February 15, 2006

Dance Videos and Video Blogs

Thanks to Jo-Anne Green at network performances for her two dance posts from yesterday and today:

Today Jo writes about the videodance work of Mimi Garrard. On the Mimi Garrard Dance Theatre website you can watch "Creating Dance for Video, 2006." You can also visit the Videodance page to watch a number of additional videos choreographed by Mimi Garrard. Mimi Garrard has been creating dance videos since the 1960. The presentation of videos on this site is excellent. It's a nice change to be able to watch dance videos in an accessible and enjoyable manner. I'm getting tired of going to dance websites with video and having trouble finding the clips and playing the videos or having to view such small screens that it's impossible to know what you're watching.

And yesterday, Jo linked to Ying Zhou's Dance Diary. Ying Zhou is a dancer who grew-up in Beijing and lives in Seattle. On a November 17, 2005 post, she videotapes a dance piece for her blog and makes it available to visitors and then people can leave comments. I've always liked this idea of creating dance pieces for blogs and then providing viewers with an opportunity to communicate directly with a dancer/choreographer. I think it would be great to see this idea built upon and explored by many more dancers. This is one of the ideas I wrote about in my white paper on blogging.

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January 24, 2006

Article19's Twisted Assessment of Dance Films

Article19, an online publication for contemporary dance based in England, is not thrilled with the quality of dance film making. In an article by Jordan Kinsella, "5 Simple Steps," dance on camera productions are ripped to shreds.

The intro to this article reads.

Dance film making, dance for camera, call it what you want but almost without exception it is pretty poor in terms of invention, quality, ideas, quality, craft, design, movement, quality and of course the quality is appalling. Jordan Kinsella looks at five simple ideas for making dance film better and begs the profession for mercy, because we make him watch all this stuff.

Among the article's highlights include:

Sadly I get the impression that most dance film makers resemble cavemen after they discovered fire. Standing around it in large groups making grunting noises whilst poking it and getting their fingers burnt.

I have absolutely no idea what this author is ranting and raving about - he doesn't offer a single example of a terrible dance film. I've seen some wonderfully creative, compelling dance on camera productions.

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November 09, 2005

Mirror Dance Documentary Premiers Next Week On PBS

The new Mirror Dance website went up yesterday on PBS. Mirror Dance is a documentary, airing on November 15th, that traces the lives of Cuban-born identical twins that followed different dance careers and live paths after the Cuban Revolution of 1959.

By age 11 Ramona and Margarita de Saa both intended to pursue a lives in the ballet and both eventually became members of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba. But in 1964 Margarita left Cuba for political reasons and her family moved to Narbeth, Pennsylvania where she eventually founded the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet. And Ramonda, who stayed in Cuba, became director of the Cuban National Schools of Ballet.

This one-hour documentary, filmed in the US and Cuba, traces the lives of both sisters and their eventual reunion in Cuba after being separated for 40 years.

Just reading the website for Mirror Dance is moving - It will be great to see the film next week. The website features a Q&A with the filmmakers, background info. about the Cuban Revolution and a video clip. You'll find another clip on the website for Frances McElroy, the films co-producer and co-director.

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November 08, 2005

"Rhythm Is It" Review

Brendan McCarthy has an excellent post in his Dancerdance blog about the "Rhythm is it" documentary that follows Scottish choreographer Royston Maldon's efforts to prepare youngsters for a performance of Stravinsky’s "Le Sacre du Printemps" in Berlin.

From Brendan's write-up and the movie trailer, the film sounds wonderful and charming. "Rhythm is it" is available on the German Amazon.com, but not on the US Amazon.com.

Brendan emailed me that unfortunately the producers are having trouble distributing the film internationally.

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October 26, 2005

"Ballets Russes" Review

Aimee Ts’ao of the Dance Insider writes review of "Ballets Russes" which just opened at Film Forum in NYC.

To see playdates in US, visit Ballets Russes website.

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September 30, 2005

Ballets Russes Screening in NY

On Dance Films Association website I saw promotion for upcoming "Ballets Russes" film showings in US starting with Film Forum in New York on October 26th. (DC filming at E Street Cinemas on November 11th.)

You can learn about Ballets Russes film on dedicated website. And you can watch good trailer here.

Synopsis:

Unearthing a treasure trove of archival footage, filmmakers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have fashioned a dazzlingly entrancing ode to the revolutionary twentieth-century dance troupe known as the Ballets Russes. What began as a group of Russian refugees who never danced in Russia became not one but two rival dance troupes who fought the infamous “ballet battles” that consumed London society before World War II.

BALLETS RUSSES maps the company’s Diaghilev-era beginnings in turn-of-the-century Paris--when artists such as Nijinsky, Balanchine, Picasso, Miró, Matisse, and Stravinsky united in an unparalleled collaboration--to its halcyon days of the 1930s and ’40s, when the Ballets Russes toured America, astonishing audiences schooled in vaudeville with artistry never before seen, to its demise in the 1950s and ’60s when rising costs, rocketing egos, outside competition, and internal mismanagement ultimately brought this revered company to its knees.

Directed with consummate invention and infused with juicy anecdotal interviews from many of the company’s glamorous stars, BALLETS RUSSES treats modern audiences to a rare glimpse of the singularly remarkable merger of Russian, American, European, and Latin American dancers, choreographers, composers, and designers that transformed the face of ballet for generations to come. — Sundance Film Festival, 2005

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