Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington Street
October 13, 2009 6 p.m. Dance for the Camera International Film Screening: Character Studies
October 14, 2009 6 p.m. Dance for the Camera and Hedwig Dances Present: Making Dance for the Stage and for Film
This FREE two-evening program presents innovative examples of dance films created by artists in the Midwest and around the world. The Tuesday screening, Character Studies, will feature films by Pina Bausch, Michael Jackson, and other artists that explore the themes of character, gender, and personality. On Thursday, audiences will have the unique opportunity to view a new dance film along with the live performance that it is based upon.
A preview of choreographer Jan Bartoszek’s dance film, Arch of Repose, will be shown with live performance by Hedwig Dances, and will be followed by a discussion moderated by Lucia Mauro with members of the film’s creative team. Dance for the Camera 2009 is co-curated by Jan Bartoszek and Sarah Best and is presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Hedwig Dances, the Dance Films Association, Chicago Seminar on Dance and Performance and the Chicago Dancemakers Forum
Tribute to Pina Bausch and Michael Jackson, 14m
The curators of Dance for the Camera invite you to remember Pina Bausch, a leading influence in the development of tanztheater, and Michael Jackson, the King of Pop and to discover what we can learn by watching excerpts of their work side-by-side. The dance documentary Ladies and Gentlemen over 65 (Damen und Herren ab 65) (dir. Lilo Mangelsdorff, 2002) chronicles the making of the work Kontakthof, for which Bausch decided to audition older, non-professional dancers. Out of 150 candidates, 25 were selected and trained for a year. Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal (1987) originated as a forty minute sequence filmed as a part of the Moonwalker movie. The video transports the viewer to another place and time with dramatic lighting, period costumes, special effects, and elements of classic movies in the gangster film genre.
Dance Like Your Old Man
Gideon Obarzanek & Edwina Throsby, 2007, Australia; 10m
Six women imitate their dads’ dancing. Winner of Cinedans 2008
Nora
Alla Kovgan and David Hinton, 2008, USA/Zimbabwe/Mozambique/UK; 35m
Based on the true stories of the Zimbabwe-born dancer/choreographer Nora Chipaumire, this is a swiftly moving poem of sound and image, alternately tragic and comic. A fiercely embattled African girl experiences the joys and disappointments of love and struggles against intimidation and violence to gain her independence. Shot entirely on location in Southern Africa, NORA includes a multitude of local performers and dancers of all ages, from schoolchildren to grandmothers, with rousing music by Zimbabwean legend Thomas Mapfumo.
Naomi & Irving
Laura Bouza, USA; 4m
Direction/Cinematography/Editing by Laura Bouza, Sound Mix by Laura Bouza, Ryan Philippi, Craig Smith
Filmed in Boyton Beach, Florida, at ages 80 and 90 respectively, Naomi and Irving share their exercise routines in an exploration of choreography and the everyday.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvl-t5V2OF8
Neck & Neck
3 card molly (Ania Greiner and Liz Winfield), Chicago, USA; 7m19s
Set along a desolate stretch of abandoned train tracks, the film is a musing on female aggression and competition, friends and foes, work and play, and the anxiety of leaving childhood behind.
On Falling (excerpt)
Nadia Oussenko, Chicago, USA, 2.5 m
A character study of a woman at a bus stop, this film is an excerpt of a longer meditation on falling, which was shot in a variety of public and private spaces. On Falling will premiere at the Music Box Theater, with Jan Bartoszek’s film, Arch of Repose, on November 11, 2009.
Slave Unit
Cel Crabeels, Belgium, 5m
A slave flash is a term used to describe a flash that is triggered by another master flash. In this short film, a man and a woman photograph each other in turns, at the exact moment when the camera’s ‘slave unit’ flashes. The photographer-hunter turns into the model-prey and vice versa. Slave Unitwas most recently seen in Chicago at the NEXT Art Fair.
For more information about this weekend, contact Hedwig Dances
This program was made possible through DFA’s touring program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, the members of DFA, and the Susan Braun Trust.
