Don’t miss the last Kinetic Cinema before we break for the summer!

“Staying Alive” dir. Sylvester Stallone, “Showgirls”
dir. Paul Verhoeven

On Monday June 2nd, choreographer and dance
filmmaker Kriota Willberg will host The Worst
of the Best, a tour of inspiringly bad dance films from the early 1900’s to the
present. Truly awful dance is powerful art.  We react strongly to it as an
audience, we relate our horrible experiences to our friends and warn them away
from it, we laugh, we seethe, we remember it far longer than
“good” dance, and possibly longer than “great” dance.   Join us for
film and discussion as we chase that ethereal muse, Badness, through the work of generations of dance film artists.

Kinetic Cinema
Monday June 2nd, 7:30pm
$5 Admission (buy tix at the door)

@ Collective:Unconscious 
279 Church
Street (just south of White Street)
New York, NY 10013
Trains: 1 to Franklin;
A, C, E to Canal
http://weird.org/films.htm
212.254.5277
MORE INFO: www.movetheframe.com
 

Kinetic Cinema at Collective:Unconscious explores the intersection
of dance and the moving image both on screen and stage. Each month curator Anna
Brady Nuse invites a special guest from the dance community to share the films
and videos that have inspired or moved them. These could be films 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, and filmmakers. In the fall upcoming guests will include Elizabeth
Zimmer (Oct 5th),  Maya Ciarrocchi (Nov 3rd), and new films by
Anna Brady Nuse & friends (Dec 1st).

KRIOTA WILLBERG has danced and choreographed in Germany, Chicago,
and New York.
In addition to working with her company, Dura Mater, Willberg choreographs for
commercial, theatrical, and other dance productions. Dance choreography for
film includes The Bentfootes  (dir. K. Willberg and Todd Alcott),
Grasshopper  (dir. Todd Alcott), Dreamgirl (dir. Robbie Busch), and
On The Road With Judas (dir. JJ Lask). She has passed her basic proficiency
tests in Single Sword and Broadsword techniques from the Society of American
Fight Directors (SAFD) and occasionally includes fight choreography in her own
work and for others. Her article on dance and stage combat was published in the
SAFD magazine, The Fightmaster. Her ballerina tattoo was featured in Dance
Magazine.

Screening:
First, you won’t want to miss Kinetic Cinema tonight (5/5) curated by downtown dance fav Levi Gonzalez. Levi has brought out a bunch of friends to share
cutting edge dance videos and talk about experimentalism in dance and film. Come
see new videodances by Melanie Maar, Sarah White, Theo Angell, Yasuko Yokoshi,
Hedia Maron, ChameckiLerner, and much more! 

On Monday May 5th at 7:30 pm, Kinetic Cinema will feature choreographer and dance artist, Levi Gonzalez. The theme of his evening will be experimentalism in dance and film. I’m delighted by his topic, and feel like it may be a good way to continue a debate on this blog several months ago, in which I railed against experimental dance artists dissing their audiences.

Levi’s statement:

“Experimentalism in both dance and film is often seen as an affront to its audience or an insular exercise in personal indulgence. Yet the perception of experimental work is fluid – it often changes with time, and each time period re-evaluates past work in a different light. It also has the power to change or highlight perception over time as the ideas filter, and become digested into the public consciousness. I find that experimentalism often runs the gamut from difficult to pleasant, angry to accessible, deeply introspective to communicative, self-involved to incredibly vulnerable. In short, no monolithic definition applies. This evening will highlight just a few strategies of experiementalism in the overlapping areas of dance and film – some that have occurred in the past and some that are currently being undertaken by contemporary artists – in an effort to point out the divergent approaches artists take in questioning their mediums and the myriad ways they affect our perceptions.”

 A highlight of the evening will be a special screening of ChameckiLerner’s “Flying Lesson”, winner of the 2008 Dance On Camera Festival Jury Prize.

>> Also in celebration of Cinco de Mayo – be one of the first 10 people in the door and get a free Corona! <<

Kinetic Cinema
Monday May 5th, 7:30pm (and the first Monday of every month)
$5 Admission (buy tix at the door)

@ Collective:Unconscious
279 Church Street (just south of White Street)
New York, NY 10013
Trains: 1 to Franklin; A, C, E to Canal
Phone: 212.254.5277

Kinetic Cinema explores the intersection of dance and the moving image both on screen and stage. Each month curator Anna Brady Nuse invites a special guest from the dance community to share the films and videos that have inspired or moved them. These could be films 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, and filmmakers. Upcoming guests include Levi Gonzalez (May 5th) and Kriota Willberg (June 2nd).

