Move The Frame

Anna Brady Nuse Bio

I am a videodancemaker as well as a producer, choreographer, dancer, arts administrator, and teacher based in New York. I began dancing at the age of 3 (although my mother says I started in the womb!), and have never stopped. My interest in videodance began at CalArts when I studied the films of Maya Deren - the mother of American independent filmmaking as well as dance for the camera. Her work inspired me to think of choreography in terms of the camera's frame as opposed to the proscenium stage, and a whole new world of creative possibilities opened up to me.

When I began to dance professionally in 1999, I was disappointed by the state of contemporary dance in America. Its lack of funding, audiences, and general irrelevance to the culture seemed like an unnecessary travesty. I was upset by the lack of support, but something was also wrong with the outlook of the dance community. We were striving for the good old days of year-round touring, cheap plentiful rehearsal space, large government grants, and packed houses. Those days were long gone, and we weren't prepared to move on.

The light bulb went on when I realized that dance for the camera could be a powerful promotional tool to tap into other media outlets. If people aren't coming to the theatre, then I figured we as dancers should try to reach them through their TV's, computers, video ipods and cell phones. In 2002 I formed Straight to the Helicopter, a performance and production group dedicated to creating and promoting a more movement-literate world through dance and media. I made my own videodances as well as an evening-length multimedia performance called "AvoiDances." In August of 2004 the pilot episode of "Move the Frame" aired on Brooklyn Community Access Television (BCAT). After 7 episodes showing dozens of videos from both local and international artists, I was potentially reaching tens of thousands of cable subscribers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. However I didn't know who my audience was and what they were thinking. Without interaction with my viewers I had no idea if the work was moving anyone.

In search of direct audience feedback, I produced several screenings in New York City and was the festival coordinator of the Dance Films Association's 2007 Dance on Camera Festival at Lincoln Center and Galapagos Art Space in NYC. I was also invited as a presenter to "Denzlenz, the seminar" in 2006, hosted by the Kri Foundation and the American Center in New Delhi, India. These experiences were very enriching and connected me to a rapidly growing international community of videodance presenters and festivals. However, producing live screenings didn't seem like enough. Without strong media outreach, live presentations tend to be elitist - generally only attracting a small group of people already "in the know". It was clear to me that in order for videodance to grow it needed to be a part of the greater cultural movement of social networking and internet 2.0.

So, I turned to Google... And to my dismay I only found very few videodance blogs that were open to public discussion and comments. In the information age, how could there be so little discourse on videodance? Along the way, my search brought me to Doug Fox's fantastic Great Dance Blog. His extensive survey and exploration of dance and the internet was my guide to figuring out how I could contribute and help bolster the fledgling videodance community through the web. Thanks to Doug's generosity and technical expertise, I started Move the Frame weblog.

Currently I am working on a new videodance called "Fünf 'n' Twist" to be shot in late spring 2008. Short studies and news of the development of this work will be posted on Move the Frame frequently. Also, I've recently returned to school to get a graduate certificate in Media Management at the New School. During my course of study I will develop a business plan for producing and distributing videodance content on the internet.