Indigo Dance Company presents: An evening of Dance Film Shorts and their own film version of “Closer to…”

I am happy to report on this newest of Dance Film Festivals in Los Angeles, curated by Dani Burd, Founder/Director of Indigo Dance Company which took place at Stomping Ground L.A. SGLA is located in the beautiful neighborhood of El Sereno in East L.A. at 5453 Alhambra Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90032. Its Mission: “SGLA is a community arts space where people gather and create.It exists to inspire, to provide a sense of belonging, and to form community through the arts” (Website). SGLA was founded by Kate Hutter Mason. It is an impressive space with open-ended technical possibilities for a myriad of artforms. It is a much-needed entity for the Arts in Los Angeles and Dance in particular. At a time when funding is being withdrawn and many venues for performance are being closed, it gives one hope to see spaces such as Stomping Ground and Sierra Madre Playhouse producing and filling houses. I salute you both.

There were 14 films in all ranging from the seriously macabre to the delightfully irreverent. As I said, it is wonderful to have a forum for these artists to show their work and receive feedback and develop their own individual voices through movement on Film. This is a welcome addition to such prestigious Festivals as Dance Camera West/International Dance Film Festival which is also presented here in Los Angeles at the Barnsdall Gallery Theater at Barnsdall Art Park.

The atmosphere upon entering the space was one of casual comfort, where everyone was welcomed and made to feel at home. Truly many knew each other and the event was well anticipated among the followers of Indigo Dance Company. Many spread blankets and pillows out on the floor and laid back to take in the films. There was a serenity and a pleasant excitement of what was to come.

“Boyhood” by Krystal Castillo was the first film and showed a group of people cavorting and moving on a tarmac surrounded by beautiful green meadows. The group had a focus on one individual who was good-naturedly played with and jostled. They were messed with and then accepted in a group hug. It was a playful romp between friends made manifest through exacting gestural movement.

“Sofi” by Vanessa Moreno was a contemplation of one woman’s grind with the day-to-day. She wakes up and expresses through an expletive sigh that she is tired of the routine and longs for something more in her life. She remembers playing with Barbies in a more innocent time but now must deal with work and her car. A woman walks by her door and drops a lens cap from her camera unnoticed. Our Sofi finds it and picks it up – could an impromptu meeting be in the future?

“Always Forever” by Gemma Asfour has a young woman meet her friend on a tennis court where they proceed to dance and interact with expressive and specific gestural movement. We see the relationship between the two develop from friends to more. They need each other and then grow apart. One leaves and the other drags them back into an embrace not ready to let go but not able to remain together. It was a lovely juxtaposition of young love and then the growth that comes out of it.

“Now Boarding” by Zachary Vanegas & Maria Skakun had as its focus one man playing six different characters who all board the same small plane and run into turbulence. How each different character reacts to the crisis is sometimes funny and sometimes touching. There were many humorous bits to the interactions, including a dismissive flight attendant.

“Bloody Mary” by Drew Underwood was hysterical and ran in the same vein of “The Substance” and other horror stories. We see a young man in a bathroom mirror calming himself down before a blind date. He is a stutterer and is trying to sooth his nerves. He meets his date and things don’t go well. They are at the bar when he decides to order a Bloody Mary but stutters and says it three times in a row. This is where the fun begins as a certain Bloody Mary Demon from Hell takes possession of his date and comes close to curing his stuttering through very graphic means. This was a surprise, over the top and laugh out loud funny. I loved this film! There was no dancing per se, but a great deal of fight choreography equal to the same thing. Well-done Underwood.

“Friday Night In Harlem” by Camal Pugh was an homage to those fabulous 1920’s clubs such as The Cotton Club, The Savoy Ballroom and the Apollo Theater. We are treated to a backstage scene with “Big Mama” telling her girls how to dress and act and sell drinks. A newcomer shows up with his boys and tears up the dance floor when one of the club regulars calls him out. It takes one of the girls to calm the men down and get them dancing instead of fighting. This was great fun and reminded me of the Lindy Hop from “Hellzapoppin” (1941).

“This Feeling” by Sierra Tanji is an essay in introspective angst. Ably portrayed, the camera is close-up and seen through a vanity table where the woman is regarding herself in the mirror. She emotes and smokes and conveys her disquieted feelings by morphing her face and torso around and through the mirror. My advice would be to get away from that mirror and go for a walk and get some air. It is forensic in its focus.

