Dance Camera West' Fifth Los Angeles Film Festival will convince you that words aren't enough to describe in moving detail -as dance gloriously does- the triumphs and follies of the human condition. Above, dancers from the films 'Tremor' (left) and 'Blush'

Blame it on the pervasive movie culture we live in but it would sometimes appear as if we think that in our day and age, techno-wizardry is all we need and that human skill is now relegated to a second plane.

Well, not if the subject is Dance in its many manifestations.

Dance, like a fine wine, can’t be faked. Dance, for the distracted retina, amounts to little more than movement but for those who understand the subtleties of what it intends to whisper, Dance is nothing short of a form of religious faith.

We seem to forget that for millennia, Dance has been the finer language able to communicate the intricacies of human emotion that words often fail so miserably to convey. To bypass the time-differential between you saying something and someone actually ‘listening’ to it, you might as well shut up and begin dancing as gracefully as you can.

Bodies are entire vocabularies. Movement turns these vocabularies into full fledged modern dialects able to express with raw beauty all that which so often evades our verbose words. Above, dancers from the films 'From where I'm standing' (left) and 'Burnt' (right)

 

If you are an adoring fan of anything associated with modern dance, trust me, trust me, trust me: this is one fine film festival –centered around the relationship of choreography and photography- that you won’t want to miss out. The LA scene is populated with dozens of film festivals year round but few rise to the uniqueness and raw beauty of the dance material usually presented here, at the Dance Camera West’ yearly Film Fest.

On its fifth year, Dance Camera West (DCW)’s Annual Los Angeles Film Festival features radical and experimental shorts, documentaries, installations and interactive performances on dance from all over the planet. The festival is a ‘unique cinematic experience that focuses on the intersection of cinematography and choreography’ and it ‘showcases the most innovative examples of dance for camera’.

The show organizers have curated entries from all over the world and the series will be shown at different venues across Los Angeles during the entire month of June; including true powerhouse art spaces like REDCAT, The Hammer Museum, The American Cinematheque and others. The festival is also partnering with the Los Angeles Film Festival and it will be shown in other locations at the same time than selections from the LA Film Fest.

Below, you'll find the details on the entire program.  

Dance Camera West Film Festival 2006

Celebrates Fifth Year Bringing Dance Films

From Around the World to Los Angeles

Over 50 Films Screened Throughout June 2006

(Los Angeles, CA) - Dance Camera West’s fifth annual Los Angeles dance film festival, features the newest experimental shorts, documentaries, installations and interactive performances on dance from around the world in a month-long series of screenings and events in June 2006.  A unique cinematic experience that focuses on the intersection of cinematography and choreography, the festival showcases the most innovative examples of dance for camera.  From a global call for entries, Dance Camera West (DCW) has curated a series of programs for specific venues all across Los Angeles.  During the month of June, DCW will be presenting programs at REDCAT, The Hammer Museum, American Cinematheque’s Max Palevsky Theatre at the Aero, and a special partnership with the Los Angeles Film Festival.  Tickets range from $15 for the Opening Night Screening Party to $10 for screenings and some events are free.  For more information please visit www.dancecamerawest.org.

Since 2002, Dance Camera West has brought over 500 dance films to Southern California helping to expand the audience for all dance in Los Angeles.  Festival co-founder and director, Lynette Kessler explains, “Each festival has been a 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.”

Friday, June 2, 2006 - 8:00pm - Opening Night Festival Screening and KICK OFF PARTY

Saturday, June 3, 2006 – 5:00pm, 6:30pm & 8:00pm

At REDCAT in downtown LA

International Collection of Dance on Screen

The opening weekend showcases three different programs of the newest dance films from around the world featuring artists from Argentina, Spain, the U.K., Belgium, Sweden, Estonia, Germany and the U.S.

Highlighting the festival’s opening on Friday night is IMZ Dance Screen 2005 winner for Best Screen Choreography Scratch by UK’s Shelly Love, the new solo dance film Your Lights Are Out Or Burning Badly by Gaelen Hanson (of Seattle’s 33 Fainting Spells), and the LA premiere of the German award-winning Burnt (1997).

The Saturday programs feature choreographers Wim Vandekeybus with Ultima Vez, in the award winning Blush and UK’s Wayne McGregor’s Tremor.  Also featured on one of the three programs slated for Saturday are Olga Sasplugas in Astralagus winner of Spain’s VideoDansa competition 2004 and the renowned 80-year-old American dance educator Martha Myers in Line-Age. 

