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Dance for the camera shorts 2007 & 2006

AFTERNOON OF THE CHIMERAS
Daniel Conrad, Canada, 2006, 15m
Filmed in collaboration with choreographer Aszure Barton, this dance for camera merges humanity, movement, and the environment with admirable simplicity. www.rhodopsin.ca

ASTRAGALUS
Toni Vidaechea, Spain, 2004; 9m
In this winner of VideoDansa competition 2004, a lean, exhausted dancer/choreographer OlgaSasplugas struggles beneath a pool of light. Is she trapped or attempting to escape? Or caught in an endless loop between the two? www.nu2s.org

BAHUDHA .....See Clip
Ranan, India, 2006, 12m
Bahudha is originally a part of a series of Kathak duets interacting with other art forms) that was first conceived, choreographed and performed by Debashree Bhattacharya and Vikram lyengar in January 2002. When performed on stage, the two dancers perform before projected images of themselves.

BARE – HANDED
Thierry Knauff, Belgium, 2006, 26m
After his acclaimed film SOLO in 2004, Thierry Knauff has created a new bridge between dance and cinema inspired by the text of Joseph Noiret, co-founder of the famous artists' group Cobra, and his daughter Michèle Noiret's choreography. With light and shadow as her partners, Michèle approaches, confronts, and captures the world created by her dance.

BABEL
Peter Sparling, USA, 2005, 7:22m
A former member of Martha Graham Dance Company returns in a solo that would only be possible on screen. Mirroring the voices in Arvo Part’s score, he reveals four physical personalities. He transcends boundaries of gender and character while charting a man’s struggle to embody his own metamorphosis.

BREAK **2007 JURY WINNER
Shona McCullagh, New Zealand, 2006, 14m
A moving tribute to a family’s dynamic from the perspective of a young boy that plays inventively with rhythm and narrative. From the director of wildly popular dance short FLY and the choreographer for KING KONG and the THE LION, WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE.

BITTERSWEET
David Rousseve, U.S., 2005; 15m
Dancer/choreographer/director David Rousseve explores the relationships of three women of color to their husbands, lovers, and to one another in this alternately lyrical and violent look at race and gender politics. From the maker of the award winning PULL YOUR HEAD TO THE MOON.

CARBON MINOXIDE
Kaori Ito (France) 2004, 6.48m
A girl travels through the city adopting the movements of the odd characters she encounters.  Set to the music of singer-songwriter Regina Spektor. 

CZARNOBILY (Black and White)
Michal Tywoniuk, ( Poland) 2002, 7m
Dancer Jacek Owczarek. First prize winner in 3rd Kino Tanca competition for Polish dance filmmakers. www.kinotanca.pl/

FALLING
Ayelen Liberona & Naya Guzman, USA, 2006, 4:28m
From sky to sea, from cocoon to human, this short skillfully makes us wonder about transformation through the elements of nature.

THE HUNT
Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer (Canada) 2005, 4.43m
The intensity of an internal struggle manifests itself externally, as revealed through an intimate, fragmented view of dancer, Peter Trosztmer, as choreographed by Sharon Moore. www.mouvementperpetuel.net

MINOTAUR-EX
Bruno Aveillan, France, 2001, 9m
Inspired by the Greek myth of the Minotaur, this cine-dream brings us into the struggle of a three-faced monster attempting a metamorphosis of his being. Choreographer Philippe Combes worked with a score by Herve Taminiaux. Introduced by dancer Natalia Aveillan cie-cavecanem.com/

NASCENT
Gina Czarnecki, UK/Australia, 2005; 10m
A graphic feat, an elegant, mysterious  puzzle that reveals itself  fully only in the last moments. Traces of movement, choreographed by Garry Stewart of the Australian Dance Theatre, appear as blips in transmission or digital “vibrations.” www.forma.org.uk/archprod/nascent.html

POD
Shelly Love (UK) 2005, 9m
Four people investigate an odd black substance that drips from a hole in the wall. Other shortsfrom her collection can be viewed at: www.drawpictures.co.uk

RAPT
Sara Joel and Jody Oberfelder, USA, 2006, 6m
Cinematography: Lesley Avery Gould. A very pregnant woman rolls into the water and into the world of her unborn child.

