| By Erik Nye Lynette Kessler, founder and executive/artistic director of Dance Camera West (DCW), is eager to convince me that Los Angeles desperately needs a dance film festival. Prior to DCW's inception in 2002, there was no venue dedicated to exploring the intersection of cinematography and choreography in Southern California's film industry capital city - despite the fact that there are 30+ dance film festivals worldwide, some of them in existence for more than 20 years. Not concerned with dance films in the traditional sense, Lynette is interested in the interstitial areas between media and performance, what she calls "an ongoing investigation into the state of movement" - how dance can be augmented through cinematic aesthetics. When used by a director who has an intimate understanding of choreography, the camera can provide a more immediate and deeper kinesthetic experience than if the dance performance were seen onstage. The editor and composer are also important "choreographers" in their own right, and it is by bridging the film and dance communities in Los Angeles that DCW creates a broader and more engaged audience for both. The festival, which started as a sold-out museum event at the Getty, is celebrating its sixth outing with a month-long event and expanding to venues from Santa Monica to downtown L.A., including a family-oriented screening on June 9 in the park at the Cheviot Hills Recreation Center. Continuing its increasingly interdisciplinary approach, this year's festival includes a four-screen, three-dimensional stereoscopic video dance installation (at the 18th Street Arts Center on June 20); a workshop on filming dance for the screen by Belgian dance film director Thierry DeMey; a program of documentaries on the surreal and neo-expressionistic German choreographer Pina Bausch (at the Hammer Museum on June 20) ; and a series of avant garde films from a diverse group of emerging artists from around the world (at REDCAT on June 1 and 2). The most notable addition to this year's festival is the inclusion of the first annual Choreography in Media Honors, honoring outstanding achievements from choreographers working internationally in film, television, commercial and music video. While this year's entries are decidedly apolitical, past festival entries have included an animated pas de deux for two wars toys and a documentary called Dance Under the Swastika that raised questions of artistic responsibility for the German dance community under Hitler. Often enough - whether at a screening of short dance films, a concert of contemporary music or a group show at an art gallery - one exceptional piece can make an event worthwhile. During last year's short film program, the exceptional was Burnt, a German fantasy/reality story set in the atrium of a cool, modern office building. Excellent production values, sound design, editing and narrative arc allowed the incredibly nuanced and powerful dance cinematography to shine onscreen. I look forward to seeking out a similar dance film experience at this year's festival. |
