Dance For Camera

This 95 minute DVD, "Dance for Camera", features six films selected from the Dance Camera West Festival, held in Los Angeles, during the Spring of 2002. This festival is hosted annually by the Dance Films Association and the Lincoln Center Film Society.

Film I) "Queens for a Day" was directed by Pascal Magnin of Switzerland. In the film, three male and three female dancers visit the Swiss Alps for an afternoon of roaming the mountains, before encountering a local village celebration.

Film II) "Measure" is by the company 33 Fainting Spells of the USA. The hallway, in which one male and one female dancer calibrate time, is featured on this DVD cover still photograph, by Gaelen Hanson.

Film III) "Rest In Peace" was directed by Annick Vroom of the Netherlands/UK. A group of middle aged dancers mourn the death of their parents through the acrobatics of mutual consolation.

Film IV) "A Village Trilogy" was directed by Laura Taler of Canada. a)A female dancer reminisces in and around an abandoned mill b)Two brothers wake in the woods as Rip Van Winkle family twins c)Five commune members discuss their operating budget within a bucolic countryside setting.

Film V) "Cornered" was directed by Michael Downing of Canada. A solo female dancer uses the geometry of spherical perspective to represent an interior journey through the fourth dimension.

Film VI) "Contrecoup" was also directed by Pascal Magnin of Switzerland. A enticing, challenging and inspiring film which explores the dream life of two frustrated, ill-fated, lovers. The film takes place amidst a surreal post-modern cityscape.

"Dance for Camera" serves as a fine example of how accomplished directors can integrate the art of dance completely into the art of cinema. Let us hope that producers Kelly Hargraves and Lynette Kessler bring the Dance Camera West Festival to an even wider audience through an annual DVD release.

From the start of this experimental series of dance films, the originality was stunning and at times the creativity was more than fascinating. At first, there is a primal dance of life where dancers make an interesting use of gravity as they propel themselves down alpine slopes.

Bodies sleeping on grassy slopes awaken from sleep and then literally start to roll down the hill in a playful way you may have rolled down a hill as a child. Then, the entire dance becomes a study of the human body and what it is capable of in playful confrontations heavy with the scent of sexual tension. There are many metaphors at play as dancers are locked in territorial dances and the interplay of intimacy is stunning in the scenes where two people become their whole world despite onlookers.

There is a also a beautiful scene where three dancers leave the other dancers and slowly walk into water. Like three water nymphs they draw inspiration from sensation itself. A hand skims the surface of the water or they enjoy the simple pleasures of twirling in the water. I have rarely seen intimacy captured so well on film. The first film made me nostalgic for moments I have yet to discover. I watched this part four times because it was so unique.

The rest of the dances are equally creative and they all cover completely different emotional scenes and circumstances. A hallway becomes a mesmerizing hall of mirrors. A dance of death becomes a visual metaphor for dying to life or escaping from death. A family celebration twirls around a table or a woman in a "box" or corner dances in ways that seem almost impossible. The camera seems to be spinning.

A man on a street follows and this leads to scenes where love and hate are played out in a land where tables grow three times their height and dancers move amongst broken plates.

The next journey of self-discovery delves into madness and then a scene in a forest has absolute moments of hilarity. Many of the dances seem to be drawing inspiration from everything from water ballet to juggling acts and games of musical chairs. Many of the dancers just seem to be naturally curious about what their bodies can do and a few can do stunning moves that defy definition, they happen so fast. I'd have to say this might be the most intriguing DVD I watched this year. It was rather mesmerizing and I can highly recommend this DVD to anyone who loves dance itself.

~The Rebecca Review

It's so hard to find experimental dance films like this on DVD! These six films are funny, exciting and beautiful to watch. DVD is a great way to see dance.