2011 Dance on Camera Festival

The 2011 Festival also had special events at: Baryshnikov Arts Center (Billy Cowie Retrospective Jan 25 – Feb 1. See an excerpt from his MOTION CONTROL); The Big Screen Project (Bravo!FACT and Shorts retrospective running from January 3, 2011); Judson Memorial Church courtesy of Movement Research (Jan 25), and Beacon School (Jan 26), made possible with the support from The National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, American Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet/Eugenia Delarova Doll Fund, New York Women in Film and Television, Experimental TV Center Presentation Funds, NYSCA, Culture Ireland, DFA members, and the Susan Braun Trust.

The 2011 Jury  Winners, minus Inna Sahakyan, director of THE LAST TIGHTROPE DANCER IN ARMENIA, in the photo (left) with BOW team - Shi Jing Xin, Rannva Karadottir Justinussen, Mei-Yin Ng, and Anne Linsel, director of DANCING DREAMS.

Festival Films

A NEW DANCE FOR AMERICA:
The Choreography, Teachings and Legacy of Doris Humphrey
World Premiere
Ina Hahn, 2009; USA, 79m
Gifted with a wide-ranging mind, modern dance pioneer Doris Humphrey created distinctly  “American” dances and wrote an indispensable book on choreography, “The Art of Making Dances.”This documentary offers vintage archival footage and essential biographical material, now distributed by Dance Horizons.
ON THE SOUND
Fred Baker, 1963; USA, 8.5m
Three celebrated Martha Graham dancers– Donald McKayle, Mary Hinkson and Matt Turney– took dance into the woods and onto the beach in this romp to the jazzy Gryce suite titled “The Rat Race.” 

SHALL WE DANCE?
Masayuki Suo, 1997; Japan, 119m
A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he discovers the secret pleasures of  ballroom dance with a beautiful dance instructor played by  Kusakari Suo (the director’s wife). An enormous hit of New Directors/New Films, the film went on to win critical and public praise. See trailer

CLAUDE BESSY, LIGNES D’UNE VIE (Traces of a Life)
World Premiere
Fabrice Herrault, 2010; USA, 50m
Described as the “Golden Silhouette” by Serge Lifar, French ballerina Claude Bessy was an admired etoile of the Paris Opera Ballet and ran its prestigious school for decades. Americans know her as Gene Kelly’s partner in his “Invitation to the Dance.”  Herrault’s intimate documentary, narrated by his subject, features rare vintage classroom and performance footage of the dancer in her prime, including works by Kelly, Serge Lifar, and Maurice Bejart. Intro/Q and A’s with director and star. This screening was made possible in part due to a generous donation from The American Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet/Eugenia Delarova Doll Fund.
LES REFLETS DE LA DANSE (Reflections of the dance) excerpt
Nicolas Ribowski, 1979; France, 33m
Paris Opera Ballet School classes featuring former students of  Claude Bessy, including Sylvie Guillem and Elisabeth Maurin.

DANCING CHAPLIN
U.S. Premiere
Masayuki Suo, 2010; Japan, 131m
Tamiyo Kusakari co-stars with dancer Luigi Bonino in a screen adaptation of Roland Petit’s 1991 ballet “Chaplin Dances” made for the Ballet National de Marseille. This film covers the intricate trials and tribulations of a challenging three-way collaboration, culminating in the filmed performance of the ballet, inspired by Chaplin’s classic films.

THERE IS A PLACE
US Premiere
Katrina McPherson and Simon Fildes, 2010; UK, 7m
Soloist Sang Jijia, a stunning ethnic Tibetan born in Gansu, studied choreography under William Forsythe and became the Resident Artist of Beijing Dance and Guangdong Modern Dance Company in 2007.

PORTRAIT OF AN ACROBAT
U.S. Premiere
Daniel Belton, 2010; New Zealand, 7m
One of seven segments in a film called “Line Dances,” this witty play on graphics mesmerizes as it develops textures within space.

HOOP
Marites Carino, 2010; Canada, 3:50m
Everyone carries a hula-hooping memory. In Hoop, the viewer’s perspective of the childhood toy shifts when the floor is pulled away. Made with the support of Bravo!FACT and EMPAC.

BOW
NY Premiere - Nominated for Jury Prize
Rannvá Káradóttir, 2010; Faroe Islands, 3:57m
Five artists from the UK, Belgium, Faroe Islands/Denmark, China, and Malaysia participated in a cross cultural exchange project motivated by notions of bowing; metaphorically, culturally and physically. The shadows, light and repetition in this short attempt to capture the birthing of movement ideas about folding and origami, rhythmic patterns and ritual during the studio process.

