Reality Dancevision: An Intimate Screen Capture of Dance Vloggers- Program Notes and Videos

Curator’s Note:

Boris Willis by Paul Emerson

The dance vlogger it seems, is a rare person to find. It is relatively easy to find dance bloggers, dance writers and dance photographers but finding professional dancers/choreographers who use the web as a primary source for showing a dance is more difficult. We see the powerful influence of the web with the disappearance of newspapers and the emergence of e-book readers such as the Kindle, the emergence of iTunes Music Store as the world’s largest seller of music, as well as the question of whether DVD’s will soon be outpaced by movie downloads. Even in this digital age, people love dance, as evidenced by video sharing sites that are replete with videos of the latest social dances and sophisticated dance videos made by amateurs.. I think that just as reality television can take you into the lives of ordinary people, online dance can take you into the lives of dance makers. We can get an intimate look at the person, not just the performer, through online video. I can’t predict that the web will provide a revolution in theatrical dance. However, I do sense a shift by some artists who feel as I do that one does not have to wait for their two nights in the theater to share their work. For this program, I will present several works by amateur and professional dancers that reveal the artist as both a performer and a person in a way that illuminates the purpose of dance in our lives as well as acknowledge the value of web as a venue.

–Boris Willis
Enjoy…

Matt Harding

Inspirational dance done by an amateur dancer who has a corporate sponsor.

Where the hell is matt/ 3:42/2006/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4

Soulja BoyTell’em

Example of social dancing on the web and an example of how dances get passed down from person to person. Soulja Boy also had a hit dance and song that was replicated on the web by many.

Do Da Stanky Leg/ 1:53/2009/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro0DCOxxG18&feature=related

Leili

Belly dancing- Raks Al Baladi an example of social dance on the web.

Iranian Girl/2:53/2009 http://vimeo.com/3391786

Conor Clarke

Conor and Matt get inspired and dance for fans of their sketch comedy show. Amateur performance made entertaining through the use of editing.

Dance/:52/2009 http://vimeo.com/2529997

Dance2/2:18/2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPuh3Th-MmQ

Emma Noel

A response dance that shows the power of editing as well as show the differences in movement styles.

http://vimeo.com/76701

Mike Long

Mike did a year long dance video project posting a video everyday for a year and dance in various locations mostly around where he lived in Hamilton, Canada. Mike is a DJ and humorist with a large youtube following.

Picture on the Wall/2:32/2009/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMJAtQ-hrIo&feature=channel_page

Nick “Fresh” Puzo

NickFreshAlive is a friend of Mike Long who was inspired by him to make a video series of his own. This was a dance he did on a dare to dance in a crowed bar in front of people.

Shake Shake Shake Shake/2:43/2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kYkKqpKaFs&feature=channel_page

Click here to view the embedded video.

Melanie- Dance everywhere

Melanie creates video dances around the San Francisco area.

Tune G at Southside Park/1:29/2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti793fHZ-bM&feature=channel_page

Lee Atwell

Lee creates a dance video everyday inspired by butoh. She owns a yoga studio in Seattle.

Garden Shack/1:59/2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjzcd8i6SRM&feature=channel_page

Liz Roncka

Liz makes a new dance video daily.

56/ 10:00/2009

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gesel Mason

Gesel has started to experiment with creating work specifically for video.

1 Thing/ 4:36/ 2009

Ashley A. Friend

Ashley combines typical vlogging or talking videos with dance. She is skilled as a dancer, choreographer and editor.

Dance and Clutter and Talk and Bathroom and Dog/8:38/2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBsyaoXKo70&NR=1

Boris Willis- Danceaday
Some examples from my site danceaday.com

Colleen and Jaclyn/:22/ 2007http://blip.tv/file/230716/

Meryl /1:24/2007 http://blip.tv/file/852526/

Human Zoo/2:39/2007 http://blip.tv/file/270927/

Capitol Spring/ 2/1:26/ 2007 http://blip.tv/file/312988/

Splinter/ 1:09/2007 http://blip.tv/file/446973/

NYC Subway /1:04/2008 http://blip.tv/file/854614/

Prayer /1:11/2007/ http://blip.tv/file/368253/

Click here to view the embedded video.

