Posts Tagged ‘documentaries’

After hearing about it for months, I finally got a chance to see Pina, the 3D documentary by Wim Wenders at Lincoln Center last week. It definitely stands up to the hype. Not only does the film capture the emotional impact of Pina’s work for stage, but the artistry of the filmmaking and storytelling completely renewed my faith in the power of dance, film and performance.

I have been a reserved skeptic about the 3D trend in cinema. I still don’t fully believe it will take off and become a permanent format, but Wender’s use of 3D for this film went to another level that was highly gratifying. Pina’s dances pop out and feel alive, while the intimate framing of the choreography was so satisfying to watch. The opening scene is of a performance of Bausch’s Rite of Spring. The shot places us right there in the dirt with the Virgin, and we feel the dust rise up and the stampede of life rush over us. As the piece builds to the sacrafice, we are increasingly pulled into the drama and the terrifying emotions of performers on a collision course with a violent fate.

Woven between scenes from Bausch’s famous dances, are vignettes highlighting each dancer in the Tanztheater Wuppertal Company. The intimate portraits of the dancers gave me a great appreciation for their craft and Pina’s unique method of directing through observance. These vignettes, shot out of doors and in public spaces are like gifts offered up to the memory of Pina, disseminating her spirit throughout the world. I particularly loved a scene shot on a suspended cable car with the elder dancer, Dominique Mercy in cardboard elf ears sitting coyly in back while a raven haired Aida Vainieri enters the car like a terminator monster in a white cocktail dress, ready to devour towns and villages. As she stomps her way to her seat, the reactions of the innocent bystanders are priceless.

I must admit, I have never been a huge fan of Pina Bausch’s choreography on stage. While I respect the work and the theatrical breakthroughs she achieved, I have always found myself unable to sit through an entire evening of her work. After two plus hours of vignettes, I would become desensitized to the emotional subtleties of the performance and mentally fatigued. My reaction to her work on screen has always been the exact opposite. I fall in love every time. I gushed over the scenes of Café Müller in Pedro Almodovar’s “Talk to Her,” and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of the documentaries made about Pina over the years. The power of film editing is what I need to appreciate Pina’s brilliance, and Wender’s Pina does this supremely well. I hardly realized two hours had elapsed, and I was left wishing it would never end.

Wender’s film does not give Bausch’s life story nor explain how she died, it simply captures the world she created and lived in everyday. “Dance, dance, otherwise we are lost.” This quote is the mantra of the film, and we come to believe it with our whole hearts, minds and bodies. If you want to renew your vows dance, or make someone else fall in love with dance, go see this film. You will be transformed and feel much better for it.

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;” – Shakespeare

"B.A. Ches" by Marta Ares & Susana Barberá

Last week I found myself on the west end and ducked into the Chelsea Art Museum for a cool respite and to see some refreshing perspectives on the urban chaos outside. The new “Streetwise” video art exhibition reflects Shakespeare’s sentiments very well with over a dozen short pieces that depict the drama of “the streets” and the complex interactions that occur there.

The streets represent both liberation and the hazards of life. From dog poop to crime, we  create elegant ways of moving around obstacles and intractable social problems. This mutability is illustrated to lovely effect in Marta Ares and Susana Barberá’s B.A. Ches where a tango couple dances around pot holes, mud and trash in the streets of Bueno Aires.

"Bandits" by Tiong Ang

The various faces of traffic are shown in Tiong Ang’s Bandits as Thai motorcylists are depicted in close-up wearing bandanas to battle the smog. Their covered faces and the loud roar of engines gives them a menacing look, like a pack of outlaws waiting to entrap innocent wayfarers. In III Crossing, June Bum Park uses her hand in front of the camera while shooting a busy intersection below her to give the effect of corralling pedestrians. Park’s simple technique seems to reveal the “invisible hand of god” pulling the strings of the tiny ant people below.

The friction between performance artists and unwitting pedestrians is also endlessly fascinating to observe. In Halil Altindere’s Miss Turkey, various performers try to disrupt the flow of traffic in outlandish ways, from a volley ball team that sets up a net across a busy street at every red light, to a bride in a wedding dress walking through a mall with a gun in her hand and a three piece marching band behind her. We see almost no interest from passersby to these various stunts, and this is particularly disturbing when a masked gunman lurks around a doorway waiting for someone to come out. Scores of pedestrians walked by him, impervious to the impending violence.

Miyata Jiro: Business in Rio de Janeiro

Interestingly, it seems that non-living performance artists get more attention than their human counterparts. In Miyata Jiro: Business in Rio de Janiero by Momoyo Torimitsu, a robot that looks like an aging Japanese business man crawls through the streets attended by a Japanese woman in a nurse’s uniform. The sight of this crawling robot startles people wherever he goes — in poor favelas and up-scale business districts alike. I was left wondering why this robot elicits more feeling and concern from people than a real person would. Perhaps his artificiality helps people take down their guards, and indulge in feelings of curiosity and compassion.

Watching these witty and poignant videos also allowed me to let down my defenses for a bit and reflect on the outside world. When I reemerged into the hot, sticky streets I felt cooler and more even-tempered than before. I was able to see beauty in the flow of life around me and dance around the pot holes with a light step and an open heart.

by Nicholas Bruder

Pina Bausch was one of those living legends. Her work has been seen by many. Her influence is felt throughout the dance world, and her memory will live in the history books, although she had already infiltrated them.

