blues: Glatzer's "Alive & Kicking" helps brighten our dark time

When it previews next month at the 45th Annual Dance on Camera, a festival co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Dance Films Association, Susan Glatzer's Alive & Kicking (2016/USA) is sure to be a crowd-pleasing highlight. An expansive yet intimate look at contemporary swing dancing, the 84-minute documentary celebrates this practice and its community of freewheelers with their rollicking swing dance camps and competitions. Swing dancers depend on a network of international competitions to display their talents and build teaching careers, the only way they can monetize their artistry. The film depicts swing dance as a healing force in a society that has lost touch with touch itself--except where touch involves a fingertip and a screen. Glatzer eagerly argues for swing dance as a low-risk way to foster openness and trust between people of all kinds, a natural bridge across divides of race, ethnicity, gender, religion and politics.

The earliest moments of the film made me worry that Glatzer would confine her focus to young white people reclaiming a historic dance phenomenon that originated in Harlem's Black community, the product of Black genius and skill. But I'm glad I hung in with Alive & Kicking. Not only does this film respectfully address the Black roots of swing dance in Harlem's Lindy hop, but this history is often spoken for by Black dancers themselves, and the film lovingly includes clips of Frankie Manning, Lindy hop's great authority and ambassador, who passed in 2009. Glatzer's interviewees also note the scarcity of young Black swing dance students and performers today. They recognize the need to make their community an attractive, accessible source of opportunities for Black students and performers, an issue contemporary tap dance has also faced.

And, like tap, swing dance has a strong tradition of improv, of connecting with a new partner at one of those fun gatherings and the creative surprises those moments can hold. "You're sharing your imagination with someone else," says one of the dancers, and Glatzer shows us examples of first-time interplay between skilled dancers leading to mutual awe, gratitude and something quite a bit like love.

Alive & Kicking screens on Monday, February 6 (8:30pm) with Kristen Lauth Shaeffer's animated short, 349 (3 min). There will be a Q&A with Susan Glatzer. For tickets, click here.

For information about the complete Dance on Camera 2017 schedule of screenings and public events, click here.

Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th Street (north side, upper level), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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"Dance on Camera" at Film Society of Lincoln Center, February 12-16

Above: Dance artist and filmmaker Yvonne Rainer in
Feelings Are Facts: The Life of Yvonne Rainer
Below: Cuban ballerina Viengsay Valdés in
Horizons/Horizontes
These two documentaries will be screened
at Film Society of Lincoln Center
in the 2016 Dance on Camera festival.

Curated by Liz Woolf and Joanna Ney, the 2016 edition of Dance on Camera once again explores the multifaceted histories and expressions of dance through film documentaries, shorts, features, experimental works, and music videos. You won't want to miss Jack Walsh's Feelings Are Facts: The Life of Yvonne Rainer, an engrossing collage of interviews and footage in which radical dance artist Rainer, now 81, reveals "I love existing in front of spectators" and traces her adventurous, eccentric pathway from the Judson revolution to her filmmaking work and subsequent return to choreography. Why not subtitle this The Lives of Yvonne Rainer? She's had as many as any wily cat.

See Feelings Are Facts (82 min) on the festival's closing night, Friday, February 16 at 8pm, including a Rainer/Walsh Q&A. (Click for details and tickets.)

I also got advance look at two films with a Cuban connection:

My body is in Cuba, but my soul is in Africa, and it is my African soul that nourishes my Cuban body.

--Alfredo Duquesne Mora (El Duque), Cuban artist, woodcarver and stonemason, in They Are We

They Are We: In this affecting film, anthropologist and first-time director Emma Christopher documents how she united people from an Afro-Cuban ethnic group, Ganga-Longoba, with their counterparts across the Atlantic in a Sierra Leone village. Learning that these Cubans, descendants of African slaves, know and regularly practice their traditional songs and dances, the Africans react with surprise, keen interest and generosity. Despite notable redundancy, Christopher's film has genuine emotional impact.

See The Are We (77 min) on Monday, February 15 at 3:15pm, including a Q&A with Emma Christopher. (Click for details and tickets.)

All along, I knew there's an easy life I could have chosen but did not.