“Eat That Up, It’s Good For You” by Camilla Noriega follows a woman who is about to meet for an important job interview via Zoom and she is nervous about it. She has second thoughts and doubts her abilities to fulfill the job she is presenting for. This is a fairly universal series of emotions familiar to anyone who has had a job interview that they really wanted. It is done well and the fantasy aspect allows our subject to calm down and regain her composure before the actual interview begins. The message: Relax and be yourself.

“Blood & Innocence” by Khala Brannigan. This film was like a diary entry as it had a running commentary from the performer that was prose but was so constant and full of metaphor and illusion that it took away from the visual impact of her doing her dancing in various beautiful outdoor scenes. It was a bit of overstimulation to the point where it was difficult to listen and/or to watch and comprehend the emotional impact of what was being said and shown. I thought the movement was quite stunning in certain landscapes but was  hard to process with the lyric voiceover.

“Motherlands” by Effie Spence was a lovely tribute to her elder relations back home in Greece and how they have cared for and taught her. She grew up as a citizen of both the U.S. and Greece and thanks her mother, aunts and other women for fostering in her a great trust and love of her little village in Greece as well as her extended friends.

“Bathory” by Fredis Antonio Flores was a contemplation of death as we are told this woman from Hungary in 1614 is responsible for thousands of cruel and tortuous deaths yet fears her own. We never learn why? Why did she abuse others so horribly? Why is she afraid of the consequences of her actions after the fact? She tries to reason with death and get answers but none are forthcoming. The script suffered from being written in Olde English which the performers had neither the vocal training nor the fluency to make compelling. I wonder if Flores has seen “The Seventh Seal” (1957) by Ingmar Bergman with Max Von Sidow as the Knight who challenges Death to a game of chess? I highly recommend it.

“Money” by Jordyn Apostolache was an entertaining and slightly biting view into corporate America. It was a group of dancers all working in an office with computers who “Want Money.” Sound familiar? There was a great deal of intricate unison choreography which was gorgeous and powerful in that setting. They also played with different levels of seriousness while performing which mimicked a snake-oil salesman taking your money for something they know is a sham. It was an appreciated double-entendre.

“Reptile” by Sierra Fujita began with two women bathing each other in a very calm and spa-like setting. The act of bathing was ritualistic as if pouring water over one another washed away the turmoil of whatever was acting upon them. The scene changes and we see them moving, dancing, gesticulating and giving voice to their frustrations and anxieties. At one point the movement becomes frantic and engages a primal scream. It seemed to me that a common current running through a great many of these films was human angst and frustration.

“Closer to…” by Dani Burd and Indigo Dance Company was a film based on a live performance I had attended at Highways Performance Space. There it had, as a driving force, the impulse to search for a way to bring us closer to our life source. While onstage that life source was a connection to others around us, here in the film it was reflected by different shots of the ocean and like the film “Reptile” before it, water reflects our health, our birthplace. There is a floor lamp present in many scenes which illumines the emotional antics of the individuals in the film. This lamp is also present on the beach in front of the ocean doing the same duty. At one point, one of the group on the beach walks up and turns the lamp off signaling the end of the film, and perhaps the end of humanity as well. The human presence from the ocean and at the ocean is absent. In this way I thought the underlying meaning of the title had changed from “Closer to our life source” to “Closer to our end.” It was a sobering detail that rang loud and clear. Cast in order of appearance:
Madi Thomas, Kaelie Osorio, Erika Rik Soto, Melissa Valenzuela, Dani Burd.

Founder/Director of INDIGO: Dani Burd
Produced by: Indigo Dance Company
Director of Photography: Madison Stonefield
Co-Directors of INDIGO: Erika “Rik” Soto & Madi Thomas
UPM: Cory Russell
Key Grip: Anthony Santos
PA: Austin Coombs
Edit: Dani Burd & Madison Stonefield
Colorist: Madison Stonefield
Styling: Odessa Newman

For more information about Indigo Dance Company, please visit their website.

---

Written by Brian Fretté for LA Dance Chronicle.

Featured image: “Closer to…” Indigo Dance Company – Director: Dani Burd – Photo by Madison Stonefield.