TEATIME
Lisa May Thomas,UK, 2006, 7m
TEATIME explores the ritual and its particpants in this dance short sponsored by the Arts Council England and Dance Bristol. Performed by Dan Canham, Tiago Bambogi, Laura Dannequin with sound design by Jonny Crew.

VARO- Nominated for a Jury Prize
Gabor Kasza, Hungary, 2005; 8m
A waiting room in a train station is momentarily transformed into a frenetic free-for-all for a motley cast of characters before order is restored. This is freelance photographer Kasza’s first film. www.offdance.net


WILL TIME TELL?
Sue Healey, Australia, 2006, 12:30m
Funded by Asia Link, OZCO, this short plays with rhythms and counterrhythms in this meditative, playful piece shot in Japan that gives one a sense of the outsider’s experience.

Documentaries

ALBERTO & CARMEN
Ani Collier/Katia Karadjova, USA/Bulgaria, 2006, 30min.
Cuban born choreographer, Alberto Alonso, who has been living in the US since 1993, created CARMEN in 1967 for prima Ballerina Maya Plisetskaya of Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre. In this documentary on the 30th anniversary of the ballet, Alberto Alonso remininisces about the making of the ballet. Rodion Shchedrin, the composer and husband of Plisetskaya, talks about his take on Bizet's famous opera and we see performances of the same ballet as performed as Alessandra Ferri, Alicia Alonso, and others.

BONE
Mila Aung-Thwin, Canada, 2005, 48m
A collaboration of two extremely different cultures created by the Beijing Modern Dance Company and Snell Thouin Project of Canada. This unusual documentary reveals the raw excitement of discovery by young Chinese artists as they absorb the choreographic ways of the West in the first ever China-Canada co-production.

CARMEN AND GEOFFREY
Linda Atkinson and Nick Doob, 2004, 80m
Carmen de Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder as artists and as a couple are virtually a New York institution. Their separate careers are staggeringly prolific and their talents extraordinary. This heartwarming documentary on these two larger-than-life personalities is full of wonderful archival footage and it traces their careers, hers as a Horton trained dancer coming to New York from "the wrong coast," his as a Trinidad- born choreographer who set New York on fire as set and costume designer, painter and man about town. Among the dancers who appear on camera are Judith Jamison, Gus Solomons, Jr., Dudley Williams, Ulysses Dove and the great Alvin Ailey.

Constantin Nepokoitchitzky aka “Nepo”
Dany and Roland Coste, U.S., 2003; 29m
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Russian artist “Nepo’s” death, his son, Michael Smith and his co-directors, bring together a group of his friends, including ballerinas Yvette Chauvire, Violette Verdi, as well as choreographer and dancers Janine Charrat and Pierre Lacotte, for a celebratory dinner and some delightful recollections of the costume and set designer on whom Chauvire relied professionally for more than fifteen years.

From Mambo to Hip Hop
Henry Chalfant, U.S., 2005, 56m
There’s a postage stamp of an urban sidewalk known by people of a certain age for having burned to the ground. A more recent generation know it as the place where, out of the ashes hip hop and break dancing were born. An older generation remembers when this turf, The South Bronx, produced salsa. A testament to the neighborhood’s power to revitalize itself through music and dance and to take the world’s pop culture by storm.

Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance
Charles Atlas, US/France, 2000; 90m
This full-length portrait of one of the most beloved and significant figures in contemporary arts, was shown on PBS’s American Masters in a 60 minute version.  Here is an opportunity to enjoy the expanded profile of the choreographer who pioneered new concepts of movement, computer technology and dance, and created pieces that have inspired peers, fascinated critics and perplexed the public for over fifty years. www.merce.org

Phoenix Dance - shortlisted for a 2007 Oscar
Karina Epperlein, U.S., 2005; 23m
Homer Avila, an extraordinary dancer who lost a leg to cancer, is the subject of this moving documentary that features the creation of a duet by San Francisco based choreographer Alonzo King. Avila, who died last year, danced with Twyla Tharp, Bill T. Jones, Mark Morris and Momix.

Jean-Pierre Perreault: Giant Steps - 2006 Jury Winner
Paule Baillargeon, Canada, 2005; 52m
A superb film made by an actress turned filmmaker, about a Quebecois choreographer who originally stated that he didn’t like to dance (“I’m a painter,” he insisted), yet left an artistic legacy that is uniquely his. Perreault’s vision of a group of faceless average “Joe’s,” boot-clad and black-hatted, moving as a block of humanity through inhospitable space, made a profound impression on audiences. The documentary explores the choreographer’s unhappy childhood, his literary and artistic influences, his love of travel, and his ultimate dream to make choreography for 200 dancers, rather like Werner Herzog’s film character Fitzcaraldo, who dragged his ship over a mountain. Distributor: www.nfb.ca

CAUGHT IN PAINT
Rita Blitt, USA, 2003, 6m
A film that has been shown at over 60 film festivals nationally and has won seven awards, CAUGHT IN PAINT is a film that brings together the painter Rita Blitt, choreographer David Parsons and his Parsons Dance Company, and photographer Lois Greenfield, in a union of paint, dance and photography.

EZEIZA
Andrea Servera, Argentina, 2005, 27m
This magical film that captures the essence of a women’s prison in Buenos Aires while demonstrating how the inmates, who may never have had such a gentle experience ever in their lives, are all drawn into the creative process. Choreographer/teacher Andrea Severa worked for two years with these women so that they can leave the prison somehow enriched. Without elaborate choreography, their simple movements became dance and reveal a sense of joy and of being. Composed by Sebastian Schactel, this project was supported by The Secretary of Culture of Buenos Aires City Government, Arts International, and the Fundación Teatro del Sur/Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. For more info. on the director www.arteamundo.com

JOSÉPHINE BAKER - BLACK DIVA IN A WHITE MAN'S WORLD **JURY FINALIST
Annette von Wangenheim, Germany, 2006, 45m
This production of WDR Cologne features Joséphine Baker, one of the most popular artists of the 20th century. Her legendary banana belt dance created theater history; her song "J'ai deux amours" became her hymn. She was the queen of the Charleston during the Roaring Twenties, Diva of the Folies-Bergère, and the darling of the Casino de Paris. Baker was 19 years old when she arrived in Paris in 1925 with "La Revue Nègre." Her exotic beauty had allowed audiences to identify with her and in their own African fantasies. This documentary portrays the artist in the mirror of European colonial clichés and presents her as an activist of the Black Consciousness movement.

GEORGIANS IN MARYINSKI
Zurab Inashvili, Georgia, 2003, 47m
Manana Kvachadze produced this documentary rich with information, interviews and archival footage. A treat for ballet lovers with background on George Balanchine, Vakhtang Chabukiani, and others. Produced with the help of the Historical Cultural Foundation.

INVITATION TO THE DANCE: BODY AND TABOO
Gerhard Schick, Germany, 2006, 89m
Despite her muscular dystrophy, German dancer Gerda Koenig has toured the world uniting abled and disabled dancers in performances. She delights in the process of confronting taboos while inviting dancers to explore the parts of their body that have given them the most grief. This documentary shot in Kenya is a heartwarming example of how dance can heal and how dancers can effect social change.

