About
DCW News
Dance Camera West Announces Artistic Director Lynette Kessler Will Step Down in 2012
Staff List
Tonia Barber Executive Director
Sarah Elgart Director of Artistic Development
Lynette Kessler Advisor
Tonia Barber - Executive Director
An independent producer who formed a New York based entertainment company in 1998 called POP.403. The company first invested in Tumbleweeds, which was released worldwide by New Line after competing at Sundance in 1999. The next year Barber produced Interstate 84, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was sold worldwide. Barber then Executive Produced the racecar indie, QuattroNoza, which was in competition at Sundance 2003 and won best cinematography. After moving to Los Angeles 2003, Barber wrote, directed and produced the short film, RAW that premiered at Sundance 2005 and screened at the AFI FEST 2005.
Barber started her career as a dancer with the Joffrey Ballet in New York City and continued on to the Broadway stage. Her credits include “42nd Street” and was an original cast member in Tommy Tunes” NineTimeTony winner “The Will Roger’s Follies.” She has also staged and choreographed numerous plays, commercials and industrials.
Sarah Elgart - Director of Artistic Development
SARAH ELGART is an award-winning director and choreographer known for her work in stage, circus, film/television, site-specific and alternative venues. She has created choreography for a range of actors and recording artists, and worked with iconic directors including Catherine Hardwicke, Bob Giraldi, David Lynch and Anton Corbijn. From 1991-94, Sarah oversaw all aspects of the music performance numbers, music videos, and directed segments for the Disney Channel’s New Mickey Mouse Club. Her stage and site-work has been commissioned by major venues internationally. Sarah has worked extensively creating dance-theater and film within communities including transitional homeless women, maximum-security inmates, children facing illness, and more. From 1990-95, she ran the group MADRES, with residents of LA’s oldest shelter for transitionally homeless women, where she also founded La Boca Performance Space. MADRES toured to Europe and performed in venues including the Mark Taper Forum and National Women’s Theater Festival. Sarah was Co-Founder of Make a Film Foundation where she produced “Put it in a Book”, a short film by the award winning director Rodrigo Garcia, and this past year she directed a PSA that garnered an Emmy nomination. Sarah is a director member of the Directors’ Guild of America, an alumna and fellow of the American Film Institute DWW, and a founding member of Alliance of Women Directors. Her work is seen frequently under the auspice of Arrogant Elbow Productions.
Lynette Kessler - Advisor
In founding Dance Camera West in 2001, Lynette Kessler launched a film festival that has become a vital part of LA’s evolving cultural landscape. An accomplished dancer, choreographer, and media artist with a MFA in dance from the University of Michigan and a BFA in dance from York University in Toronto, her innovative collaborations and dances for the screen have been shown in film and video festivals worldwide. “In showcasing a new medium that combines dance aesthetics with advanced cinematic technologies, each festival has made a strong statement on the current aesthetics of this evolving art form, presenting an overview of contemporary offerings of some of the most exotic experiments involving dance and the camera.”
Amy Kramer Counterintuity, Social Media and Online Marketing
Lisa Singelyn Counterintuity, PR and Social Media
Margo Katz CPA
