Dance on Camera Festival 2009
Judson Memorial Church, Meeting Hall
55 Washington Square South, West 4th Street, NYC
co-sponsored by Movement Research

A project initiated by Mathew Heggem, developed in partnership between
Dance Films Association and Movement Research. This event is part of
Movement Research's Studies Project Series and made possible with the help of DTW, Movement Research, Rebecca Brooks, Barbara Bryan, and Sarah Percival.

January 6 and 13, 2009, 7pm, Free

January 6th discussion led by Stacy Spence
Theme: Narrative/Abstract and Environments
Excerpts drawn from the following:

Helenka
Karen Rose, Canada, 2008, 12m
Helenka is a unque and powerful dance film that follows the physical and emotional journey of five women during a time of Nazi regime. It is a testament to their solidarity, strength, and resilience.

Black Spring
Benoit Dervaux, France, 2002, 26m
Choreographer: Heddy Maalen; Dance Company: Compagnie Ivoire; Dancers: Simone Goris, Serge Anagondu; Producer: Heure d'Ete; Sponsors: Arte, Sinsa Finn, Derives; Distributor: Ideale Audience InternationalThe simplicity and purity of the filmmaking approach is deceptive, asthe film challenges Western notions of African bodies in movement. The dance is interspersed with scenes of contemporary life in Africa which serve to heighten awareness of the social and political sensitivities inherent modern African dance.

Mobius Strip
Vincent Pluss, Switzerland, 2001, 26m
A sensual, fluid, hypnotic exploration of a “human sculpture”: the bodies of five dancers pass, cross, follow, intertwine with each other. A video of dance, adaptation of choreographer Gilles Jobin’s “The Moebius Strip.”See clip of Mobius Strip

Night Practice
Susanna Wallin, UK, 2007; 9m
A South East Dance and Youth Dance England Co-Production for Channel 4

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.

 

Poem still by Brandon Jacobs Mills

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

Alt I Alt
Tobjorn Skarild, Norway, 2005, 5m
A tantalizing tease with all the suspense of a thriller, shot in an indoor pool with the support of the The Norwegian Film Institute.

Touched
David Hinton, England, 1994, 15m
Choreographer Wendy Houstoun and direrctor David Hinton tell a tale of interweaving relationships with a subtle dance performed by playing on a focus thrust forward and back in a crowded bar.

Poem
Maia Sørensen, Denmark, 2008, 6min
Poem is a duet between two women, between the camera and what is captured, between a physical world and one imagined, like yin and yang, both inseparable and apart.

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

Reines d'un Jour
Pascal Magnin, Switzerland, 1996; 28m
Six tumbling bodies on mountain slopes of the Alps, caught between Heaven and Earth, among the cows and the villagers. This strikingly visual and sensual film triggered a wave of understanding among dancers when it was shown in Dance on Camera Festival 1997. Marie-Louise Nespolo, Christine Kung choreographed the work and performed with Veronique Ferrero, Roberto Molo, Mikel Aristegui, Antonio Bull

Lacho Drom
Tony Gatlif, France, 1993
Produced by Michèle Ray-Gavras, this film, whose title means 'safe journey', follows, one group of Roms after another, from India - by way of Egypt, Istanbul, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and the annual pilgrimage to Saintes Maries de la Mer in the Camargue - to Spain. We are transported into a community that is bound to its environment, its music and dance. Never has a dance film seemed so magical.

A special thanks to Penny Ward for her projector

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