Posts Tagged ‘iphone’

Richard Daniels saw an opportunity. The 60 year old choreographer and photographer was recovering from a shoulder injury in 2008 when he got the idea of making a series of dances for the small screen. At the time iPhones were the hottest thing since Gutenberg’s printing press, and Apple’s new app store was just beginning to explode. Daniels no doubt looked around and saw that there was an app for everything under the sun, except modern dance.

With his winning idea, Daniels garnered support from the Baryshnikov Art Center to develop “Dances for an iPhone” over two years as an artist in residence at their facilities. In another genius stroke, Daniels chose well-loved, seasoned modern dancers such as Carmen deLavallade, Megan Williams, and Deborah Jowitt to perform his choreography. The resulting volume of six short videos, are neatly packaged in an app now available for free on iTunes.

Perhaps my expectations for “Dances for an iPhone” were set a little too high. On July 15th Gia Kourlas, gave the app a glowing review in the New York Times, for its artistic approach to filming dance, but when I downloaded and looked at the works, all I saw were a bunch of short dance videos that looked like any other rehearsal footage found on YouTube. The handheld camera is shaky most of the time, and often zooms in on the dancer’s face, cutting off our view of the movement and choreography. The lack of focused lighting causes the dancers to go in and out of silhouette, and I was constantly aware of the fact that they were performing for us in a dance studio, rather than transporting me to a world of the artist’s making. For me, the framing of the camera should fundamentally change the dance and make it exist on screen in a way that it could never be in a live performance. I didn’t see any videos in “Dances for an iPhone” that gave new meaning to the dances performed, instead I wished I could see them live rather than on my tiny screen.

Furthermore, I question why these are “Dances for an iPhone” at all. As an “application” the package doesn’t give you much to play with. It’s really just a collection of short videos, with a bit of biographical text for each. Surely you could accomplish the same thing by making a video podcast (also downloadable and viewable on an iPhone, iPod or iPad), or a YouTube channel for that matter. When I think of an app, I expect there to be in interactive component of some kind such as the infamous “Brushes” app that was used to create two New Yorker covers by artist Jorge Colombo. If it isn’t highly interactive, then I expect an app to offer me something new to explore every time I open it, such as my new favorite, the “NPR Music” app that consolidates all of the latest NPR music content in easy to search categories that are up-dated daily.

I suspect that Mr. Daniels saw an opportunity to package his art in a way that was so exciting and novel, it would succeed no matter what. He can now say that he created the first iPhone app featuring modern dance (although that might be debatable as I saw an app for the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company that came out in 2010). The fact that it has no business being an app is besides the point, in the high stakes game of technological development, he who gets there first is the winner.

Still, I’m glad someone in the modern dance world has taken the plunge to create an app. The proliferation of apps is not going to die down any time soon, and we may be seeing a new revolution in the media industries: the way television superseded film and radio, mobile is now threatening to do the same. Since Daniel’s app has left much room for improvement, let’s hope that new upstarts will jump into the ring soon and give us better ways to capture and experience dance in the palm of our hands.

by DAWN PAAP

Use the BOXCAR application on your iphone and receive a Tweet ‘reminder’ about Movement Media’s UMOVE Online Videodance Festival on October 1st! This way you can view the Film Festival easily on your iphone.

Watch the official selections for UMOVE Touring Festival and enjoy other submissions by Video Artists and Dancers.  After viewing the videos, share a comment with us, and let us know what you think of these Dance Film shorts.  We’d love to hear your feedback!

To follow us on Twitter go to: http://twitter.com/MovementMediaNY

Want a reminder about the UMOVE networking party and fundraiser happening this Sunday evening -or- want to invite someone you know to attend?  You can receive a Tweet invitation & RSVP to attend our UMOVE Launch Party in NYC! For details, go to: http://tinyurl.com/mjkdrk.

Launch Party, Sunday, October 4th, offers 2 screenings (7:30 & 9:30pm), electronic music & video mixing, live dance performances, and networking for video artists, film makers, composers, and dancers!

Be a part of Movement Media’s Fundraising Party to support dance film makers. Come and meet a network of professionals who can help you create your own videodances and dance promo videos!

To RSVP to event now, go to: http://tinyurl.com/mjkdrk.
We look forward to seeing you there!