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.

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

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!

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

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

Maya Deren

By donation, popcorn will be served!

Sunday March 29 at 6pm
at the Radiant Movement

Please RSVP to secure your spot: info@RadiantPilates.com or 917.696.0648

She is looking for people who are established or emerging artists working on a project that fuses dance and technology.

Proposal Guidelines:

• include one main contact (even if you are applying as a group), address, email
• 1x A4 detail description of your project (participants, technology, software, techniques and styles used,location, idea, meaning, vision)
• 1x A4 of the applying person’s/group’s biography/ background, please include training, awards, selected performance, sponsors
• plus links to website(s), video clips, images to support your application
• please, apply in English
• there are no restriction: be as creative as you want!
• Yes, you can be a student
• email a Word Document or PDF (pdf preferred!) under 10MB to info@creationeditor.co.uk by December 16th, 2008 noon (Greenwich Mean Time).
• and put into email subject: “Dance Technology Promo”!

More info:
Sabine Klaus CE Ba Msc
www.creationeditor.co.uk
info@creationeditor.co.uk

Please note the new location below:

Pentacle Movement Media & Collective:Unconscious co-present:
Kinetic Cinema
Monday October 6th, 7:00pm (and the first Monday of every month)
$5 Admission (buy tix at the door)

IRT Theater
154 Christopher Street, Suite 3B (btw Washington & Greenwich Streets)
New York, NY 10014
Phone: 212.206.6875
Trains: 1 to Christopher Street, PATH to Christopher Street
Admission: $5
Space is extremely limited, so get there early!

The evening will include “The Way Things Go”, an award-winning film by Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss, that documents the chain-reactive performance of a 100 foot long kinetic sculpture made entirely of common household objects (click here for a teaser on YouTube). The second half of the program will  feature two rarely-seen volumes of a documentary project Elizabeth Zimmer appeared in and assisted on entitled “Downtown Dance-New York 2007″. The footage includes interviews with downtown dance favs Ivy Baldwin, Trajal Harrell, Keely Garfield, Larry Keigwin, RoseAnne Spradlin, and David Parker, shows samples of their work, and has brief introductions by Elizabeth.

Pentacle Movement Media & Collective:Unconscious co-present:
Kinetic Cinema
Monday October 6th, 7:00pm (and the first Monday of every month)
$5 Admission (buy tix at the door)

IRT Theater
154 Christopher Street, Suite 3B (btw Washington & Greenwich Streets)
New York, NY 10014
Phone: 212.206.6875
Trains: 1 to Christopher Street, PATH to Christopher Street
Admission: $5

Kinetic Cinema explores the intersection of dance and the moving image both on screen and stage. Each month I 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 influential on their work in some way. The guest curators come from a range of backgrounds as performers, choreographers, critics, and filmmakers. Next month on Nov 3rd, the collaborative duo, Kerrie Welsh & Sasha Welsh will show films and videos that have influenced their new multimedia performance “Trace Decay.”

Kinetic Cinema is part of Movement Media, my new project at Pentacle that provides screenings, consulting services, and online interactive programs for dancers about dance and media. More information will be available soon online at pentacle.org.

The Film Society is offering the affiliate price for DFA members at this week’s series of

Ballet Cineaste: Dominique Delouche (July 23-27)
Walter Reade Theater, Upper Plaza, 65th Street
(btw Broadway and Amsterdam Aves)
tix and info: http://filmlinc.org/

Dominique Delouche has devoted much of his working life to filming great
dancers who illuminated his youth, to preserve the tradition as well as
the memory of the dance from one generation to the next. This is the first
American retrospective of the dance filmmaker, whose devotional tone,
always sparked with humor, gave his career its special place. For further
information and to purchase tickets, please visit filmlinc.com. DFA staff
and members can purchase a pair of tickets at the discount price of $7
each. When buying online please select the affiliate ticket option. These
can be picked up from the Walter Reade Theater box office. If you buy
tickets directly from the box office please print out this email or give
the code DFADD08 to the box office to get the discount.

Deirdre says: “I can’t go unfortunately because I will be presenting dance on camera in
Burgos, Spain but I urge you to go. Dominique Delouche is a charming man
and he will be there to speak at all the screenings. My favorite one of
his films is KATIA & VOLODIA.”