Premiering on Saturday (at 5:00) is the new documentary Countdown: Reflections on a Life in Dance featuring postmodern pioneer Rudy Perez, a Los Angeles-based choreographer since 1978.  There will be a Q & A after the film, moderated by arts journalist Victoria Looseleaf.

Address/Prices:

REDCAT, Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex)

631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213 237-2800; http://redcat.org)

$15 for opening night ($10 for CalArts or DCW members), $10 for other screenings ($7 for CalArts or DCW members)

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Saturday, June 10, 2006 - 8:00pm - 11:00pm

At Hammer Museum Courtyard in Westwood

Beyond Dance Film: Physical Expression and Visual Media

The Hammer Museum event is where “dance film” explains itself, showing the infinite possibilities of physical expression through visual media, including a live interactive performance.  (Be warned, there’s nudity both live and recorded!)

In conjunction with the Hammer Museum, DCW presents a unique installation of 25 international short dance films shown continuously on multiple screens and on projected surfaces throughout the Hammer’s courtyard. Works include the installation Pedestrian (2002) by Shelley Eshkar and Paul Kaiser; Wear + Tear an interactive performance with Mei Yin Ng and Eric Koziol and screening of Somewhere in Between (2004), directed by Pierre Coulibeuf and featuring dancer choreographer Meg Stuart.

Thursday, June 15, 2006 - 7:00pm

At Hammer Museum Courtyard in Westwood

The Future of Dance on Screen

A screening of Moving North, a collection of dance films from Scandinavia, will be followed by a discussion moderated by Lynette Kessler, director of Dance Camera West, featuring Magne Antonsen, artistic director Ultima Film - Dans for Kamera, Oslo, Norway and Gaelen Hanson, Seattle, director of New Dance Cinema and Seattle’s dance theatre company 33 Fainting Spells.

The Hammer events are supported in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs in association with EarthWays Foundation.

Address/Prices:

UCLA Hammer Museum – Courtyard

10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024 (310-443-7000; www.hammer.ucla.edu)

Hammer events are free

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Wednesday, June 21, 2006 – 7:30pm

At American Cinematheque’s Max Palevsky Theatre at The Aero

Tango by Carlos Saura

Directed and written by Carlos Saura, the Oscar® and Golden Globe® nominated Tango is a stunning work of art and a passionate exploration of a dance form that has achieved near-religious status in Spanish-speaking cultures.  With cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, Saura's film examines the music and dance of the tango and its role as a reflection of the human condition.

Address/Prices:

The Aero Theatre

1328 Montana Ave. at 14th St.,
Santa Monica, CA 90403 
(www.americancinematheque.com)

Tickets $9, Student/Senior $7, DCW Members $8, AC $6

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Saturday, June 24, 2006 – 5:15pm - at the Mann Festival Theater, Westwood

Friday, June 30 – 4:45pm - at the Landmark Regent, Westwood

At Los Angeles Film Festival

(Film title TBA by end of May)

www.Lafilmfest.com

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Additional festival screenings and special events TBA. Check the website for updates and details www.dancecamerawest.org.

Executive/artistic director and co-founder of Dance Camera West, Lynette Kessler is 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. Known for her innovative collaborations and dance work for the screen that has been shown in film and video festivals worldwide, Kessler has received numerous awards including an Alden B. Dow Creativity Fellowship and an artist residency at Headlands Center for the Arts. She is a founding member of the Media & Dance Festival International Federation, serves on dance film review committees for the American Choreography Awards, the Dance on Camera Festival of Dance Films Association in New York, the Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film in Toronto, and has been guest lecturer at the UCLA and UC Irvine, Cal Arts, University of Michigan, and San Francisco State University.

Dance Camera West is a non-profit organization committed to fostering and promoting the vibrant art of dance film 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 of dance film that innovatively merges both performance and cinematic aesthetics. DCW also strives to create a broader and more engaged audience for dance and dance films.  DCW is one of only a handful of organizations in the country that present dance film, and the only one of its kind in Southern California. 2006 marks the second year in a row that DCW was voted one of the “Top 25 Dance Organizations to Watch” by Dance Magazine.