Trolley People/ 1:04/2007 http://blip.tv/file/358980/

Given all the possibilities of dance on screen, choreographers for the camera have a multitude of ways to keep us astonished.  Fortunately, the creative interaction between film technique and dance are endless.  In the emerging field of Cinedance, filmmakers or video artists create works that use dance as raw material, and now, choreographic achievements are being made available to the video artist for artistic exploration.

At the last Kinetic Cinema screening on May 13th at Chez Bushwick, curator Victoria Murphy showed a video by Matt Tarr and Ami Ipapo entitled ‘Little Ease (Outside the Box)’ that was a screen adaptation of Elizabeth Streb’s iconic solo ‘Little Ease’. For the film version of the piece, Streb company member Ami Ipapo reconstructed the choreography off-stage in an urban landscape.  The choreography of the live piece on its own is powerful, but the film was able to capture more action and intensity in the piece. I felt more connected to the dancer by being able to hear her breathing, and see her minute facial expressions as she powerfully pushes through the movements. The film took me “inside the box” with the dancer, and I forgot that I was a voyeur watching a choreographed work, something that rarely happens when watching a live performance. My favorite element of this Cinedance was the artistry in editing together of the shots of choreography, which to me added a new specific cinematic “pulse” to Streb’s dance.

Fortunately, other dance icons are lending their choreographed works to video artists to create cinedances. For instance the Martha Graham Company recently released videos of several dances from Martha Graham’s Clytemnestra to be remashed and reedited by contestants in their Clytemnestra Remash Challenge. The contestants displayed a huge range of styles and approaches to remashing the choreographic material, and all of the contest entries are available for view on the Clytemenestra Remash Challenge website at http://clytemnestraproject.com.

I am a personal fan of taking choreographed works made for the stage out into the world to be performed, so I was very pleased to see so many  video artists take Martha Graham’s choreography and characters into new environments off stage.  To me, it made the characters more appealing and more passionate. As a result, I found myself enjoying and connecting with Graham’s work on another level.   The following submission was my personal favorite in the Remash Contest.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The winners of the Remash Contest for Martha Graham’s Clytemnestra have been announced.  Check out their videos and look at some of the other contestants as well. Voting is still open for the popular choice awards! Regardless of the winners, I am thrilled to see new film-makers responding to choreography and furthering the development of cinedance.

People all over the globe are now able to share and collaborate on artistic works over the Internet. Dance innovators would be wise to tap into these new possibilities and use today’s networked media technologies to make the works of dance masters more accessible. In so doing, like Martha Graham and Elizabeth Streb, they would ensure the cultural significance of their work over time, while also enabling to new works of art to be made and contributing to new developments in cinedance.

(re)Action by Victoria Murphy

Next week, on May 13th at Kinetic Cinema, Victoria Murphy will present a provocative talk and screening in which she proposes a way to define and think about what cinedance is and is not.

“Videodance” “Screendance” “Dance for the Camera” “Cinedance”… These terms have been used interchangeably when referring to things that emerge at the crossroads of dance and media, including everything from concert dance that is videotaped, edited and shown to an audience; to films about famous dance companies, choreographers and dancers; to videos made by creating movement for the camera, then edited to create visual poetry and films that are choreographic in their structure, though the images do not include people that could remotely be construed as dancing.

Does it matter that these and other forms melding dance and media are clumped together under several terms used interchangeably? Is this an emerging art form? If so, what are the hallmarks of the form? What makes one thing a cinedance, another a documentary, another cultural anthropology, and another a form of experimental media which we have yet to name?

Featuring the work of: Matt Tarr and ami ipapo; Douglas Rosenberg and Allen Kaeja; and Victoria Murphy; among others.

Victoria Murphy is a cinedancemaker, dancer, media artist and actress. She is a member of The Living Theatre and has performed with jill sigman/thinkdance, the Alchemical Theatre, the Measured Breath Theatre Company, and is working with Cynthia Berkshire on a dance in development. Victoria is currently working on her second cinedance, (re)Action. She studied media production and computer animation at The New School, and has worked on feature and commercial film sets. Her day-job activities include tutoring dancers in Final Cut Pro.