--lyrics from "With My Heart" by Heidi Happy, in Horizons/Horizonte 

Horizons/Horizontes: Eileen Hofer connects intimate and ultimately poignant portraits of three generations of Cuban ballet dancers. The film opens with vintage footage of Cuba's queen of classical dance, the now nonagenarian Alicia Alonso, flawlessly performing multiple fouettes. Then Hofer quickly introduces us to two younger women aspiring to follow in Alonso's footsteps at Ballet Nacional de Cuba--Viengsay Valdés, a rising star, and Amanda de Jesús Pérez Duarte, a student hoping to join the company. Their stories demonstrate how much ballet requires--a sacrificial investment of body and psyche to create the illusion of effortless grace, an art both sensual and brutal. Cuba keeps ballet and its stellar dancers tied closely to the glory of its revolution--a political relationship completely unimaginable on the US scene.

See Horizons/Horizontes (71 min) on Saturday, February 13, 1pm. (Click for details and tickets.)

For a complete lineup of 

Dance on Camera screenings

and associated events, click here.

Screenings will be held at:

Walter Reade Theater
16 West 65th Street, Manhattan
(map/directions)

Panels and free events will be held at:

Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Auditorium
144 West 65th Street, Manhattan
(map/directions)

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Schumacher's BalletCollective opens at Skirball in November

Here's a taste of Invisible Divide by BalletCollective, 

shot during BalletCollective's Summer 2015 residency in Telluride.

Choreography and direction: Troy Schumacher

Music: Ellis Ludwig-Leone performed by Indie vocalist Violetness

World Premiere: 

NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts

November 4-5

 For information and tickets, click here.

Farihah Zaman launches blog on Dance on Camera films

The Bangladesh-born film writer and documentary director Farihah Zaman contributes writing on the 2013 Dance on Camera Festival in a new blog you can find here.

Writing on Dance:Film -- a WRITE OPEN workshop

Eva Yaa Asantewaa (InfiniteBody and Collective for Dance Writing and New Media) and Brighid Greene (Dance Films Association) will present a workshop on Wednesday, December 12 for students from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Dance Department.

Writing on Dance:Film will challenge dance students to explore and write about excerpts from two exciting filmed versions of DV8 Physical Theatre's Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's Rosas danst Rosas.

The workshop--open to students only--is a presentation of Collective for Dance Writing and New Media's WRITE OPEN series in collaboration with Dance Films Association.

DFA is moving men...on screen

On Wednesday, November 7, Dance Films Association presents BEYOND THE STAGE: MOVING MEN ON SCREEN at 7:30pm at Dixon Place.

Riffing on Dixon Place’s popular series, Moving Men, DFA curates an evening of men dancing on screen for Beyond the Stage: Moving Men on Screen. Hosted by Vernon Scott, the evenings will transition from live performance to a collection of films created by, featuring, and celebrating the male dancer.  DFA will screen films by some of our fiscally sponsored projects alongside short dance films and other works in progress. The Lounge, the friendly, neighborhood LES bar in Dixon Place, will be open before at 6:00pm, during, and after the performance until midnight for theater patrons.

For ticket information (including discounts for DFA members), click here.

Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street (between Delancey and Rivington Streets), Manhattan
(map/directions)

Now from TenduTV: "The Co(te)lette Film"

The Co(te)lette Film (58:16)
Savage Film, Red Mullet, WArd/waRD (2010)

Director: Mike Figgis

Choreography: Ann Van den Broek

Winner, Best of Festival Award, Dance Camera West Festival 2011 (USA); Best Dance Film, Cyprus International Film Festival 2011 (Cyprus); Le Prix du Film sur l’Art, 11th Festival du Film sur l’Art (Brussels)

Watching Mike Figgis' film of Ann Van den Broek's provocative, award-winning dance production, Co(te)lette (2007), reminded me of how a colleague had raised an objection after a showing of Nicholas Leichter's work-in-progress, Twenty Twenty. This critic thought that aspects of that dance too often verged on the pornographic. I walked away thinking, Hmmm... Well, even if that were so, what exactly would be the problem with a choreographer dipping into this other site of the body's vulnerability and power? Twenty Twenty, as a lot of folks will readily tell you, is growing into an outlandish duet (with Leichter's amazing young dance partner, Bryan Strimpel), but if Twenty Twenty makes you squeamish, you're simply not ready for Co(te)lette.

Van den Broek has her three female dances start out down on all fours in short, lightweight skirts and sparkly ballroom shoes. Backsides to the camera. Butts twitching in precise, mechanical rhythm. A metronomic trio panting industrial breath. Butts sloshing like a washing machine's agitation. Torsos swerving with the big swoosh of a cleaning rag or scrub brush in a cleaning woman's sturdy and determined hand. Gazed at as if from directly behind, from overhead, from one side or another and... But wait: The camera pulls away to reveal that there are others coolly watching the women's all-in, increasingly ferocious action from the sidelines as if visiting a cage in a zoo.