LUCINDA CHILDS **JURY FINALIST ........See clip
Patrick Bensard, France, 2006, 56m
Lucinda Childs' work dates back to the sixties, the period in which New York’s “downtown” circle of artists pushed each other to explore and experiment beyond convention. Now, after decades based in Paris, Lucinda lives in Martha’s Vineyard where she takes time to reflect between choreographic assignments around the world. The documentary includes performances and interviews with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Philip Glass, Anna Kisselgoff, Yvonne Rainer, Susan Sontag, and Robert Wilson. To be broadcast by ARTE in Europe in March, 2007. Photo Images and film excerpts by Patrick Bensard, Renato Berta, Peter Hujar, Robert Lockyer, Hans Namuth, Sol LeWitt, Babette Mangolte, Michael O'Neill, & Thomas Victor. Coproducers: Helena Van Dantzig, LIEURAC PRODUCTIONS www.lieurac.com

THE MAKING OF CAMBODIAN STORIES
Eiko and Koma, USA, 2006, 23m
Focusing on the mentorship of Eiko and Koma with the young artists who study and work at the Reyum Institute of Arts and Culture in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, CAMBODIAN STORIES evokes questions of tradition, innovation, and the role of the artist in fostering social change and discoveries of new ways to leap from the canvas to the stage. Eiko & Koma’s collaboration hones in on these young painters’ collective energy and explores the challenges they face pursuing artistic careers in a country with little opportunity. Also seen in the video are two other collaborating artists representing different generations of Cambodia: Cambodian-American composer Sam-Ang Sam, the first Asian recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, and the charismatic co-founder and director if the Reyum Art Institute Daravuth Ly.

MOVEMENT (R)EVOLUTION AFRICA (A story of an art form In four acts) **JURY FINALIST
Joan Frosch & Alla Kovgan, USA, 65m
In an astonishing exposition of choreographic formentation, eight African choreographers tell stories of an emergent art form and their diverse and deeply contemporary expressions of self. Stunning choreography and riveting critiques challenge stale stereotypes of “traditional Africa” to unveil soul-shaking responses to the beauty and tragedy of 21st century Africa. Introduced by the directors

Artists: Company Kongo Ba Téria (Burkina Faso), Company Rary
(Madagascar), Sello Pesa (South Africa), Company TchéTché (Côte d'Ivoire),
Company Raiz di Polon (Cape Verde), Company Jant Bi (Senegal) and Kota
Yamazaki (Japan), Nora Chipaumire (Zimbabwe), Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (USA),
Faustin Linyekula (Democratic Republic of Congo)

SEASONS OF MIGRATION
John Bishop, USA, 2006, 56.08m
An exploration of the transformation of identity among Cambodian immigrants in Long Beach, California and their exquisite, highly stylized classical dance that is rooted in and reflective upon their current life. Using dancers from the Royal University of Fine Arts, Phnom Penh, award-winning choreographer, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro incorporates original and traditional music, lyrics, and choreography that creates a true miracle.www.khmerartsacademy.org. Dvds available at www.media-generation.com/


TERPSICHORE’s CAPTIVES I & II
Efim Reznkov, Russia, (I) 1995, 52m, (II) 2006, 52m
Recalling the series 7up, TERPSICHORE’S CAPTIVES I and II presents a fascinating opportunity to examine the balance of ego and art. Created by Efim Reznikov, the director of photography for the Russian film LITTLE VERA, and written by Leonid Gurevich, the first documentary focuses on the tempestuous relationship between the artistic director of Perm Ballet School, Ludmila Pavolvna Sakharova and a teenage ballet student Natasha Balakhnecheva. The Russians have a saying “Hatred is only a step away from love.” It is this complicated love-hate relationship to ballet that is explored in this provocative documentary.

Ten years later, Natasha Balakhnecheva decided to try to break free of ballet and experience modern dance. With the aid of DFA and Alla Kovgan, Efim Reznikov created a folllow-up to TERPSICHORE’S CAPTIVES in which Natasha attempts to absorb the teachings of American modern dance rebel Bill T. Jones. In the first film, Ludmila Pavolvna Sakharova demands that Natasha loose her ego and in the second one, Bill T. Jones insists that she find it, claim it, and use it to express herself through dance.