KINETIC CINEMA

Chez Bushwick
304 Boerum St., Buzzer #11
Brooklyn, NY 11206
718.418.4405
Directions
Google Map

Kinetic Cinema is a co-presentation of Chez Bushwick and Pentacle’s Movement Media project, and happens on the second Wednesday of each month as part of a weekly dance, visual & media arts series at Chez Bushwick.

More info

Coming up next at Kinetic Cinema:

P.O.V: PRO SPORTS

Curated by Lisa Niedermeyer

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 7:00pm

Tickets: $10 (purchase at the door)

*A co-presentation of Chez Bushwick and Pentacle’s Movement Media

PLAY LIST:

InFormations (excerpt)
Directed/Edited by Charles Dennis Choreographed by Stephan Koplowitz
POV- Multiple Angles

InFormations by Charles Dennis and Stephan Koplowitz

Film maker Charles Dennis documents Stephan Koplowitz’s site specific work, InFormations, performed at The New York Performing Arts Library in celebration of its 2001 inaugural re-opening. 40 performers are captured indoors and out doors from a total of 18 different camera angles, including one camera 50 feet above Lincoln Center.

ILLUSION FOR MOVEMENTS
Directed by Lemeh42
POV- Kinetic Response

Click here to view the embedded video.

Italian video artist duo Lemeh42’s study on choreography, Illusion for Movements, increases our heart rate and suspends our breath with a brief but extremely intense physical experience.

JUMPY BALLROOM
Directed/Edited by Alan McIntyre Smith
POV- Capturing Speed

The fast and furious partnering of ballroom dancers, often seen by the naked eye as a blur of sequins and bright smiles, is captured with clarity in Alan McIntyre Smith’s delightful animation, Jumpy Ballroom.

DUST
Directed by Anthony Atanasio Choreographed/Performed by Miriam King
POV- Competition and Endurance

DUST by Anthony Atanasio and Miriam King

Miriam King’s butoh-influenced dance film, DUST, traces her solitary journey as a stranded, long distance swimmer within a waterless world.

VESTED (excerpt)
Directed and Choreographed by Kristi Faulkner
POV- Effort as Story Telling

VESTED by Kristi Faulkner

The choice of location gradually transforms its framing context in Kristi
Faulkner’s VESTED, as seven uniformed women move in athletic abandon inside an empty raquet ball court.

STOMP THE YARD (excerpt)
Directed by Sylvain White Choreography by Dave Scott
POV- Spectacle

Click here to view the embedded video.

In preparation for the full feature dance film, STOMP THE YARD, Hollywood film maker Sylvain White studied sports videography for inspiration

Curator’s note:

“I am not a film maker or editor or video designer. Although I have enjoyed many wonderful art making and collaborative experiences in these specific roles since moving to NYC in 2001, I come to Kinetic Cinema as an audience member. An audience member who simply wants to be moved by movement, in all the wild and vastly different ways this is possible with screen dance. My mixed pedigree of performer, designer, and production informs me as an advocate and curator.” – Lisa Niedermeyer

Special guest, Ray Wenzel Jr. has been a professional sports videographer for 18 years, traveling to 7 different countries and throughout the  US, shooting for every major sporting league in the USA including: NFL, WNBA, MLB, NHL, WBA (boxing), MLS (Soccer), PBA (Bowling), PBR(Bull Riding), NASCAR, NHRA (Drag Racing) and IndyCar, and with every major sports network in the USA including: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, SPEED, VERSUS, TURNER, and CMT. Wenzel has been behind the camera for the Summer and Winter XGames, Winter Goodwill games, US Track & Field and several Emmy nominated shows, including The Indy 500, and The Daytona 500. Non-sports would include Legal Depositions, Documentaries, Fashion Shows, and various Studio shows.  If pressed to choose which Sport is his favorite to capture with his camera, IndyCar Racing wins every time, his independent production company is Lightspeed Productions.