Finally, many thanks to all who completed the Move the Frame survey online. If you haven’t taken it yet, it’s still not too late! Click here to spend 5 minutes helping Move the Frame improve!

¡Hasta La Vista!

For his program, Jonah will show pivotal works of movement-based video art by Nam June Paik. The theme of the evening will be the thread between between video art and post-modern dance focusing on Paik’s significant contributions to both art forms. As a dance artist whose work addresses the human body in relation to contemporary technologies, Jonah will be able to offer rare insights into Paik’s multi-disciplinary work that overlapped with dance, music, visual art, media, and technology.

Kinetic Cinema
Monday April 7th, 7:30pm (and the first Monday of every month)
$5 Admission (buy tix at the door)

@ Collective:Unconscious
279 Church Street (just south of White Street)
New York, NY 10013
Trains: 1 to Franklin; A, C, E to Canal
http://weird.org/films.htm
212.254.5277

Here’s a glimpse at Nam June Paik’s work with multiple television screens.

Kinetic Cinema explores the intersection of dance and the moving image both on screen and stage. Each month curator Anna Brady Nuse invites a special guest from the dance community to share the films and videos that have inspired or moved them. These could be films 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, and filmmakers. Upcoming guests include Jonah Bokaer (April 7th), Levi Gonzalez (May 5th), and Kriota Willberg (June 2nd).

Jonah Bokaer’s work has been presented widely throughout venues in the United States and abroad, including Cornell University, Dance Theatre Workshop, Danspace Project, Dixon Place, La Mama ETC, P.S. 122, Symphony Space, The Laban Centre (London), the ISB (Bangkok), Naxos Bobine, Studio Théatre de Vitry, and La Générale (Paris), Les Subsistances (Lyon), La Compagnie (Marseille), and OT301 (Amsterdam). Bokaer was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 2000 to 2007. In 2002, he formed Chez Bushwick with a group of artists and choreographers, to create an adventurous arts organization that has significantly impacted a new generation of dance artists.

For Monday night’s Kinetic Cinema screening at Collective:Unconscious, Malinda Allen, a fabulous dancer/choreographer and now CURATOR, presented the most bad-ass, inspiring evening of dance films and videos I’ve ever seen. It truly rocked! From YouTube video mash-ups to Busby Berkeley to experimental motion-capture studies, she had everything in there. The best thing was that she wove all the clips together like a travel log through dance in media, mixing in fun facts (like how Phillipe Découflé and Spike Jonze have the same birthday) and juicy stories throughout.

For those who came, and those who wished they were there, here is a link to Malinda’s YouTube channel where you can see clips of most of the videos she showed as well as others that she digs.

I’ll leave you with the final short of the evening, Malinda’s own “Other Games.” (BTW, she got her landlord to repair the holes in the walls of her hallway for free! This girl is brilliant…)

Sharing the work of her favorite choreographers and filmmakers, guest curator Malinda Allen hosts a night filled with ideas for the aspiring dance filmmaker.  Her evening will include stories and behind-the-scenes info about film and video projects from the popular to the avant-garde and underground. Local artists on the program include Jonah Bokaer (who will be curating KC on April 7th) and Akim the Funk Buddha, as well as a screening of Malinda’s own experimental short, “Other Games.”

Kinetic Cinema
Monday March 3rd, 7:30pm (and the first Monday of every month)
$5 Admission (buy tix at the door)

@ Collective:Unconscious
279 Church Street
(just south of White Street)
New York, NY 10013
Trains: 1 to Franklin; A, C, E to Canal
www.weird.org
212.254.5277

Still: Malinda Allen “Other Games”

Kinetic Cinema explores the intersection of dance and the moving image both on screen and stage. Each month curator Anna Brady Nuse invites a special guest from the dance community to share the films and videos that have inspired or moved them. These could be films 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, and filmmakers. Upcoming guests include Malinda Allen (March 3rd), Jonah Bokaer (April 7th), Levi Gonzalez (May 5th), and Kriota Willberg (June 2nd).

Malinda Allen creates works of body-based theater with collaborators including HBO Def Jam artist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, and poet/violinist Alicia Jo Rabins from the punk rock Klezmer band, Golem. She’s been presented at Dance Theater Workshop’s Fresh Track Series, Moving Men and Chez Bushwick at Dixon Place, the East Village HOWL Festival at PS 122, and the Movement Research at the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, among others.

