Dance for the Camera Festival and Workshop

Ellen Bromberg (ellenb@azstarnet.com)
Wed, 25 Aug 1999 13:55:56 -0700 (MST)

Scott,

Can you please post this to the listserv? Thanks, Ellen Bromberg

* * * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * * *

WHAT: DANCE FOR THE CAMERA FESTIVAL AND WORKSHOP

WHEN: Festival Screenings:
Friday and Saturday, September 17 and 18, 8:00 p.m.

Festival Workshop:
Saturday and Sunday, September 18 and 19, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

WHERE: University of Utah Department of Modern Dance
Marriott Center for Dance

Screenings: The Hayes-Christensen Theater
Workshop: Marriott Center for Dance

COSTS: Screenings: $5.50 each night
Workshop: $30.00 for both days
Workshop registration is limited. Please contact Ellen
Bromberg.

CONTACT: ELLEN BROMBERG, Festival Director
PH (801) 581-7327
FX (801) 581-5442

*Digital image available upon request

* * * * * * * * * *
The University of Utah Department of Modern Dance is pleased to
announce its first Dance for the Camera International Festival of Film and
Video Dance. The Festival offers two nights of screenings of both
historic and contemporary works spanning over 50 years and five countries.
These outstanding works represent the cutting edge of dance for the camera
then and now from such artists as Maya Deren, Merce Cunningham, Nam June
Paik, Bill T. Jones, John Sanborn, Douglas Rosenberg, Li Chiao-Ping,
Margaret Williams and Victoria Marks. For those interested, in addition
to the evening screenings, the Festival offers hands-on experience in a
separate two-day video-dance workshop for filmmakers, videographers,
choreographers, dancers, visual artists and others, taught by Guest Video
Artist Douglas Rosenberg and Modern Dance Assistant Professor Ellen
Bromberg.

Representing early work in cine-dance will be Maya Derens seminal
film "A Study in Choreography for the Camera." Created in 1946, this is a
highly influential work, that established completely new ways of looking
at dance. Made in collaboration with dancer Talley Beatty, Ms. Deren
matched two different shots taken out of doors and in a room, such that a
leap through time and space from one environment to another appears to be
an unbroken motion. Even though this technique may now appear familiar to
those exposed to contemporary television commercials, this pioneer film
still elicits in its audience a true kinetic exhilaration for the dance.
Also from this period is Shirley Clarkes "Dance in the Sun".
Choreographed and performed by Daniel Nagrin, Ms. Clarke also cut Nagrins
dance outside by the sea together with the same choreography performed in
a rehearsal hall. Nagrin would then leap from the shore and land on a
stage floor. It is an example of a dance that can exist only on film.

Also representing classic works for the camera is Merce
Cunninghams "Blue Studio." Directed by the Father of experimental video,
Nam June Paik, "Blue Studio" is an innovative investigation of the video
medium and merges technological advances with the movement and invention
for which Cunningham is known.

From France comes a contemporary work entitled "Emmy"
choreographed, directed and performed by Daniel Larrieu. Merging
choreography for the camera with projected images, "Emmy" exquisitely
layers environments and movement language to create a lusciously poetic
self-portrait.

Representing Great Britain is an award-winning work directed by
Margaret Williams and choreographed by American choreographer Victoria
Marks. "Outside In" won the 1994 Best Screen Choreography Award at the
IMZ Dance Screen Festival in Vienna, Austria. Ms. Marks calls "Outside In
an unusual journey along tracks and pathways both real and imaginary. It
is a voyage of discovery and surprises: a witty and affectionate
exploration of physicality, identity and movement that transforms our
understanding of dance.

Also being presented from England will be "Glasshouse," conceived
and performed by Richard Lowdon and Charlotte Vincent with direction by
Robert Hardy, and "Dadance," directed by Robb Horsley and Hugh Wheadon,
and choreographed by Hugh Wheadon and Emmie Elmaz. From Melbourne,
Australia is "Sure," choreographed and directed by T.B. Mitchell and from
Canada is "Tantalus," directed by Kevin J. Cottam and choreographed by
David Pressault. Also from Canada is "The Barbers Coffee Break," directed
by Laura Taler and choreographed and performed by Tedd Senmon Robinson.

From the United States works directed by Doris Chase, Bridget
Murnane, Hilary Harris, Douglas Rosenberg and John Sanborn will also be
presented. Other performer/choreographers include Bill T. Jones, Gus
Solomons Jr., Betty de Jong, Li Chiao-Ping, and Marcus Schulkind. Each
night of the festival different works will be shown.

Choreographer/Director Ellen Bromberg and Guest Video
Artist/Director Douglas Rosenberg have curated the screenings and will be
teaching the two-day workshop. Ms. Bromberg and Mr. Rosenberg have each
received awards for their video works which have been screened
internationally and broadcast nationally on PBS Television. They began
working together in 1992 and in 2000, their award-winning collaboration
"Singing Myself a Lullaby", will be broadcast on Wisconsin Public
Television.