About Kinetic Cinema

Kinetic Cinema is a co-presentation of Chez Bushwick and Pentacle’s Movement Media project, and happens on the second Wednesday of each month as part of a weekly dance, visual & media arts series at Chez Bushwick. Exploring the intersection of dance and the moving image, each screening features a different guest artist from the fields of dance and the media arts films who share a selection of films and videos that have inspired them. These could be works for screen that feature dance, are kinetic-based, or have been influential on their work in some way. The guest curators come from a range of backgrounds as performers, choreographers, critics, video artists, and filmmakers.

Next month on May 13th, Victoria Murphy, a screendance-maker,  will present “Is it live or is it Cinedance?” a program of films that illustrate her personal definition of the genre.

Still of Kristin Sloan, creator of NYC Ballet's "Tragic Love" web series

At the next Artist Salon on March 25th at Chez Bushwick, Jaki Levy, founder of Arrow Root Media and new media producer for Misnomer Dance, Martha Graham Dance Co. and others, will be looking at dance work created specifically for the web. Dance on Camera has already established itself as a viable medium for showcasing dance + performance. However, there is a growing trend of artists creating and adapting work specifically for the web. For example, New York City Ballet’s Tragic Love series, or more recently, Cedar Lake’s  Project 52 – all videos made specifically for the web.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Like site specific work, these (web)site specific pieces are showing that these new constraints are creating short format work, with new possibilities for distribution, creativity, and collaboration.

You are invited bring in your own examples of web-based videos to show at the Salon. If interested, please contact Jaki at http://www.google.com/search?q=jaki+levy

The Artist Salon series happens on the fourth Wednesdays of the month at Chez Bushwick and features dialogue across disciplines around various artist-chosen topics. Anyone can bring questions, stories, artifacts, or material to add to the conversation.

ARTIST SALON

“Dance for Web” moderated by Jaki Levy

Wed. March 25, 2009 @ 7pm $5

So there’s that.  However, while i can’t fascinate you with all the exciting post-production details that we’ve yet to discuss at our yet-to-be meeting, i can take this post to tell you about the general structure for this piece, and the side project that’s developed off of it.

As i touched on briefly during my “Epic” program at chez bushwick, and am now publishing to my blog, this piece (in terms of the overall film and dance project) is equally an artistic and a marketing exploration.  Don’t let it dissuade you or turn you off – i’m not saying that it’s commercial or that it compromises artistic integrity to be marketable – quite the opposite! What i’m doing here is engineering the best system with which to a) make my work, b) showcase said work, and c) gain some profit (or at least don’t go into debt) from said showcasing, which will d) allow me to attack the process cycle all over again.

To get a little deeper in: we’re starting in the studio, making all these different sections (“spots of time”, if you will) that are all inter-related across a (maybe/maybe not) linear narrative.  As we’re making them, we plan to film each section.  We’ll then be able (or at least have the potential option) to release each of these films, either online, at an event, or via some combination. So, already, we have somewhere between 5 and 8 “products” – piece of art that can be showed both to raise friends and funds, sent out to festivals across the country and overseas, as well as serve as an audience engagement tool to entice people in to the larger piece as a whole. Additionally, once all the sections have been shot, we’ll then combine them into a larger feature film.  Again, this gives us another potential to show, fund raise, send out, bring in, sell, gift, etc. You came to our first “glass tree” screening and thought it was interesting? That’s great! Come to the screening of the full film so you can see the rest, see how your favorite section relates, etc.  You’re a big AOMC donor? Well then, i’d like to send you this beautiful film as a thank you for all your support over the years.  You’ve never heard of the AOMC? That’s cool – take a look at this clip from the film that’s online, and you can see what we’re about. You live in New Zealand? Wow, that’s such a coincidence – we have one of the sections of our film screening in a festival there!

You get the idea.

Then, we go into phase two, which is transferring this epic little baby to the stage. Aside from the artistic exchange (which i talked about a little more last time) again we have the potential to show sections (“13 variations on a car crash” at the RAW showings NYU studios, April 12 @ 11; “Rock solo” and other material at the Chocolate Factory’s THROW series, May 19 @ 6; and excerpt TBD with CrossCurrents Dance Company at DC’s Dance Place, May 30th and 31st) which fulfills both a “product” delivery of the showing or performance, as well as audience engagement and advertising by providing more opportunities for more and more people to become involved in the piece as a greater whole.

