This is the 25th Anniversary of the Dance Camera West (DCW) festival of dance films. Dance on film is an art form in itself with the technology of cinema merged with the movement and choreography of dance creating a new hybrid. This year, Executive/Artistic Director Kelly Hargraves is presenting more films in the Visibility Program which is focused on LA based dance filmmakers and choreographers. For more information on this program see Jeff Slayton’s interview with Kelly Hargreaves on ladancechronicle.com. There were also films from different countries around the world. What I find fascinating about dance films are the various perspectives that the camera utilizes in seeing movement and relaying that to an audience. Close-ups, tracking, overhead shots and wide-angle all contribute differently to the overall emotional impact of any given movement sequence. That being said, there was a great deal of focused emotion exhibited by the films from the opening night of the festival.

DCW - “A State of Thirst" Directed by Vajrasara Ashavari - India - Screenshot courtesy of DCW.

DCW – “A State of Thirst” Directed by Vajrasara Ashavari – India – Screenshot courtesy of DCW.

“A State of Thirst” Director: Vajrasara Ashavari, Producer: Abhyuday Prem Khaitan, Choreographer: Vajrasara, Cast: Davin Teo Madhan, Country: India. This film focused on the natural resource of water, and how, in the near future, due to global warming, that resource will be in short supply. The film concerns a young man who is thirsty, looking for water and at one point collapses due to dehydration. Upon awakening and hearing water he sees a large wooden pole, about 20 feet high with a bottle of water attached to the top. He cannot knock it down as it is attached and so must climb up to get it. What follows is a Sisyphean effort through gymnastic contortion and exertion in order to reach that bottle of precious water. The film operates on a metaphor of what water means to us biological organisms dependent on it. He finally reaches the top and….. the bottle disappears like a mirage in the desert. Does this mean that there was never any water to begin with? Or, that no matter the histrionics that humanity goes through in order to sustain our fresh water supply, it is doomed to fail as we have already passed the point of no return in securing enough water for our future generations? It is a sobering and arresting view of what potentially lies in store for our species in the immediate future.

DCW - “Cut” Directed by Jesper Tonnes - Choreographed by Selene Munoz - Denmark - Screenshot courtesy of DCW.

DCW – “Cut” Directed by Jesper Tonnes – Choreographed by Selene Munoz – Denmark – Screenshot courtesy of DCW.

“Cut” Director: Jesper Tonnes, Producer: Jacob Jayantha, Jesper Tonnes, Anders Lindved, Choreographer/Dancer: Selene Munoz, Country: Denmark. We see a flamenco dancer enter a studio where a crew of cameramen and sound engineers and others are assembled in order to film her. They are all men, she is the only woman – dressed in a fiery red dress with her hair down. She acknowledges them and then begins her dance. She attacks the movement and is aware of the men looking at her. If she wants to stop the male gaze, she does not show it but instead challenges what they expect to see. Her strength, her power and emotion show through. Her physicality is tense and focused. Is she living up to their expectations or is she shattering them? An interesting take on the dichotomy of the performer and their identity.

“Organized Hope” Director: Amy Seiwert, Producer: Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, Choreographer: Amy Seiwert, Cast: James Gilmer, Libretto: Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Country: United States. This was a beautiful visual of a man in various nature scenes with a voiceover of him talking about moving forward even though aspects of himself are broken. He is human and so must continue as best he can with what he has. There are scenes at a beach with him reluctantly moving through the sand, and then in a forest wearing a long green bolt of cloth stretched out behind him. The words were full of promise; the awareness that having gone through difficult experiences makes one more beautiful. Much like the Japanese craft of Kintsugi – fixing broken ceramics using lacquer mixed with gold. As in the program notes, something becomes more beautiful through the stresses it has endured.

“The Sunset of Green Snails” Director: Mohammad Hasani, Producer: Mohammad Hasani, Mohammad Ghanefard, Choreographer: Mohammad Hasani, Cast: Zahra Raeisolsadat, Esmaeil Ahmadi, Composer: Sohrab Karamroudi, Country: The Islamic Republic of Iran. This film was a surrealistic journey of a woman encountering her demons and/or fears. Her calm place was on a bed under a tree upon which hung various dresses all lit from within. This is where she relaxed and watched T.V. at night. Her daytime was divided into scenarios where she was chased by a man with a stick intending to do her harm or encountering tree branches in the form of people and even getting caught in a bird cage from which she could not escape. There were plenty of metaphors and her boundaries and limitations all defined her. We were watching her realize herself in a dream.

DCW - “Burn From The Inside” Directed by Mthuthuzeli November - United Kingdom - Screenshot courtesy of DCW.

DCW – “Burn From The Inside” Directed by Mthuthuzeli November – United Kingdom – Screenshot courtesy of DCW.