SERGE LIFAR MUSAGETE
Dominique Delouche, France, 2005, 88m
Produced by Les Films du Prieuré, this documentary is a tribute to the lasting legacy of the French-Russian dancer/choreographer Serge Lifar (1905-1988) who carried on the Diaghilev tradition of the Ballets Russes, developed a strong presence for male dancers, and who employed renowned choreographers such as George Balanchine, Leonnide Massine, and Frederick Ashton. In his autobiography, Lifar coyly stated that "dance is my mistress." Filmmaker Dominique Delouche known for singling out the essential gifts of ballet legends, offers footage of Serge Lifar, Yvette Chauviré, Nina Vyroubova, Jean Babilée, Isabelle Guerin, Monique Loudieres, Manuel Legris, Janine Charrat, Marcia Haydée, and the dancers of Paris National Opera.

Screen adaptations

BIPED
Charles Atlas, USA, 2006, 52m
A brilliant capture of the multi-media production created in 1999, a collaboration between digital artists Paul Kaiser and Shelley Eshkar and choreographer Merce Cunningham and performed by his company. The animation sequences are largely derived from motion-captured phrases from the choreography, which drive abstracted images of hand-drawn dancers moving through spare and evocative spaces. In performance, the imagery is projected on a huge transparent scrim covering the front of a large proscenium stage, giving the illusion that it floats in front of and among the live dancers behind it.

BLUSH
Wim Vanderkeybus, Belgium, 2005; 52m
Choreographed and directed by the audacious Vanderkeybus, this is a dazzling voyage based on a performance of the eponymous Ultima Vez to a rock score by David Eugene Edwards, Blush explores the unconscious in its savage ritualized state and was performed last year as a stage performance in Montclair, New Jersey. See article at http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_11.03.05/film/onscreen.html
For more information, www.cccp.be

THE COST OF LIVING - Jury Winner 2005 Festival
Lloyd Newson , England, 2004, 34m
Choreographer/Director Lloyd Newson of London's famed DV8 takes us to a faded seaside town where street performers David and Eddie struggle to find work and romance. A film that hurls provocations and scalding humor at notions of how the fit and unfit are supposed to act.

ONE FLAT THING, REPRODUCED
Thierry de Mey, France, 2006, 26m
William Forsythe carved a formidable career in Europe with infrequent returns to NYC. His collaboration with Thierry de Mey, acclaimed for his screen adaptations of works by Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker, brings us insights into his ingenious choreography. Thierry de Mey follows a formal strategy to capture “the play of triggers, moments of waiting, visual and sonic cues, and to follow the conducting voices of Forsythe’s choreographic melodic montage and contrasting mounting rhythms that penetrates inside the playing space."


OPIUM
Miles Lowry and David Ferguson, Canada, 2006, 24m
Suddenly Dance Theatre’s narrative is inspired by a three month episode in the life of the French artist Jean Cocteau (1889-1963). Originally written as a visual poem for the stage by Canadian author Miles Lowry, OPIUM imagines Cocteau’s harrowing stay at a clinic near Paris in 1929, where he hoped for a cure for his addiction to opium. Grania Litwin of the Times-Colonist wrote that OPIUM is “a tight, clever, troubling, moody and intense dance drama that starts out looking like a Masterpiece Theatre, but soon moves into new territory”. Produced in association with Bravo! Canada, a division of CHUM Limited; in collaboration with ARTV.