But we’re not done yet, oh no!

We’re also developing a side project, specifically off of Julia’s Glass Tree piece. The idea came from the way we’re working with the bag-timed phrases – so having 40some odd 1- to 5-second phrases. I usually work in a much more organic (or maybe i should just say differently structured) way, so this format appealed to me much more for sharing than my other work.  I’m also interested in these webs of connection (thus the AOMC logo) and really liked the idea of people who were “in the know” being able to access hidden information about the piece, like Easter eggs in a DVD.

So. i put out a call for work to all the artists I knew, asking for ten artists to take the phrases (some or all) that we had started with, and make a piece of their own.  I was especially interested in the cross-media exchanges that might occur, so i invited a slew of different artists – dancers, writers, media artists, filmmakers, and the like – to take their shot at it.  Brian, my co-worker, even suggested that i make an instillation of 40 commemorative plates, one for each phrase, and i’m jealous i didn’t think of it first.  The only rules (then and still at this point) is that they tell us how they want to capture it, capture it in that manner, and then make something.

Initially i was interested in doing a super low-key no frills showing of the ten pieces plus my film of the original, but in talking with Jonah at Chez Bushwick about availability, he mentioned CB’s CAKE series, and now we’ll be potentially presenting the project for that, on June 12th.

It’s exciting artistically to see what people are going to do (so far we have a few dancer/choreographers, a few dance/film artists, a filmmaker, a writer, two photographers, and a handful of people that i have no idea what they’ll make). I’m excited for the questions it will bring up about authorship, embodiment, translation, essence, etc.  It’s also GREAT business, because for a pretty low cost ($300 covers production, publicity, and video/photo documentation from CB) we not only do a showing of our first film installment, but support ten other area/international artists.  Each of those artists brings friends to see it that then (hopefully) become friends of ours (and vice versa) and a whole community develops, just through this one project.  It tags the A.O. Movement Collective as a community builder, a presenter/curator of sorts, and more importantly, doing something interesting artistically.

I’m really excited about the side project (which, as you can see from above, we’re calling SIDEsubTEN) and will (i’m sure) stick in some updates every now and again, though the focus of this remains the production of the one film.

Footage of the phrases should be online sometime this month, although we’re set back due to Julia’s injury. No matter though, we press on. Innovation and more questions await! Join us!

lovealways,

Sarah A.O. and the AOMC

Charlie's Angels

“Bad Ass Babes: A Guide to Women Kicking Butt in the Movies”

Curated by Marýa Wethers
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
7:00pm
Tickets: $10 (purchase at the door)

————————

For the past 12 years, Marýa Wethers, has been a major contributor to the experimental dance community in NYC as a performer, administrator, and currently as the Associate Producer at Dance Theater Workshop. What you may not know is that she is also a huge action movie fan. At Kinetic Cinema on Wed March 11th, Marýa will share clips of selected scenes from some of her favorite Hollywood action movies with a female lead or a strong female character. The clips will follow themes such as hand-to-hand combat, weapons, and car chases. These scenes go beyond silly cat fights and show some bad ass women kicking some serious butt. Wowser!

Come on out and show off your own bad ass selves. Dress up as your favorite action heroine and we’ll post pictures of the best-dressed babes here on our blog.

About Kinetic Cinema

Kinetic Cinema is a co-presentation of Chez Bushwick and Pentacle’s Movement Media project, and happens on the second Wednesday of each month as part of a weekly dance, visual & media arts series at Chez Bushwick. Exploring the intersection of dance and the moving image, each screening features a different guest artist from the fields of dance and the media arts who share a selection of films and videos that have inspired them. These could be works for screen that feature dance, are kinetic-based, or have been influential on their work in some way. The guest curators come from a range of backgrounds as performers, choreographers, critics, video artists, and filmmakers.

Next month on April 8th, Lisa Niedermeyer, a performer, choreographer, and videographer will show a program of dance films with viewpoints from the world of professional sports.

