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For Immediate Release: April 26, 2010
Dance Camera West
Announces Program Schedule For
Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival
Throughout Los Angeles – June 2010
LOS ANGELES, CA – Dance Camera West (DCW), recognized internationally for its month-long presentation and celebration of dance on screen, announces the programming for its ninth annual Dance Media Film Festival screening at venues throughout Southern California in June 2010. Dance on screen, or “screendance,” is a unique cinematic experience that focuses on the intersection of cinematography and choreography. The festival includes this as well as all forms of dance media. “The hybrid screendance medium is diverse, encompassing a broad range of cinematic styles, exhibition formats, and subject matters traversing global perspectives,” says Dance Camera West founder and director, Lynette Kessler, “The festival includes everything from experimental shorts to documentaries – ranging from surreal visual abstractions to strict narratives.” Once again DCW partners with the city’s most prominent venues in offering a host of screenings, installations, and panel discussions with visiting international artists. Please visit DCW's website for continuous updates at www.dancecamerawest.org.
Dance Camera West’s ninth annual Dance Media Film Festival opens at the REDCAT Theater in downtown LA, with its celebrated opening night party on Friday, June 4, 2010. The opening weekend, entitled “ScreenDance: A New Visual Language,” will captivate audiences on Friday and Saturday night with three separate programs of screendance short films from around the world. On Thursday, June 10th look for DCW media installations at the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk. The following weekend DCW will present two days of programming at the Hammer Museum’s Billy Wilder Theatre - “Weekend at the Hammer” - which will include the “Pina Bausch Symposium” on Saturday, June 12th (two films will be screened: Pina Bausch [2006], Dancing Dreams [2010] and Q&A’s with director Anne Linsel), and on Sunday, June 13th experience “SurREEL Moves: Weird & Wonderful Experimental Dance Shorts.” Join industry insiders at the 4th installment of the Choreography Media Honors on Wednesday June 16th at the Screen Actors Guild for “Choreographers In Media: A Panel Discussion.” On the evening of June 19th, DCW showcases work from Los Angeles-based creators in its “Local Makers” program with an entertaining outdoor, community event at the Cheviot Hills Recreation Center. The final weekend wraps up with “Movement Media Installations” on Saturday June 26th, a closing reception in Beverly Hills at Timothy Yarger Fine Arts. Then on Sunday evening DCW presents Dzi Croquettes, a lively Brazilian documentary at Grand Performances.
Known as one of the world’s premiere presenters of dance media, Dance Camera West aspires to awaken and infuse the public mainstream with critical creative programming. DCW has expanded the audience for dance in Southern California with the presentation of more than 1,000 dance films from 45 countries since its inception in 2002.
“Dance media is pushing art in a new direction,” says Kessler, “as choreographers and directors continue to fuel innovation and impact the way we perceive art and life.”
Dance Camera West founder and executive/artistic director Lynette Kessler is an accomplished dancer, choreographer, and media artist with an MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan and a BFA in Dance from York University in Toronto. Known for her innovative collaborations and dance work for the screen that have been shown in film festivals worldwide, Kessler has received numerous awards including a Lester Horton Dance Award, Alden B. Dow Creativity Fellowship, and an artist residency at Headlands Center for the Arts. She is a founding member of Media & Dance Network (MAD), has served on dance film review committees for EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center) Commission, American Choreography Awards, Dance on Camera Festival in New York, Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film in Toronto, and is a guest lecturer at UCLA, UC Irvine, and Cal Arts. Kessler sits on the board of directors for the following organizations: Buckminster Fuller Institute, Dance Channel TV, and the California Ear Unit. She is an active member of the advocacy groups: Arts for LA, California Arts Advocates, and Americans for the Arts. And she’s also on the Media Arts Advisory Committee to guide the new Media Arts initiative creating a fifth arts discipline for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).
Dance Camera West is a nonprofit organization committed to fostering and promoting the vibrant art of dance media from around the world. DCW aims to bridge the unique mix of film and dance communities in Los Angeles through the exploration of this hybrid genre. DCW also strives to create a broader and more engaged audience for dance and dance media by merging both performance and cinematic aesthetics. DCW is one of only a handful of organizations in the world that present dance media and the only one of its kind on the West Coast. The 2008 and 2009 festivals were featured in FOX News segments, Los Angeles Magazine selected Dance Camera West as its “Pick of the Month” for the June 2008 issue, the Los Angeles Times selected the Dance Camera West Media Film Festival as one of the “Ten Best” dance events in Los Angeles for 2006 and 2007, and DCW was voted one of the “Top 25 Dance Organizations to Watch” by Dance Magazine in 2005 and 2006.