Concert dance shies away from much of what follows in Co(te)lette but, by doing so, sidesteps its potential to illuminate this treacherous, ambiguous, suspended place between the real and the artificial, the danger of being embodied and sexual, particularly embodied and sexual as female in a world where straight men hold the lion's share of power. This idea might be usefully conveyed by words alone. But dance must also be there, and this dance is there.

Click here for The Co(te)lette Film from TenduTV.

"Dance Legacies" on film

from Sand directed by Cari Ann Shim Sham
(USA, 2010; 10 min)

The hour-long Dance Legacies program, a lesser-known gem of this year's Dance on Camera Festival, will present a spectrum of short-film topics--from Jawole Willa Jo Zollar's re-staging of her 1988 work, Shelter, in the wake of New Orleans' Katrina crisis to a look at the vaudeville tradition of sand dancing with father-and-son tappers Darrow Igus and Kenji Igus. The directors of all five films will be on hand to introduce their work.

Dance Legacies screenings are scheduled for January 30 and January 31 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center. For more information on this program, click here. To purchase tickets, click your selected date under "Showtimes" (left-hand column).

Dance on Camera is a presentation of Dance Films Association and co-sponsored by The Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Dance on Camera
Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th Street (between Amsterdam and Broadway), Manhattan
(map/directions)

How "Dance on Camera" grew

In advance of the 40th Annual Dance on Camera festival (January 27-31), its curator, Deirdre Towers, recounts its history.

A flash to the past
by Deirdre Towers, The DFA Blog, Dance Films Association, January 2, 2012

Moving images

Breath Made Visible (2009)
directed by Reudi Gerber
Argot Pictures
English; 80 min.

Anna Halprin

"My greatest love is dancing in the natural world. The birds dance and the clouds dance. Everything is in motion all the time," says Anna Halprin--movement shaman, the subject of this affecting portrait and chronicle by filmmaker Reudi Gerber.

Through vintage and more recent footage of performances and workshops as well as interviews with Halprin, her colleagues, her late husband, the landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, and daughter, the dancer and psychologist Daria Halprin, Gerber traces the arc of a life that remains, in this woman's ninth decade, open to the deep currents of the natural world, of society, of relationship and of the body.

Halprin's early-career decision to leave New York for California--to join Lawrence--removed her from the center of the dance world but presented intriguingly different environmental and social realties and rhythms to explore. Much later, a cancer diagnosis brought Halprin to another critical decision--to turn away from choreography and performance for the public and refocus her efforts on dance as a powerful modality for personal and societal healing.

Gerber has an eye for stunning imagery, a sensitivity for human feelings, and an awareness of the mythic quality of Halprin's narrative. He gives us a sweetly humble yet heroic woman whose concern for people and loving engagement with life are instructive and inspiring. Breath Made Visible brought me to tears.

Purchase Breath Made Visible here.

Find a theater screening of Breath Made Visible here.

*****

Lovers of dance film, hang on. Next year, shockingly, is not that far off! The 40th Annual Dance on Camera Festival will open at Lincoln Center, January 27-31, celebrating "the immediacy, energy, and mystery of dance combined with the intimacy of film."

Look for director Ron Honsa's Never Stand Still--a grand, kaleidoscopic exploration of the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, down through the ages and up to the minute, narrated by Bill T. Jones and featuring...well, featuring just about everyone and every kind of dance you can imagine. It's a beauty. (2011. 74 min.)

If you've already enjoyed Check Your Body At The Door, producer Sally Sommer's fantastic documentary about underground house dancing, you might want to follow up with director Ina Sotirova's freedom2dance. Going to Dance on Camera Festival? See both on the same night--January 31. Far more conventional in structure than GYBATD, Sotirova's documentary puts the struggle around New York's nightlife culture and social dancing into historical and political context. (Yes, I'm looking at you, Rudolph Giuliani!) Check out the Facebook page for freedom2dance. (2011. 20 min.)

Mis Caminos a Través de la Danza (My Paths Through Dance), written, directed and produced by Daniel G. Cabrero, tells the story of a young Spanish girl's early training in classical ballet in 1920s Paris and the fortuitous diversion of her career from ballet towards the Bolero and diverse regional dances of her homeland. Influenced by the legendary Antonia Mercé "La Argentina," the youngster grew up to become Mariemma (1917-2008), performer, choreographer uncompromising educator and ensemble director of international renown. She was a dancer of great verve and warmth, dedicated to a dramatic, sculptural clarity of movement.

