Dance Films Association seeks high school student dance film submissions for the Dance on Camera Festival co-presented by Dance Films Association and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. This 2016 Dance on Camera Festival is February 12- February 16, 2016.
Dance Films Association encourages New York City high school student to create dance films between 1-5 minutes in length that feature dance as the film’s main component and addresses the relationship between dance and the camera, linking the two in imaginative ways.
Films can be documentary, narrative or art films. Any dance subject may serve as inspiration: social or street dance, dance in religious settings, professional dance, or non-dance images filmed so they evoke dance, choreography, and movement. The finalists will be selected for special student film program during the festival, moderated in years past by Ellen Bar, and the top film selection screens in the Main Slate at Lincoln Center!
Taught by DFA affiliates and teaching artists, Dance Films Association facilitates workshops with different high schools and organizations to introduce budding filmmakers to the genre of dance film. Workshops are currently held during the fall semester, and are structured like a master class, typically providing students with up to an hour and a half of programming (modified based on the school’s needs and schedule).
These workshops focus on technical, artistic and practical challenges of creating a dance film. This workshop-competition model offers a hands-on opportunity for New York City high school students to learn about the process of making a dance film, from conception to the final screening.
Capturing Motion NYC guides students from the genesis, production, and post-production phases up to the submission process and lastly, and rounds out the experience by inviting select films to participate in a film festival amongst industry professionals.
Exquisite Corpse: Dance Filmmaking Turned Creative Game by Brighid Greene
Frank Sinatra High School of Performing Arts
To magnify the collaborative process of dance filmmaking, students played a version of the surrealist game Exquisite Corpse, working together to sketch movement storyboards and then putting them into action!
View a sample presentation here.
About Brighid Greene
Brighid Greene, a native to the golden state, now lives in Ridgewood, Queens. At Dance Films Association, she facilitates the exhibition and creation of dance film as their Communications Associate. She’s performed in music videos for Zola Jesus and Friend Roulette and dances with choreographers Benn Rasmussen and KatieRose McLaughlin. She champions for dance by serving on the Dance/NYC Junior Committee. Past performances include Lady Han at Incubator Arts Project, Wave Rising Series, Performa 11, and Szene Salzburg. Brighid received a BFA in Dance and a double major in Religious Studies at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and graduated with the J.S. Seidman Award.
Creating Dance for the Camera by Zach Morris
Abrons Arts Center
This introductory workshop addressed the unique technical, practical, and artistic challenges of creating dance film from a choreographer’s perspective.
Staging and choreographing for the camera are introduced through a series of focused exercises including storyboarding, elementary lighting techniques, framing/composition, and shooting strategies. Methods for approaching editing and post-production are highlighted throughout.
About Zach Morris
Zach Morris is a choreographer, director, visual artist and Co-Artistic Director of Third Rail Projects. He is also the organizer and moderator of the NYC Dance Film Lab, a Movement Research teaching artist, and an adjunct faculty member of the Florida State University School of Dance. He has previously served as the Co-Creator and Co-Director of the Westbeth New Works Program and as the Inter/National Program Associate at Dance Theater Workshop. Zach has a BFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University.
The Challenge of Filming Dance by Ellen Bar
Beacon School
Combing the Advanced Film Class and Hip Hop Class, Ellen Bar showed excerpts from her dance film Jerome Robbins’ NY Export: Opus Jazz and discuss the challenges of filming.
About Ellen Bar
Ellen Bar attended the School of American Ballet from the age of eight and was asked to join the New York City Ballet as a corps member in 1998. She danced featured roles in classic works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins and Christopher Wheeldon, and was promoted to Soloist in 2006. As a child, Ellen danced as a Candy Cane in Emile Ardolino’s The Nutcracker with New York City Ballet; as an adult she appeared in the feature film Center Stagedirected by Nicholas Hytner and created an animated character in Barbie of Swan Lake. While dancing full-time, Ellen earned an Associate’s Degree in Business from Penn State University and continues to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in English at Columbia University. In 2005, Ellen was part of the original ensemble cast of the NYCB revival of NY Export: Opus Jazz when fellow NYCB soloist Sean Suozzi conceived of a present-day, on-location film adaptation of the ballet. Together, Ellen and Sean developed, produced and creatively helmed the project from inception to completion. In May of 2011, Ellen retired from her 13 year career as a professional ballerina and is now Director of Media Projects at New York City Ballet.
By Dawa Lama
2014 Capturing Motion NYC Winning Film
By David Woon, Kevin Fermoselle, & Stephanie Oppenheim
2013 Capturing Motion NYC Winning Film