In addition to the planning of the upcoming June 2010 festival, Dance Camera West is also preparing a special 10-year anniversary event for 2011. In celebration of this milestone, the organization will host an international Dance Media Symposium in downtown Los Angeles next year, bringing together artists, dancers, educators, and film/television industry professionals. With a working title of Dance Media: The Active Spectrum, 2011 conference participants from the dance and media worlds will come together for a conversation on the exciting opportunities for expansive growth, creative expression, and innovation offered by new media. In addition to a full program of evening screenings, the 2011 anniversary event will also include a unique series of daytime panel presentations, guest speakers, and networking opportunities. A steering committee for the conference is being formed with notable artists and leaders from the international dance media community.
This year’s 2010 Dance Camera West festival is supported in part by Mortimer Levitt Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, Chora, a project of the Metabolic Studio, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
See below for DCW’s June 2010 Festival Schedule:
Fri. June 4 [8:00pm] and Sat. June 5 [6:00pm & 8:00pm] at REDCAT [downtown LA]
"Screendance: A New Visual Language" (contains adult content) - Opening night screening and party on Friday followed by two different screening programs on Saturday. In three unique experimental shorts screening programs, held during the first two days of the festival, this collection of innovative dance films represent a survey of what’s happening in the current state of screen-dance from around the world, which explores the intersection between movement and cinema. This year’s REDCAT program includes two world premieres and 24 films from a dozen different countries such as Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Belgium, USA, Canada, and Ireland.
- Fri. June 4 – 8:00pm – Screening followed by Opening Night Reception
- Sat. June 5 – 6:00pm – Screening
- Sat. June 5 – 8:00pm – Screening (all three screenings different)REDCAT, Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater in Walt Disney Concert Hall)
631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213 237-2800; http://redcat.org)
- Tickets $15 opening night, $10 for other screenings
Thu. June 10 [5:00pm - 9:00pm] [downtown LA]
DCW Installations at Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk
DCW will take part in the increasingly popular Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk. DCW will curate outdoor media installations including “Body/Traces,” a commission from EMPAC (Jaffe Foundation Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center), other installations TBA.
“Body/Traces” by Lisa Parra and Sophie Kahn
“Body/Traces” is a fascinating media installation that examines the body by reducing it to lines through the interaction of three-dimensional media, movement, sound and the environment. The tranquil piece about perception presents an interesting juxtaposition as it exerts itself within the context of the legendary art walk masses.
The Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk is a free, self-guided tour of the many art exhibition venues in Downtown LA. It takes place on the 2nd Thursday of every month. It began in September 2004 and has grown enormously since, with many thousands of people attending every month (50,000 in March 2010). More than 40 galleries and museums participate throughout the central downtown area, within the walkable districts between the Grand Avenue/Disney Hall/MOCA area, Little Tokyo, and the Financial District, centered around Gallery Row on Main and Spring Streets in the Historic Core.Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk - www.downtownartwalk.org
- specific locations TBA – see DCW’s web site for updates
- Free
Sat. June 12 [4:30 & 7:00pm] and Sun. June 13 [7:00pm] at the Hammer Museum [Westwood]
“Weekend at the Hammer” - three programs over two days at the HammerSaturday - 4:30pm -
- Saturday – “Pina Bausch Symposium” Pina Bausch, a master of transformative theater, surreal stagings and an incomparable brand of neo-expressionist dance, was one of the greatest dance artists of the last 40 years. Join us for a symposium with two West Coast film premieres and conversation with Bausch’s long time collaborator, film director Anne Linsel. Co-presented by the Goethe Institute.
- Sunday – “SurREEL Moves” (experimental screendance shorts)
Pina Bausch (Germany, 2006, 45 min. +30 min. discussion with director Anne Linsel)
From confused and irritated audiences to standing ovations worldwide, Pina Bausch shares stories of her journey in this documentary starting with forming her company Tanztheather Wuppertal in the early 1970’s to creating over 30 astonishing works. Co-presented by the Goethe Institute.