This film marks Cabrero's full-length feature debut, and he has a charming story to tell and a treasure trove of documentation--vintage photos, footage and prints--as well as contemporary interviews with colleagues, students and dance critics. Instead of injecting cutesy (and cringe-worthy) animated elements into the story's flow, Cabrero would have done well to place more trust in his wonderful historical materials. They are more than enough. If you can overlook these occasional lapses in taste, and the often awkward, sloppy English subtitles, there's a lot to learn and to enjoy. (2010. 90 min.)

For full information on the program and schedule of the 40th Annual Dance on Camera Festival, visit these links:

Dance Films Association

Film Society of Lincoln Center

Tendu TV's Dance on Camera channel on Hulu

DFA's dance film competition for HS students

Dance Films Association announces
First Annual High School Student Film Competition

Capturing Motion NYC

Call for entries
Deadline: January 2, 2012

Click here for more information on this competition and for upcoming workshops at the Beacon School.

Click here to download an application.

Vandenbroucke asks "Can marriage be creative?"

Can Marriage be Creative?
Screening and discussion with Aynsley Vandenbroucke

MovieHouse @ 3rd Ward

Sunday, November 13

7pm doors and food
8pm screening

$5 suggested donation 

For the first time, Kinetic Cinema will be presented by MovieHouse at 3rd Ward, a screening series that presents the very best in local filmmaking amidst cool beats, drinks, snacks and creative conversation.

For MovieHouse, choreographer and dance critic Aynsley Vandenbroucke will present a program that explores the institution of marriage both in light of the recent fights and victories for gay marriage, and her personal quest for creative models of partnership that celebrate individuality while providing true, long-lasting support. In this evening of Kinetic Cinema, we'll look at questions of marriage as explored in a number of films. We'll discuss and debate them, and the dialogue that ensues will be recorded and used to form the foundation for a new performance piece Vandenbroucke is making surrounding these questions.

Aynsley Vandenbroucke's work has been hailed as "meticulously distilled" by the New York Press and deemed akin to "attending a service in an unfamiliar house of worship, ritualistic, meditative" by The New York Times.

3rd Ward
195 Morgan Ave, Brooklyn (map)

718.715.4961

events@3rdward.com

Learn more about Kinetic Cinema here.

Erin Brannigan examines dance on film

Continuing the Conversation
Erin Brannigan’s Dancefilm: Choreography and the Moving Image
reviewed by Terry Sprague

Get in on the "Conversations"

Dance Conversations @ The Flea
February 6 – 19, 2012

Curated by Nina Winthrop
Assistant Curator: Taimi Strehlow

Application Deadline: Friday September 23

Proposals are now being accepted for the 2012 season of Dance Conversations @ The Flea, a free performance, film and discussion series at The Flea Theater, curated by Nina Winthrop and Taimi Strehlow.

Dance Conversations @ the Flea features dance films and live works by emerging, mid-career and established filmmakers and choreographers, followed by an open discussion between the artists and the audience, moderated by choreographer Nina Winthrop and special guests.

Further information and downloadable applications available here.

Dance films and performance at Stuyvesant Cove

Dancing in Public 

an outdoor evening of both live and filmed public performance

produced by Dance Films Association and presented by Solar One in Stuyvesant Cove Park’s eco-theater

September 7 at 7pm

Solar1 Green Energy, Arts and Education Center

Stuyvesant Cove Park

23rd Street and FDR Drive, Manhattan

Click here for map and directions.

Free. Donations accepted.

As a part of the Solar One Dance Program, Dancing in Public will begin with a reception featuring live performance created by Rebecca Brooks, with dancers Ursula Eagly and Emily Wexler.  The evening will progress with dynamic screenings of several dance film shorts curated by Jennifer Edwards, Content Creator/Founder of JenEd Productions, and Christy Park, Executive Director of Dance Films Association.  The pieces speak to various interpretations of dance and public space. Moving ‘bodies’ range from construction equipment to school children, and dancing is carried out in spaces ranging from deserts to grocery stores to Grand Central Station. Works by OK GO, JenEd Productions, David Hinton, and Anthony Atanasio – allow something for everyone yet promises to effortlessly carry viewers on a journey through shifting landscapes and genres.  A Q&A with the choreographer and filmmakers will follow the screening.

Deep turf

© YAK 2009

R.I.P. June
You will be missed.
May 1st 2009
East Oakland, CA
Featuring eNinja, Chonkie and NoNoise of TURF FEINZ
More at www.turffeinz.com

Filmed and edited by Yoram Savion of YAKfilms
Music by 1Tyme