“Burn From The Inside” Director: Mthuthuzeli November, Producer: Richard Bolton, Choreographer: Mthuthuzeli November, Country: United Kingdom. We read in the program notes that November would share moments of profound connection to others in his family by chanting around a fire in the sand. This ritual is played out in this film as six people sit in a circle on a bed of rocky gravel and express their own internal rhythms. The heartbeat, the breath, in turn building to movement that must be shared. There are fantastic physical punctuations to the rhythms described which evolved into full dances. All dancers wear long skirts giving a flowing essence to the movement.

“The Source” Director: Gilda Stillback, Sofia Norlin, Producer: Vanessa Labanino, Choreographer: Gilda Stillback, Cast: Aloun Marchal, Maria Phil, Sandy Harry Ceesay, Melinda Jacobson, Matilda Larsson, Mpululu Ntuve, Vincent Jonsson, Jasmine Attié, Isac Hellman, Country: Sweden. This was filmed in and around lovely ruins where we get the idea that a vast battle or war has taken place, some kind of titanic struggle where the people who are left are still fighting. The young adults see something and terrified, are running away or hiding. They are found and then begin anew. At times, an elder appears to console them and help them along. At the end we see the children taking up the fight and going on with it. Other times we see someone fall and they are out of the fight, the struggle. Can the struggles ever be over for these people? Because of the generational aspect of the fighting one thinks not. This film had a great deal of unison movement and then it broke out into individual solos which were beautiful and sad as the individuals eventually succumbed to the fight. They were then replaced by children and one saw the inevitability of ongoing turmoil.

DCW - “Quarce Upon a Time” Directed by Tommy Pascal - Choreographer/Dancer: Mikaella Kelly - France - Screenshot courtesy of DCW.

DCW – “Quarce Upon a Time” Directed by Tommy Pascal – Choreographer/Dancer: Mikaella Kelly – France – Screenshot courtesy of DCW.

“Quarce Upon a Time” Director: Tommy Pascal, Producer: Tommy Pascal, Choreographer/Dancer: Mikaella Kelly, Country: France. This film is an extrapolation of the life of Christina the Astonishing. Christina the Astonishing (c.1150 – 24 July 1224), also known as Christina Mirabilis, was a Christian holy woman born in Brustem, Belgium. Christina is primarily known for her legendary resurrection during her funeral mass. She also survived being engulfed in flames, submerged in freezing waters, and being attacked by wild dogs. She was tortured and persecuted at one point and survived that as well. Performed by Mikaella Kelly we see her version of Christina being pursued and captured, held against her will and escaping again. It is at once a tribute to the eccentric Holy Woman of the Middle Ages as well as an acknowledgment of the female modern artist and their struggles with creativity, acceptance, and equity. One may think of Camille Claudel or Artemisia Gentileschi. The question arises: How many female saints were women not adhering to the social norms of their time? Or how many were desired and put upon by men who, when refused, made their lives miserable? This film opened an entire “What if?” scenario underlining that Art, at least good Art – makes us think.

“Dance Map” (Dense) inspired by La Ville danseé 2024, Paris Dance Project – Artistic Director: Benjamin Millepied, Text from “Invisible Cities” written by Italo Calvino. Director: Fabien Truong, Co-Producer: Paris Dance Project, LA Dance Project, Cast: Solenne Du Hays Mascré, Christian Longchaml, Fabien Truong, Françoise Vergés. The program note states: “One day in Paris and its outskirts… Dance is dense.” This proves true as we follow a few different people throughout their day in different neighborhoods from the south of Paris through the city to the north. Some groups are moving in the morning in a vast parking lot while others we find in their apartments in more intimate settings. Everybody moves in this film as a contemplation of society. This serves as an anthropology of dance seen through site-specific work in public spaces. From a parade/protest in a narrow street to the rooftop of a sports stadium with acres of empty space we see humans moving. There are many historical places seen from the perspective of movers who simply utilize the surroundings in order to express themselves physically. And isn’t this what humans have been doing since Gobekli Tepe, Stonehenge, and the Pyramids? Physically actualizing their space? This is a provocative and illuminating film concerning human development within the confines of Homo Sapiens’ capacity and ability to move.

I highly recommend attending the Dance Camera West series in any way you can. The films offer such a wide array of insight and artistic perspective that no person can view them without in some way being moved, altered, or made more aware of the incredible possibilities of the human condition.

To learn more about Dance Camera West, please visit their website.

For more information about Barnsdall Gallery Theatre, please visit their website.


Written by Brian Fretté for LA Dance Chronicle.

Featured image: DCW – “Organized Hope” Directed by Amy Seiwert – Choreographed by Amy Seiwert – United States – Screenshot courtesy of DCW.