For more info on Pentacle’s Movement Media project, visit our website: http://pentacle.org

Weekly Visual and Media Arts Programming at Chez Bushwick

Happening on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Wednesdays of the month at 7pm

2nd – KINETIC CINEMA, a co-presentation with Pentacle’s Movement Media project, explores the intersection of dance and the moving image both on screen and stage with guest artists who share the films and videos that have inspired them.

3rd – PRIME MOVER features artist-curated programs of cutting edge video and media art, with an international focus.

4th – ARTIST SALON features dialogue across disciplines around various artist-chosen topics. Anyone can bring questions, stories, artifacts, or material to add to the conversation.

CALLING ALL ARTISTS

For the next ARTIST SALON on March 25th, Jaki Levy, founder of Arrow Root Media and new media producer for Misnomer Dance, Martha Graham Dance Co. and others, will be looking at dance work created specifically for the web. Dance on Camera has already established itself as a viable medium for showcasing dance + performance. However, there is a growing trend of artists creating and adapting work specifically for the web. For example, New York City Ballet’s Tragic Love series, or more recently, Cedar Lake’s  Project 52 – all videos made specifically for the web.

Like site specific work, these (web)site specific pieces are showing that these new constraints are creating short format work, with new possibilities for distribution, creativity, and collaboration.

You are invited bring in your own examples of web-based videos to show at the Salon. If interested, please contact Jaki at http://www.google.com/search?q=jaki+levy

Visual & Media Arts programming is the fastest growing component of public exhibitions at Chez Bushwick. In 2004 the organization exhibited 14 visual artists working in video and new media; this number exceeded 75 in 2008, and is projected to increase still further in 2009 through a number of new public programs. More info: www.chezbushwick.net

As part of their Wednesday night Visual and Media Arts programming, Chez Bushwick is holding an Artist Salon on the fourth week of the month moderated by different guest artists. Coming up next Wed. Feb 25th at 7pm, choreographer and media artist Sarah A.O. Rosner will moderate an evening entitled “Negotiating the Epic.”

Whether you define ‘epic work’ by it’s length, detail, or literary definition, epic work has proved to be some of the most engrossing, groundbreaking, and problematic work ever created.

The evening will feature screenings, interviews and discussion about epic work as well as an open invitation to YOU the audience member to bring in questions, stories, artifacts or material to add to the conversation.

Sarah will start by looking at a few examples of epic art across genres – Joyce’s Ulysses, the computer game ‘Myst’, and the marathon dances of Sara Rudner to name a few, and then open it up for discussion and showing.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Once the decision has been made to create an epic work, what are the pros, cons, and questions that arise out of the process that follows?  Why is epic work appealing, important, or sometimes the only option? What about epic work is rendered problematic by our current modes of working and art-making structures such as funding, process, performance, and audience? What are our options for negotiating the creation of epic work in the current artistic and economical climate, and how does it affect the work itself?

To show video/media works, please email Sarah at srosner[at]gm.slc.edu with a brief description of your work. We can only show work on DVD and clips must be under 5 min in length. We look forward to negotiating the epic with you!

DIRECTIONS: L TRAIN to Morgan Avenue
Exit the BACK of the train, Turn LEFT outside the station,
Turn LEFT onto Boerum Street
(Chez Bushwick is roughly 80 steps from the station)
Click here for Google map

Illuminated by Kevin Abbott

Last week we had a great Kinetic Cinema program at Chez Bushwick. Doug Fox (blogger and founder of Great Dance and a budding animator himself) went above and beyond the curatorial call of duty to give us a real feast for the eyes with his survey of eighteen (yes 18!) dance and movement-based animations. Some how they all fit into a program that ran just over an hour long, and even more remarkable was the feeling that none of the selections dragged on too long. In fact, when Doug announced that he had one more piece in his cache, and asked us if we’d like to see it, the overwhelming response from the audience was yes! Like candy, we still wanted more, even though we were already stuffed.

The program was ordered in an abitrary manner, so we kind of ping-ponged around a bit in terms of types of animation and styles. One moment you were watching a 2-D, hand drawn animation made on the back of notepads (“Ballet Dancer Warm-ups“), and the next minute your seeing a slick 3-D animation for a champagne commercial (“Chandon-After Party“). Once you got used to the ala carte nature of the program, it was very enjoyable, but a bit of arrangement according to style, technique, or genre might have made it easier to absorb the visual imagery flying by.