ASE
Nicole Brooks, 2010; Canada, 6m
A celebration of the lives of African slaves in the Caribbean who managed to preserve their religious worship rituals. Created with the support of Bravo!FACT.

THE LAST TIGHTROPE DANCER in ARMENIA
Nominated for Jury Prize
Inna Sahakyan, Arman Yeritsyan, 2009; Armenia, 55m
Two septuagenarians, the most celebrated tightrope dancers in Armenia, share the same dream–that their only remaining student will keep their daring heritage alive. An elegy to a vanishing art form.Introduction by directors, made possible through The Experimental Television Center’s Presentation Funds program which is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, and with the participation of the Zohrab Center.

FLAMENCO FLAMENCO
U.S. Premiere
Carlos Saura, 2010; Spain, 90m
A thrilling performance by the flamenco guitarists Paco de Lucía, Manolo Sanlúcar, Tomatito and José Mercé, joined by singer Estrella Morente, dancers Sara Baras, Israel Galván, Rocío Molina, Eva Yerbabuena, Farruquito and Niña Pastori. With exquisite cinematography by the great Vittorio Storaro, under the direction of Spain’s foremost interpreter of the dance. Filmed in ”Pavillion of the Future” in Cartuja Island in Seville, a former site of Pavillion of Seville Exposition in 1992 designed by Martorell, Bohigas and Mackay. See trailer!

BOX
NY Premiere
Ivan Rubio, 2010, Canada, 5:25m
Two women resist/concede control in an action arena. Performed by Andrea Legg and Melina Stinson, choreographed by Gabrielle Martin.

EBONY GODDESS:  Queen of Ilê Aiyê
Carolina Moraes-Liu, 2009; Bahia, 24m
Three women compete to be the carnival queen of Ilê Aiyê. The selection is based on Afro-centric notions of beauty, in counterpoint to prevailing standards of beauty in Brazil. Contestants dress in flowing African-style garments and perform traditional Afro-Brazilian dances and songs.

ALL THE LADIES SAY
World Premiere
Rokafella & Kwikstep, 2010; US, 45m
Everyone knows about the men in hip hop but this documentary showcases the female break-dancers, Vendetta, Severe, Lady Champ, Aiko Shirakawa, Baby Love, and Rokafella, illuminating the triumphs and challenges of Hip-hop Culture. A smart and exciting exploration of the B-Girl phenomenon in the U.S.

PASSION: LAST STOP KINSHASA
New York Premiere
Joerg Jeshel & Brigitte Kramer, 2010; Germany, 90m
The famed Belgian dance company “Les ballets C de la B” brought their dance opera “Pitié!” to the Congo, with Kinshasa as the final stop on their tour.  The film has a score by Fabrizio Cassol, a contemporary adaptation of Bach’s “St. Matthew’s Passion,” choreographed by teacher/philosopher and mind-bender Alain Platel.  A dazzling cross-cultural encounter that explores faith, ritual, and the human condition.

BÖDÄLÄ – Dance The Rhythm
U.S. Premiere - Nominated for Jury Prize
Gitta Gsell, 2010; Switzerland, 78m
Bodala is a Swiss rhythm tradition, and this witty film and its dance practitioners take various traditional dance forms and re-imagine and re-invent them to suit their desires, in interiors and exteriors of exceptional beauty.  

UNSUNG
NY Premiere
Morleigh Steinberg, 2008; Ireland, 5:51m
A pub session in Ireland, an unexpected guest, and the beauty of a Sean Nos song bring magic to an otherwise ordinary night out.

DANCING DREAMS (Tanz Traume)
N.Y. Premiere - Nominated for Jury Prize
Anne Linsel & Rainer Hoffman, 2009; Germany, 89m
“This recreation of Pina Bausch’s “Kontakthof” by a new generation is about transformation through art—and with its flow of pacing, lighting, and editing, a piece of art in its own right. The setting is the choreographer’s home base, industrial Wupperthal, and the kids who stumble and fall are traumatized refugees: a girl from Bosnia who witnessed her grandfather’s immolation, a Moslem boy from Romania, and gifted Joy, in mourning for her father. During the months of rehearsal, they come together in a magic show, Bausch’s last choreographic triumph before her death in June, 2009.”Joan Dupont, International Herald Tribune.

ADVANCE - Nominated for 2011 Jury Prize
Mitchell Rose & Body Vox, 2009; USA, 2.45m
One dance. Two minutes. Fifty locations. Performed by Rose’s long-time collaborators Ashley Roland & Jamey Hampton with composer William Goodrum.

