Saturday, September 20
2:00-4:30 PM British video dance
4:30-17:30 PM Nordic video dance
Sunday, September 21
2:00-3:00 PM Nordic video dance
3:30-6:00 PM British video dance
Floating arts gallery "Noass"
AB dam in the front of the Radisson SAS
2:00-6:00 PM
Entrance free

VIDEO WINDOW (The program of Nordic dance films "Moving North")

Video dance
British and Nordic dance short films

Program of British video dance Framing Ideas is presented in Riga in collaboration with the British Council in Latvia.
The program of Nordic dance films "Moving North" is presented in Riga in collaboration with the Nordic Council of Ministers Information Office in Riga.

Video dance

"Video dance arose out of a fusion of stage dance and motion picture. It is not a question of filming dance performed on the stage, but rather of a choreographic creation uniquely and solely for the camera view. The moving camera can follow dance from any distance or perspective, and be actively involved in creation. It not only observes the dancer, it "dances with" the dancer. And the effect of montage and animation techniques and electronic image editing are such that it is not only the dancer in a video dance who is moving. The space surrounding the dancer, be it exterior space, everyday interior space or a fictitiously created world is also set in motion."
(Citation from the http://www.sk-kultur.de/videotanz)

In the last years video dance is becoming more and more popular, festivals are organised, televisions and choreographic centres unite to make the experiments and collaboration of the choreographers and the filmmakers possible.

In the program of the "Homo Novus" festival the British and Nordic dance short films will be screened.

1. Program of British video dance Framing Ideas (total time - 147 min.)
Innovative collaborations between choreographers and filmmakers featuring award-winning films from the Arts Council of England/BBC Dance for the Camera series.
Framing Ideas is part of the program ForwardMotion, the British Council's dance on screen touring exhibition. Curated by leading figures in the dance field, ForwardMotion is designed to interest overseas audiences in the history, development and current scene of British dance.

Framing Ideas is the new and exciting world of dance film. Choreographers and film directors come together, along with well-known UK dance artists, to look at dance in a fresh new light. These short films incorporate tango and hip hop; arthouse classics and digital innovation; a windswept beach and a football pitch...

1) On the Floor (dance for camera classics with a few surprises) - 59 min.

Outside In - 14,5 min.
CandoCo/Victoria Marks/Margaret Williams
An affectionate and humorous exploration of physicality, identity and movement by CandoCo with choreographer Victoria Marks and director Margaret Williams, described in the Financial Times as "funny, heartening, technically inventive and hugely entertaining".

Hands - 4 min.
Jonathan Burrows/Adam Roberts
The choreography and performance in Hands are by Jonathan Burrows. The camera glides to a figure sitting quietly. We can see only arms and hands that begin a subtle dance of gestures, both intimate and abstract. An example of dance that could only be made for the intimate eye of the camera.

Que Pasa - 1 min.
Alex Reuben
Former DJ Alex Reuben saw shop assistant Louise James dancing at a nightclub in Brixton, London. Que Pasa was the result. The film is inspired by the music album design of Blue Note and by abstract expressionist painting.

Lounge - 6,5 min.
Miranda Pennell
Directed and choreographed by Miranda Pennell, Lounge presents an imaginary narrative of the Ideal Home, contrasting the bright facade of its appearance with the more intimate dark fantasies that lurk beneath the surface.

Special Request - 14 min.
Jazz Xchange/Sheron Wray/Henry Letts
Dancer/choreographer Sheron Wray collaborates with director Henry Letts on a work that, against a background of New York City, examines youth sub-cultures, modern dance and traditional dance forms: Nyabinghi to drum 'n' bass, jazz and blues to hip hop.

Boy - 4,5 min.
Rosemary Lee/Peter Anderson
In an enigmatic and deftly made short work for television, a child conjures up his own imaginary world on a deserted beach. Leaping over and rolling down sand dunes, we watch him create his fantasy without having it thrust upon us. Although avoiding all dance steps, this minature, edited with a strong sense of rhythm, has been described as "a little masterpiece of cinematographer's art".

