“The Dance on Camera Festival is one of those NY stealth events, prized by its devotees…where the allusiveness of dance meets the intimacy of film to create a new kind of magic.” —New York Times.
Coming to Ann Arbor directly from Dance Films Association’s 40th Dance On Camera Festival in New York City, this screening of screendance shorts, selected specifically for Ann Arbor audiences, celebrates the immediacy, energy, and mystery of dance as combined with the intimacy of film. DFA’s Festival is the oldest dance film festival in the world and has sparked a global explosion of screendance activity.
FALLING
Director: Adriano Cirulli
Country: England, 2011, 5minA push/pull of dancers and gravity, made by an artist who has created visual effects for 18 commercial projects including MERLIN, the TV series.
COUP DE GRACE
Director: Clara van Gool
Country: Netherlands, 2010, 26min
A masterful screen adaptation of
Ölelés (2003), this latest creation by Clara van Gool (best known for her screen adaptation of DV8’s Enter Achilles) explores the relationship between two adversaries who meet in a remote location and engage in a weaponless duel that is marked by extreme emotions and an intense movement style that oscillates between savage cruelty and unexpected warmth. These energetic matadors, dancers Jordi Cortes Molina and Damian Munoz, turn the reunion into a suspenseful drama.
BLACK TRAIN IS COMING
Director: John T. Williams
Country: USA, 2011, 3min
Inspired by a 1920’s sermon about Hell and Damnation by preacher Rev J. M. Gates, this short blends old time religion with modern day Flex and Turf dance styles choreographed and performed by ENinja and Joyntz Scott to create a winner.
TWO SECONDS AFTER LAUGHTER
Director: David Rousseve
Country: USA, 2011, 16min
Weaving stunning cinematography shot in Java by Cari Shim Sham, traditional Indonesian dance, postmodern gesture performed by Sri Susilowati, original Sudanese music, and a potent narrative, this stunning film creates a border-jumping dialogue on a universal irony: The heart longs most for the place called home to which it can never return.
SPRING CLEANING
Director: Pooh Kaye
Country: USA, 2011, 8min
Choreographer and film-maker, Pooh Kaye’s alter-ego ‘Wild Girl’, performed by Alex Clack, has a busy day weeding the dandelions, digging in the earth and swimming with the local beavers.
LABYRINTH WITHIN
Director: Pontus Lidberg
Country: Sweden, 2010, 28.5min
A haunting take on jealousy, this existential thriller posits a man, a woman, and an elusive lover in a series of intense duets in a stark apartment that becomes a fourth character. Performed to a commissioned score by David Lang with cello performed by Maya Beiser, the work features NYCBallet principal Wendy Whelan, Giovanni Bucchieri and Pontus Lidberg, a Swedish choreographer (Rain, Mirror) also known for his work with Morphoses.
FANFARE for MARCHING BAND
Director: Danielle Wilmouth
Country: USA, 2011, 15min
Saturated colors, exuberant music, and ecstatic choreography fail to engage an immobilized public. The efforts of this ragtag musical militia fall on deaf ears until…..