Retrospectives

COLOR OF POMEGRANATES
Sergei Paradjanov, Russia, 1969, 88m
Paradjanov's poetic masterpiece is a classic example of choreographic cinema. The wealth of imagination, the tableau presentation, and the complexity of thought and rhythm is awe-inspiring. The story depicts the life and spiritual odyssey of the medieval Armenian poet and troubadour Sayat Nova, and his rise from carpet weaver to archbishop and martyr. For more reviews, see www.amazon.com/

DANCING FIGURE (Táncalak) ....See Quicktime Clip
Ferenc Grunwalsky, Hungary, 2003, 70m
An extraordinary symbiosis of the modern dance of Andrea Ladányi, the music of György Kurtág, and the vision of director Ferenc Grunwalsky, who has been a long time collaborator with Miklós Jancsó, one of the most famous Hungarian directors. DANCING FIGURE is a phantasmagoric narrative with dark humor and sarcasm, surreal sets and design, combined with romantic sadness and the eternal quest for perfection and redemption of the soul.

American Cinedance Pioneers -
MOVING BODIES AFTER MAYA DEREN

In the 1960s a new form of dance film emerged in the US—one that made free use of editing, camera movement, and the manipulation of time. With a readiness to fracture images of bodies and their movement through space, these films violated all of the previous rules of filming dance. They expanded the earlier innovations of Maya Deren and outlined a whole new genre where cinema shaped dance--not the contrary. In these works the context could be changed, dancers moved off the stage, out into the larger world. In this program, for example, are films where Pooh Kaye dances on air and with a shadow; where Kenneth Anger projects his performer into a garden of fountains; where Bruce Conner’s dancer is seen in forward and reverse; where Ed Emshwiller’s three dancers “swim through” each other; where Amy Greenfield uses hundreds of edits and overlapping images to enter the mind of a dancer; where Hilary Harris transforms a single movement phrase into nine configurations—all as ways to enlarge the realm of movement and imagination.

While this is a film-maker’s medium, this is not to say that it is not a dancer’s world. Carolyn Carlson, who is in Film With Three Dancers, says that Ed Emshwiller “allowed us to create with him …. It was a real joy to be in action before his camera eye. Intuitively I knew what he was filming and what he wanted, it was …. the freedom to be who you were within his direction.” Introduced by the curator Robert Haller with a panel discussion following the screening with filmmaker Pooh Kaye, Amy Greenfield, and scholar Catherine Romano

Kenneth Anger: EAUX D'ARTIFICE (1953) 13m

Bruce Conner: BREAKAWAY (1966) 5m

Maya Deren: MEDITATION ON VIOLENCE (1948) 13m*

Ed Emshwiller: THANATOPSIS (1962) 5 minutes*, Film With Three Dancers (1970) 20m

Amy Greenfield: TRANSPORT(1971) 6 minutes*, DARK SEQUINS (2005) 12m

Walter Gutman: MAN WALKING DOWN THE SIDE OF A BUILDING (1981) 8m

Hilary Harris: NINE VARIATIONS ON A DANCE THEME (1967) 13m*

Pooh Kaye: WILD GIRL; WAKE UP CALL (1988) 7m

Norman McLaren: PAS DE DEUX (1968) 14m

James Davis: DEATH AND TRANSFIGURATION
* Archivally preserved by Anthology Film Archive

DIDO AND AENEAS
Barbara Willis Sweete, Canada, 1995, 55m
An adaptation by choreographer Mark Morris and his Mark Morris Dance Group, of the Henry Purcell baroque opera. Dido, the noble queen of Carthage has fallen in love the the Trojan prince, Aeneas. While the court celebrates the imminent union of the two monarchs, the evil sorceress with her coven of witches, plots their downfall. Romance leads to heartbreak and tragedy.

INVITATION TO THE DANCE
Gene Kelly, USA, 1956, 93m
On its fiftieth anniversary, we salute Gene Kelly's first effort as a solo director-choreographer with three ballets, the third of which Sinbad the Sailor featured live action and animation provided by Hanna-Barbera studios. Especially memorable is the duet for snake and Gene. Among the cast are ballet dancers Igor Youskevitch, Tamara Toumanova, Diana Adams, and the fetching jazz dancer Carol Haney.

See the 2006 program co-produced by the Film Society