The Linesman - 9 min.
Dan O'Neill/Brett Turnbull
Writer/choreographer Dan O'Neill (who has danced with DV8 and The Featherstonehaughs) collaborates with director Brett Turnbull to create a fascinating view of the role of a man on the fringe of an amateur game of football. The linesman takes his job seriously, moving up and down the line, avoiding human and inanimate obstacles. His movements echo those of the players and eventually becomes entangled in the game with unfortunate consequences.

Urban Voodoo - 5 min.
Robert Hylton/Oliver Ashton
From a London rooftop, a mysterious DJ starts an infectious beat. The music reaches out and, cartoon-style, zaps people out of their everyday lives. With bodypopping, ballet and hip hop moves they are drawn together to dance to the rhythm...

2) Off the Wall (dance for camera innovations) - 60 min.

Moment - 7,5 min.
Dir. Katrina McPherson
Two women in a space. They are dancing. Their relationship moves through different moods and states. Their characters are gradually revealed through fragments of action. The significance of a moment, whether solitary or between them, is explored as time is slowed down, stretched, speeded up, repeated and stopped. The narrative is subtle and intriguing, suggested rather than explained, impressionistic rather than literal. "Moment" was made in memory of the dancer and filmmaker Michele Fox.

Birds - 9 min.
Dir. David Hinton
A dance film without dancers yet filled with fascinating movement. Through film editing, music and choreographer's perception, the unrehearsed, natural movement of birds becomes an exhilarating dance experience.

Motion Control - 8,5 min.
Chor. Liz Aggiss/Billy Cowie/David Anderson
It is 4 o’clock in the morning. You can’t sleep. There’s someone in the room, some … thing in the room. The walls are closing in. Oh no! You’re stuck to the floor. Can’t get away. In this breathless, gothic duet between camera and performer, who is really in control?
Liz Aggiss and Billy Cowie are Artistic Directors for Divas Dance Theatre, a performance company which combines dance, theatre, music and film. Liz Aggiss studied dance and choreography in New York with Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis. Billy Cowie studied composition with Kenneth Leighton.

Tattoo - 8,5 min.
Dir. Miranda Pennell
The rhythms and patterns of military chill create a dance, set against the epic horizon of Salisbury Plain. Soldiers repeat their curious ritual in a bleak and timeless natural world. They are joined by a military band, which emerges from the landscape performing a distinctive choreographic display to an original contemporary score.
Miranda Pennell trained as a dancer before becoming a filmmaker. Her short films have been screened on television in the UK, France, Australia, Finland, and include the award winning Lounge (1995) and Habit (1996). Miranda has also created dance work for the stage, including Home Fires Burning (1997-98), and has directed commercials for television.

Dust - 8.5 min.
Chor. Miriam King
A Butho-influenced dance piece traces the solitary journey of a stranded, long- distance swimmer within a waterless world. Searching for the sea of her dreams, her struggle eventually brings rain, regeneration and hope. With a strong foreboding atmosphere and a massive soundscape, "Dust" amplifies the site of dance, the body, and delivers an almost tactile experience. "Dust" was the first South East Dance Agency (UK) Dance for Camera commission awarded for collaboration between choreographer and performer Miriam King and film-maker/director Anthony Atanasio.

Welsh Boy - 9 min.
Chor. Sean Tuan John
Sean Tuan John is indeed, as the title of this film by Matthew Springford suggests, a Welsh Boy. Based in Cardiff, his work negotiates the extremes between alienation and absurdism, captured very eloquently here by dancer-turned-director Springford.

Infected - 8 min.
Chor. Gina Czarnecki
Infected is a video about the nature of the physical body in the context of future technological possibilities, seen through dance and digitally manipulated imagery. The new bio-engineered body is still a sexual, stark, brutal, organic, pounding bloody system with ripping tendons. It is beautiful and repulsive, indulgent, curious, emotional, un/controlled, breeding, changing…

Odyssey (Levi ad) - 1 min.
Dir. Jonathan Glazer
Described as ‘a 60-second love story’, this commercial is part of Levi jeans’ Freedom to Move campaign. Director Jonathan Glazer worked with a special effects supervisor to use CGI technology to create a digital fantasy world. A man and a woman hurl themselves through walls and perform impossible feats together, escaping a gloomy industrial building to reach a magical forest. In reality, the cast performed in front of a blue screen for much of the filming.

