ARTS REVIEW: DANCE CAMERA WEST

A Visual Language Which Happens at the Intersection of Choreography and Cinematography

By: Melissa Berry

June 9, 2010

(June 2010 in Los Angeles) REDCAT, which is part of the Disney Complex in Downtown Los Angeles, has become the permanent host to all the muses who inspire literature and art. The opening night and reception, celebrating the beginning of the annual Dance Camera West Film Festival season, paid homage to the muse of dance but also included five or six other muses. This isn’t surprising, since REDCAT is truly the chameleon of theatres. It is essentially a “black box” as conceived by Peter Brooks in the ’60s and written about in his book, The Empty Space. As an “empty space,” it easily lends itself to any kind of performance art. On June 4th, the proscenium was created by a gigantic screen which filled the stage. Remember, this is called Dance Camera West for a reason, with “camera” being the operative word. We’re watching dance through the eye of the camera, and the camera has the ability to direct our focus, as opposed to a live dance performance where we have choices. Because of this, the performance presented is much more personal and specific; the filmmaker is showing us what they want us see.

The Dance Camera West Dance Film Festival takes place annually in June and is a city-wide event across Los Angeles. This year’s three programs of Dance Media Innovations include 23 films: three world premieres and 20 West Coast premieres (most are US premieres). Fourteen countries are represented in this year’s collection of dance media — a new visual language which happens at the intersection of choreography and cinematography.

The opening evening at REDCAT was comprised of five different films ranging from four minutes to 23 minutes. No matter the length, each one has its own beginning, middle and end, even if it isn’t immediately discernible; it is there as you choose to make it. In some cases, we just had to find it first…but isn’t that what art is all about? Seeing art and then making it our own whether we like it or not? This evening was no different. Out of the eight short films, some were more compelling than others. Some of the shorter ones said the most, such as the opening film Beguine. In just four minutes, it takes us on a journey that begins with a divinely earthy tango, and then whirls us whimsically through time and space not unlike Jacque Tati’s Monsieur Hulot movies. Mahjong creates a piece of time using the nonverbal communication of dance, with different moods infused into the Mahjong game being played with an accompanying voice-over. All this reveals the complexity of cultural identity which may be unfamiliar to many of us. Flow exposes us to the art of free-running across the architecture of Rotterdam. The young men in it, their fearless exuberance, and the feeling of daredevil freedom it creates could be felt throughout the audience as we safely went with them on this adventure.

Several of the films were very serious, angst-ridden, soul-searching pieces that could have used an editor since the audience, myself included, starting shifting in our seats after several minutes of watching what soon became self-indulgence to the point of “audience abuse.” A little angst goes a long way.

Luckily, the last two offerings were charming as well as skillful.  They told entirely different stories, ending the evening on a totally upbeat note. I should have guessed something was up when the evening began with the introductions of the filmmakers sitting in the audience included Cari Shim Sham. Being familiar with the term “shim-sham” as a form of tap dancing that originated at the end of Vaudeville and live stage shows in the late ’20s and early ’30s, I knew we were somehow going to be treated to an old fashioned “sand dance.”  We were, and it was wonderful. Sand tells the story of a sand dance as it is passed down from father to son. Not only did we get to see some great “hoofing” but also the respect and love between a father and son with the erasure of the generation gap as they exchange riffs.

The last film of the evening was entitled Advance. As the program states: “One dance. Two minutes. Fifty locations.” It’s a skillful compilation of unique choreography, ambitious camerawork, and a spirited pair of dancers who created a guileless, thoughtful and entertaining Chaplin-esque scenario. It was the perfect end of the evening. Except, for me, the evening wasn’t quite finished.

I’d been sitting next to a filmmaker this evening who has a piece in Dance Camera West’s month-long series. Gail Conrad’s work, The Great Dancing War, will be presented later in the month. Naturally, I came home and watched it on YouTube. It’s a wonderful ensemble piece that has all the elements of good storytelling with dance. It’s unselfconscious and clever without being “cutesy.” Ms. Conrad didn’t say much about her piece during the evening; in fact, I really had to grill her about it, but I was able to ascertain that she made it in Prospect Park in Brooklyn over the course of two days. There are all sorts of these gems which will be screened throughout the program for the rest of the month from this non-profit organization.

Dance Camera West didn’t just spring from the head of Zeus full-blown like Athena. It sprang from the head of Lynette Kessler, and had been long in the making to achieve global recognition as one of the leading sources to learn about and experience this vibrant screen-dance genre. “The hybrid screen-dance medium is diverse, encompassing a broad range of cinematic styles, exhibition formats, and subject matters traversing global perspectives,” says its founder and director. “The festival includes everything from experimental shorts to documentaries, ranging from surreal visual abstractions to strict narratives.” Besides screening cutting-edge screen-dance films (think experimental shorts), Lynette Kessler’s festival also screens a few documentaries each time.

Dance Camera West will continue through the rest of June with all the performances being FREE!, but you must call for reservations. For further information and the complete schedule for the month, go here.