reel-dancing
reel-dancing
the 5th reeldance dance on screen festival
Alt I Alt
THE 5TH BIENNIAL REELDANCE FESTIVAL CELEBRATES THE MEETING OF DANCE AND FILM WITH A SELECTION OF CUTTING EDGE WORKS FROM AROUND THE WORLD AND A SPECIAL FOCUS ON DANCE AND MOVEMENT IN EVERYDAY LIFE WITH STYLES RANGING FROM BALLROOM AND FLAMENCO TO HIP HOP AND PARKOUR.
In their participatory take on the everyday, international guests, the UK artists Katrina McPherson and Simon Fildes, have transformed a photo-booth into the Move-Me.COM Booth, where you can make your own short dancefilms which are then uploaded to Move-Me’s website (RT83, p24). Booth visitors choose choreography to perform from a selection of artists, including Deborah Hay, Stephen Petronio and Nigel Charnock and then track their film on the associated website (www.move-me.com). The booth will travel to three Australian cities and two in New Zealand.
From the everyday of another era comes swing: at several of ReelDance’s tour stops watch out for a swing club with live band, projected archival swing dance footage and dancing demonstrations. And in Melbourne a Parkour performance, Get A Grip: L’art du Deplacement, will be staged and a documentary on the form shown at ACMI.
This year’s festival has 11 Australian and New Zealand touring partners and eight screening sessions including a feature film stream and major new documentaries on Les Ballets C de la B and Pina Bausch, dance film for children in Kidreels, a music video program (in collaboration with Oberhausen Film Festival’s MuVi) and the ReelDance Awards for new Australian and New Zealand shorts and documentaries which will be presented in Sydney on May 18. The judging panel for 2008 are film directors Christina Andreef, Ana Kokkinos and Samantha Lang, and choreographers Anton and Meryl Tankard.
To its ever expanding touring network (from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth to Cairns, Lismore, Noosa and Christchurch), its awards, its screening of the latest dance films from around the world (along with significant rarities), ReelDance is now adding masterclasses to its program. ReelDance does more than play a definitive role in promoting Australian dance film: it is an increasingly significant part of Australian screen culture, creating new opportunities for filmmakers and nurturing new film idioms for audiences to relish. RT
ReelDance International Dance on Screen Festival, touring May 1-Oct 12, www.reeldance.org.au
RealTime issue #84 April-May 2008 pg. 22