2. Nordic dance films "Moving North" (Total time - 52 min.)
Moving North - 10 Short Dance Films is a unique Nordic project which aims to combine the talents of Nordic choreographers and film makers from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland. They have explored movement and space through the camera's viewfinder and created 10 original dance films each of a length of 5 minutes and specially made for the living images.

The idea behind the project originated from Vibeke Vogel, producer and film director of BAROK Film, Denmark, who, together with her Norwegian colleague Magne Antonsen of The Norwegian Center for the Art of Dance and NordScen - Nordic Centre for the Performing Arts, invited dancers, choreographers, film directors and composers from all the Nordic countries to a four-day seminar in Lillehammer, Norway in 2001.

The second part of the project was the production of 10 short original dance films across the five Nordic countries. Leading up to this, 20 ideas for dance films were selected for further development. They were selected out of a total of 120 applications by an international selection committee. During spring 2002, the committee and the five national film producers selected 10 of the developed projects for final production.

Additional information: http://www.movingnorth.com

Burst (ICELAND)
Dir.: Reynir Lyngdal, chor.: Katrin Hall
A couple fights in their bedroom over a burst water pipe. Techniques involving water tank explosions and trampolines. References, martial arts and cartoon strips.

While the cat's away (ICELAND)
Dir.: Reynir Lyngdal, chor.: Katrin Hall
When a young pedantic daughter is at work, her elderly mother transforms into a wild dancer, using their overfilled flat as a stage. A heart-warming comedy about prejudice, self-respect and dreams fulfilled.

Vertebra - how a thought becomes a movement (FINLAND)
Dir.: Milla Moilanen, chor.: Alpo Aaltokoski
Dancefilm/animation that studies the movement, shape and rhythms of the human body using scientific materials.

Portrait (FINLAND)
Dir., chor.: Saara Cantell
A married couple struggle in a portrait photographer's studio. Tragicomic about facade and the harsh reality in a relationship.

The radioballet (NORWAY)
Dir.: Per-Ivar Jensen, chor.: Indra Lorentzen
An old couple is listening to the radio, in which the Radioballet dances a fairytale. A Chinese-box-story about the love of dance and music.

To the House (NORWAY)
Dir.: Dag J. Haugerud, Kajsa Næss, chor.: Un-Magritt Nordseth
A girl experiences that her grandfather dies the same day she turns 15. It's time for a strange family gathering. The family personalities and the tensions between them will be expressed through choreographed movements and dance seen through the girl's point of view.

Rewind (SWEDEN)
Dir.: Mårten Nilsson, chor.: Gunilla Hellborn
Exactly what happened that day, when Henry moved into his new house?
One house, eight dancers, one camera.

Thursday - all we really want to do is dance (SWEDEN)
Dir., chor., dancers: Minna Krook och Lisa Spets
Two young women are possessed by dance and their daily chores gets interrupted as "all we really want to do is dance". The film shows with humour when the women´s surreal interpretation of reality meets the normal life around them. It is a film about the pleasure to combine your passion with your everyday life.

Regin smisur - une danse ballade (DENMARK)
Dir.: Katrin Ottarsdóttir, dir. assistant: Hugin Eide
A dance from 12th Century France. Once popular all over Western Europe. It has survived as a live tradition in the remote Faroe Islands only. Subjective impression of the chain dance. Via intense and raw pictures, sound and editing, the film captures the spirit and joy of the dance that comes close to trance and ecstacy.

Urge (DENMARK)
Dir., chor.: Ulrik Wivel
Four dancers - one room. This film is dance for camera in a pure and subtle form. Two classical and two modern dancers perform in a rhythm created somewhere between movement, music, framing and editing.

Dance on Screen
Modern Dance in Britain

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