In the q&a after the show, conversation got going right away about the difference between the commercial clips and the independently made animations. One woman who is an artist and film-maker felt like she could never afford the high-end equipment and resources necessary to make slick-looking work like some of the commercials. This statement was somewhat refuted however by another person’s observation that one of the most successful commercials in the program, Sneaux Shoes’ “Human Skateboard” was made with stop-motion animation techniques that anyone with a camera could do.

A choreographer in the audience also observed that the commercials, while having lots of money to play with, do not have the luxury of time that independent works do to unfold gradually. I liked this explanation of the time/money/quality conundrum that all artists wrestle with. Someone once told me that there are three things we all want: fast, cheap, and good, but we can only have two of them. Commercial work can be fast and good but it won’t be cheap. Independent work can be good and cheap but it won’t be fast. And all work can be made fast and cheap but it’s unlikely to be good.

Animation is interesting because one generally thinks of it as being painstakingly slow to produce. First it was hand-drawn frame by frame, now it can be made using computer programs, but the level of detail and depth required to make a believable moving figure is still extremely difficult and complex. It would seem that animation would be more time-consuming and expensive than other media art forms, and therefore a bit harder to enter into for the novice. This fact was not lost on the dancers in the room who were all inspired and fired up to work in animation. But how? It’s not like video where you can buy a cheap camera and just start shooting.

Doug informed us that most of the works on the program were conceived by the animators themselves. Erica Russell (“Feet of Song”) came from a dance background and later became an animator, but most of the others sought out dancers and choreographers to work with just for these projects. Other pieces just seemed to spring directly from the animator’s minds.

I would love to see more animators connect with dance artists and vice versa. There is so much interesting work being made these days with animation such as motion capture, and live motion imaging for performance (see Chunky Moves’ “Glow” and Recoil Performance Group’s “Body Navigation“). The possibilities for collaboration are rich and plentiful.

As for my favorite piece of the evening, it’s hard to pick just one, but I loved “En Tus Brazos” the most. The narrative was engrossing, the tango choreography and music was great, and the animated flights of fancy were wonderful. The audience made a collective and  spontaneous exhale at the end and errupted in applause. There is nothing more satisifying than a story well-told with dynamic and expressive energy.

Check out Doug’s program guide on Great Dance for information and links to all the videos on his program.

Timesculpture still

Buzz is spreading about our Kinetic Cinema program tonight featuring Dance Animation picks by Doug Fox, founder and blogger of Great Dance. I’ve been lucky enough to get some advance peeks and can attest that each of the seventeen short works being shown tonight is more beautiful and jaw-dropping than the next. It’s a smorgasbord of delights for the visual and kinetically inclined…

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what some other folks are saying:

Amber Dawn Connors interviews Doug Fox about his program on Dancing on the Edge.

Claudia La Rocco admits she’s actually hopeful and excited about seeing a “dance for the camera” program on WNYC’s ART.CULT blog.

Taylor Gordon, a young, spitfire dance writer recommends you come out tonight on her Off Center blog.

Even the animation industry is taking notice! Check out this post on the ASIFA-East Exposure Sheet blog…

Up-date 2/11 at 12:55pm – Here’s a post by The Urgent Artist’s Sarah A.O. Rosner. I think she really captures the essence of what I’m trying to do with Kinetic Cinema here, which is a great validation!

Last but not least, here are all the details to go:

KINETIC CINEMA

A Survey of Dance and Animation with Doug Fox

DIRECTIONS: L TRAIN to Morgan Avenue
Exit the BACK of the train, Turn LEFT outside the station,
Turn LEFT onto Boerum Street
(Chez Bushwick is roughly 80 steps from the station)
Click here for Google map

Kinetic Cinema is a screening series of Pentacle’s Movement Media project that happens on the second Wednesday of each month at Chez Bushwick. Exploring the intersection of dance and the moving image, Anna Brady Nuse, project director of Pentacle’s Movement Media, invites a special guest from the dance and film communities to share films and videos that have inspired them. These could be films that feature dance, are kinetic-based, or have been influential on their work in some way.