The collaborative, and experimental nature of art practice can be very exciting. The editing choices are highlighted in a special way and disrupted with the choreography, showing the multiple layers of meaning. Just like portraits of dancers, and portraits of a time, where there are ideas tested in unusual locations. Good dance films bring attention to energies and transitions in the featured performers.
Motion State Dance Films Series is the US traveling short dance film festival in New England for contemporary creative voices exploring the choreography and dance for the camera. The festival is “on the road” and into non-traditional film venues, such as art galleries, music halls, performing arts theatres, and university classrooms, and they seek to expose the films and filmmakers of dance to new audiences. Motion State Arts is a non-profit organization that produces the Motion State Dance Film Series, Playing Favorites, Motion State Dance Festival, and Small Moves, Big Picture. Every screening is followed by a public Q & A with the curators. All festival artists are invited to take part in the conversation. Past venues have included Jamestown Arts Center (RI), Dean College (Franklin, MA), Newport Art Museum (RI), Zeiterion Theatre (New Bedford, MA), Columbus Theatre (Providence, RI), Redfern Arts Center (Keene, NH) and Troop (Providence).
Performances and screenings take place at WaterFire Arts Center’s Main Hall in Providence. Workshops and artist conversations take place at WaterFire and in local schools. The deadline is 5th of August 2022. If interested just go to. https://motionstatearts.org/call-for-films
It is organized by Ali Kenner Brodsky, David Henry, Lila Hurwitz, and Andy Russ.
Even though most of the dance films are made in the streets or in the studios, a theatre stage, a good example of creativity is the dance film of the Australian Track Dance Company I have found recently. It is by Australian video artist + editor Zoe Scoglio. Dancers here are like fish swimming through water. They dance in forms in this film: and move about and around in the frame of the water tank with real fishes at the Aquarium located at Territory Wildlife Park, in Darwin, Australia. The film was made at Jess Devereux’s artist’s residency 2014 where Zoe Scoglio used double exposure video and backlighting.