Come check out a fabulous program of cutting edge movement-based films and videos, curated by Brian McCormick. From a 1987 collaboration between Elizabeth Streb and Mary Lucier to the latest online virtual spectacles of Second Life Ballet, you will be blown away!

KINETIC CINEMA
Tonight! Monday Feb 4th @ 7:30pm
$5 Admission (buy tickets at the door)

at:
Collective:Unconscious
279 Church Street (just south of White Street)
New York, NY 10013
Trains: 1 to Franklin; A, C, E to Canal
info: www.weird.org
212.254.5277

Come see a fascinating collection of rare videos that span the short and rich history of mediatized movement.

THE NUT by Second Life Ballet, photo: Cienega Soon

Kinetic Cinema
Monday February 4th 7:30pm (and the first Monday of every month thereafter)
$5 Admission (buy tickets at the door)

@ Collective:Unconscious
279 Church Street (just south of White Street)
New York, NY 10013
Trains: 1 to Franklin; A, C, E to Canal
www.weird.org
Phone: 212.254.5277

Brian’s program will feature ground-breaking experimental videos including Mary Lucier and Elizabeth Streb’s 1987 collaboration “In the blink of an eye, Amphibian Dreams… If I could fly I would fly” (click here to preview an excerpt), plus a special live performance in Second Life (a virtual online world) of excerpts of “The Nut” (an abridged version of The Nutcracker) by Second Life Ballet, followed by a chat with artistic director Inarra Saarinen. These, plus many more surprises are in store!

Kinetic Cinema explores the intersection of dance and the moving image both on screen and stage. Each month curator Anna Brady Nuse invites a special guest from the dance community to share the films and videos that have inspired or moved them. These could be films that feature dance, are kinetic-based, or have been influential on their work in some way. The guest curators will come from a range of backgrounds as performers, choreographers, critics, and filmmakers. Upcoming guests include Malinda Allen (March 3rd), Jonah Bokaer (April 7th), Levi Gonzalez (May 5th), and Kriota Willberg (June 2nd).

Feist’s 1234

Kinetic Cinema
Monday January 7th 7:30pm (and the first Monday of every month thereafter)
$5 Admission

@ Collective:Unconscious
279 Church Street (just south of White Street)
New York, NY 10013
www.weird.org
TICKETS: 212.352.3101
VENUE:212.254.5277

For the Dance On Camera Festival program I have selected  seven shorts from among 200+ festival entries that represent some of the freshest new visions by leading dance filmmakers today. The program includes “1234″ – an award-winning music video by Feist directed by Patrick Daughters with choreography by Noemi LaFrance (who will be in attendance); “BLUE” – a suspended moment before a pianist begins to play by Elif Isikozlu; “PANORAMA ROMA” – a rotating timelapse film shot over 24 hours in the center of Rome by Italian choreographer Anna de Manincor; “RAVEN STUDY” – a sleek duet between a beautiful Louise Brooks-like dancer and a Rock drummer by Charlotte Griffin; “ANIMALZ” – a crew of urban b-boys from Brighton that go feral by Sergio Cruz; “PLANT” – a haunting exploration of a decaying bomb factory by The Body Cartography Project and Olive Beiringa; and “NOT ABOUT IRAQ” – a dance film that questions the relationship of words and experience, government rhetoric and reality by choreographer Victoria Marks with dancer Taisha Paggett.
Click here for a video preview of Feist’s “1234″.

Kinetic Cinema explores the intersection of dance and the moving image both on screen and stage. Each month I will invite a special guest from the dance community to share the films and videos that have inspired or moved them. These could be films that feature dance, are kinetic-based, or have been influencial on their work in some way. The guest curators will come from a range of backgrounds as performers, choreographers, critics, and filmmakers. Upcoming guests include Brian McCormick (Feb 4th), Jonah Bokaer (April 7th), Levi Gonzalez (May 5th), and Kriota Willberg (June 2nd).

DFA’s 36th, annual internationally touring Dance on Camera Festival & Symposium January 2-19, 2008
DFA’s 36th annual Dance On Camera Festival is the oldest dance film/video festival in the world that sparked an explosion of activity amongst artists, curators, writers and a curious audience. The Festival has been co-sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center since 1996 and has toured to over 70 venues internationally.
For festival schedule, tickets and info: www.dancefilms.org