Saturday - 7:00pm -
Dancing Dreams (Germany, 2010, 89 min. followed by Q & A with co-director Anne Linsel)
The documentary centers around a group of high school students rehearsing for a performance of one of Pina Bausch's signature pieces, "Kontakthof" (Comfort Zone), a stylized presentation of the entanglements of the sexes. Co-presented by the Goethe Institute.
Sunday - 7:00pm -
“SurREEL Moves: Weird & Wonderful Experimental Dance Shorts” (85 min.)
From poetic to peculiar, this collection of recent award-winning international dance shorts presents both kinetic and immobile bodies in space, defying traditional notions of dance. Sushi, reindeer, and a bright pink wig triumph in this program of smart, cool and LOL dance media.
Hammer Museum – Billy Wilder Theater 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024Wed. June 16 [7:00pm - 9:00pm] at Screen Actors Guild [Mid-Wilshire]
(310-443-7000; www.hammer.ucla.edu)
- FREE admission, no reservations required; seating is first come first served
Choreographers In Media: A Panel Discussion
Presented by Dance Camera West and held in association with Screen Actors Guild and Career Transitions for Dancers
This years Choreography Media Honors will be presented as a panel discussion featuring today's working choreographers. Dance makers continue to create iconic moments that shape film history for audiences all over the world. The panel will discuss how they create work for the camera and the role they play at the intersection of dance on screen.
This is the fourth installment of the Choreography Media Honors. All are welcome - dancers, choreographers, industry leaders, and dance aficionados - to celebrate and strengthen LA's dance community.
- Moderated by Larry BillmanSat. June 19 [8:00 – 10:00pm] at Cheviot Hills Recreation Center [West LA]
- The panel will be followed by a reception.
- Panelists TBA
Screen Actors Guild - James Cagney Room
5757 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323-954-1600, www.sag.org)
- Free
“Local Makers – LA Choreographers and Directors” - Outdoor Screening
DCW will host over 25 local makers of media and dance in an outdoor screening event in the park behind the Cheviot Hills Recreation Center. The landscape will be transformed into a cinematic cross-cultural display with five different screening areas. Each screening area will run the gamut of local talent from established artists such as Mitchell Rose, Morleigh Steinberg, Roberta Shaw, and Cari Ann ShimSham to emerging artists and students from LAUSD middle and high schools. For this family-friendly evening please bring a flashlight and a blanket, and join in the fun under the stars.
Cheviot Hills Recreation CenterSat. June 26 [7:30pm-9:00pm] at Timothy Yarger Fine Art [Beverly Hills]
2551 Motor Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90064 (310-837-4233)
- Free admission, no reservations required
Movement Media Installations
Timothy Yarger Fine Art of Beverly Hills will host DCW’s closing weekend reception. Join DCW for a collection of select media installations with an emphasis of body and movement.
An internationally recognized art gallery exhibiting modern and contemporary art, Timothy Yarger Fine Art is grounded in the historic artwork of the Modern Masters and pop icons of the 20th Century, alongside established contemporary painters, printmakers, photographers, and new-media artists.
Timothy Yarger Fine ArtSun. June 27 [8:00pm] at Grand Performances in California Plaza [downtown LA]
354 N Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 (310-278-4400; www.yargerfineart.com)
- 6:00pm – open to VIP and DCW members, 7:30 - 9:00pm – open to the public
- Free
Dzi Croquettes (adult content)
Dzi Croquettes is a revealing Brazilian documentary that explores the legacy of the daringly original, all-male dance and theater group by the same name resembling a late-20th-century version of the Ziegfeld Follies. The cabaret group - Dzi Croquettes - used an empowering sexuality to counter Brazil's military dictatorship and revolutionize the gay movement worldwide during the 1970’s. The documentary is Tatiana Issa and Raphael Alvarez's pleasure-packed exploration of the group's impact, using a multitude of talking heads and period footage to chronicle the troupe's seminal influence on their time and today's culture.
- Best Documentary Jury Award and Audience Award Rio de Janeiro Film Festival
- Portuguese with English subtitles
- Brazil 2009, 95 minutes
Grand Performances at California Plaza
300 - 350 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90013 (213-687-2190; www.grandperformances.org)
- Free
More June dates, venues and programs TBA for Dance Camera West's Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival. Please visit DCW's website for continuous updates - www.dancecamerawest.org.
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For more information, press passes, photos, or to interview DCW’s founder Lynette Kessler, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Hasty at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.