Her choreography reached a wider audience when snippets of Cafe Muller was shown in Pedro Almodovar’s film Talk to Her. Bausch’s work had a raw and timeless cloud around it. Her pieces were about “things,” not just one “something.” Metaphor was huge. The relationships between men and women always being dissected and presented to an audience that never knew what exactly they were going to see when she premiered a new work.

And the scale of the pieces were unthinkable. Snow falling on stage for a whole second half of a show. A mound of dirt blocking half of the stage. Flowers, chairs, walls, screams, sweat, tears, bruises. All real. Although the visuals were impressive, I do not believe they were ever used to impress upon. I feel that her work was honest and humble. It was ugly and beautiful. If one opened themselves up to the experience of the dancers, they would leave exhausted, but not abused. Bausch was true to her vision and dancers. The audience had to take the role of accepting that and to enjoy the ride, no matter how uncomfortable it might get. The pieces always ended beautifully.

Her pieces were made to be seen in grand, large theaters, but the attention that she asked for, and got, from the audience, was that of an intoxicating program on television.

Her work, I feel, was living cinematogrophy. There are many clips of her work around the Internet that can be found and enjoyed. But the greatest news is Bausch’s collaboration with famous film director, Wim Wellers Wenders. Before she passed, they announced plans to create and film a retrospective documentary on Bausch, and in 3-D. Wenders had cancelled the production after her death, but through public opinion and the amount of letters he received from lovers of Bausch’s work, he will be continuing on with the project.

A 3-D film on the life and work of Pina Bausch. This might be one of the best gifts that the dance world will receive. And in 3-D!! It might seem cheesy, but personally I have only had the privilege to see one Bausch piece live, and I am welcoming the opportunity to see another, in a way, Bausch original.

by Dawn Paap

As mourning for dance GREATS have been felt deeply as of late, most recently with Merce Cunningham, Pina Bausch, Michael Jackson, and Frankie Manning, 2009 has balanced this sadness with jubilation and a renewed celebration for dancing.  Please view our weekly blog postings that pay tribute to each of these dance legends.

One dance icon who impacted me greatly was Frankie Manning, who’s unflagging vitality throughout his life (and into his 90’s) for dancing and performing inspired me to and many others to learn the exciting dance style called the Savoy Style or Lindy Hop.

Frankie Manning-the King of Swing

The Frankie Manning 95th Birthday Memorial in New York City commemorated the Lindy Hop legend, who sadly passed away peacefully on April 27th, just weeks shy of his actual birthday on May 26.  Swing dancers around the globe celebrated his 95th in true fashion by dancing all day and night until the music stopped!  (This is the philosophy of a Lindy Hopper, as you learn by viewing video footage of these dancers, young and old.)

Needless to say, Lindy Hoppers gave Frankie the swinging-est Memorial Festival ever!  For a complete viewing of Frankie’s Birthday Memorial, go to Frankie95.com, which offers a complete DVD box set of the event.

Frankie Manning was one of the last great swing dancers from the Jazz Age of the 30s and 40s.  As part of the Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, Frankie was a true innovator of the dance — creating the flashy moves and gravity-defying aerials (or air steps) that inspired a nation-wide movement of swing dancers.

He danced in several major motion-pictures, notably ”Hellzapoppin”.   This footage showcases Swing Dance Jam Circles in Lindy Hop and Frankie’s amazing aerials that make the Jam Circle ‘pop’ with excitement!

Frankie performed for stage productions, won national dance championships, and wow’ed audiences around the world.   Then, in 1984 Frankie became an “Ambassador of Lindy Hop” and spent 20 years inspiring a new generation of swing dancers around the world, from the United States to Singapore to Melbourne to Stockholm to Buenos Aires.

As a tribute to the swing dancing leader of lindy hop, over 2,000 people converged in New York City to celebrate the life and the dance of Frankie Manning.  During Frankie’s funeral service at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, couples dances in the aisles of the church and continued their memorial procession and dance through Central Park.

Lindy hoppers showcased Frankie’s legendary aerial moves during the ‘Hellzapoppin Dance Competition’, and danced throughout the evening.

During this celebration and across the globe, dancers performed the ‘Shim Sham Shammy’ line dance that Frankie taught us.  Enjoy this worldwide videodance tribute to the Shim Sham, made as a present by hundreds of swing dancers for Frankie for his 95th birthday.

Beyond the steps, Frankie Manning taught us how to be better people, not just better dancers.  He taught us to respect our dance partners as leads and allow ourselves as women to be treated like queens–while spinning, hopping, rolling, and flying over each other at incredibly fast speeds.  I loved learning his explosive aerials and playful moves during my training and performances in Lindy Hop.  He taught us to dance with joy and with passion, bouncing to the syncopated rhythm that defines east coast swing.

Frankie danced wonderfully in his 90’s, and is the perfect role model for lifelong dancing.  View the “Never Stop Swinging” online documentary done by PBS’s Channel Thirteen, which showcases Frankie’s dancing abilities throughout his lifetime, including scenes of Manning’s later birthday parties, where he danced with one woman for each year he’d been alive!

Frankie Manning has given the world so much, and he will be loved and cherished for generations to come.

The Lindy Hop continues to maintain a strong following, and classes, events and competitions can be found across the globe.  For information on the NYC swing scene and national swing events, check out www.yehoodi.com.

(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.

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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.

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