AFTER THE WATER THE CLOUDS
Carmen Rozestraten, 2009; Netherlands, 9.47m
Playful and poetic voyage of a young Catalan woman whose world becomes surreal as she encounters mythical and unusual characters.

AN AFTER DINNER DRINK
Carrie Noel Richer, 2010; USA, 7m
As choreographed by Kate W. Kosharek, dining can be a intoxicating. The atmosphere, so rich and soothing; the edible art  ~ a sensory overload. Some could get carried away…

DRIFT
Kat Cole & Eric Garcia, 2010; US, 7.5m
A pair of vagabonds, also the directors, in a “whatever” mood, hitchhike, stumble, and inch their way through striking landscapes.

EXPERIMENTS W/ AIR
Tennille Lambert, 2010; US, 6m
A collaboration with director of photography and editor Hanon Rosenthal, performed by Terence Duncan, produced by The Ugly Company.

FIGMENT
Gabrielle Lamb, 2010; USA, 3m
An animation, sponsored by Gyre and Gimble set to original piano score by Bob Burger.

FINITE & INFINITE GAMES
RJ Muna, 2010; US, 37m
Shot in Judson Memorial Church,  choreographed by Katherine Helen Fisher, set by C. Finley, text inspired by James P. Carse, costumes by Gai Mattiolo—a riot of pure movement and joy through collaboration. Read article in Huffington Post.
The cast, choreographer, director and producers will attend.

FROM ROOSEVELT TO BROOKLYN
Nadia Lesy, 2010; USA, 1.45m
Bullettrun  and freerunner Jesse La Flair climb, jump, dive and tumble in their quest for beauty and adventure. Director will attend.

HER MOTHER’S DAUGHTERS
Oonagh Kearney, 2010; Ireland, 6.2m
A woman sits before a window in an empty house. Her daughters have flown the nest. She waits for them to call.
Megan Kennedy, one of the daughters, choreographer Cindy Cummings and Director will attend, courtesy of Culture Ireland.

MELT
Noemie LaFrance, 2010; USA, 10m
Eight dancers perch on seats fixed to a wall. Wrapped in beeswax and lanolin costumes that slowly melt away, the dancers become euphoric as if approaching the sun. Made with the support of Bravo!FACT. Read more in Encore.
Director and dancers will attend.

QUARANTINE
Gabri Christa, 2008; US, 9m
An elder observes a young man exploring an abandoned Quarantine building, once a house for African slaves, creating an empowering ode to those who came before him. Director will attend.

RETURN
Slaveya Starkov, 2010; USA, 3m
A business man escapes his routine with a dance set to music by Jamaica, the Band and Cocorosie.
Director and performer Joe Hewes-Clark will attend.

SLOW DANCE
Joe Cobden, 2010; Canada, 2.24m
A young man and woman search for love, setting off a barroom brawl of balletic proportions. Made with the support of Bravo!FACT.

STRONGER
Wilkie Branson, 2010; UK, 4.13m
Two companions,  previously lost, find jubilance in a jaunty climb through the woods.

TOGETHER: DANCING WITH SPINNER DOLPHINS
Chisa Hidaka, 2010; USA, 3.03m
In the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean, a woman and wild Spinner dolphins forge a tender relationship through the language of dance.

VERTIGES
Stéphanie Decourteille, 2009; Canada, 4.49m
The mad rush of a thoroughly modern woman who almost suffocates as she seeks to control her life.Video set to a song titled  ”Nude” by Radiohead.

30 CECIL STREET
Dan Canham/Will Hanke, UK, 2010, 7:20m
Shot in the dilapidated premises of the Theatre Royal in the Limerick Athenaeum building, Ireland. With a history that stretches back over 150 years, the Royal Theatre has been closed to the public for the last 13 years. Engaging with the atmosphere and past of this near-derelict building and using the soundtrack made up of four sounds and interviews with people associated with the Athenaeum, this short explores the state of a building once the hub of cultural activity.

DUNE DANCE
Zena Bibler, USA; 2010, 2:08m
Dune(s) dance on a blustery day in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Choreographed, danced, and filmed on the spot in May 2010.

OANNES
Ivo Serra, USA; 2007, 6m
Oannes represents The GOD of knowledge to the Babylonian (Ea) and to the Greeks, cultures, and he was the last mythological figure to be connected with the lost city Atlantis.  The artist sought to make this mythological being appear.

DESTINO: A Contemporary Dance Story
Caswell Coggins, 2010; UK, 56m

Staged as a tribute to their extraordinary journey from the streets of Addis Ababa to that iconic stage in London, DESTINO, starring Junaid Jemal Sendi and Addisu Demissie, celebrates the power of the arts to bring people together across generations and ethnic divides.