‘Dance for the Camera’ attracts genre’s best
 A dance film-and-video symposium will feature influential theorists and performers. Top: “Dance Eleven,” by filmmaker Doris Chase, features dancer Cynthia Anderson. Above: “Singing Myself a Lullaby” by video artist Douglas Rosenberg, features dancer John Henry with choreography by Ellen Bromberg. Details: UW–Madison students and faculty will be admitted free but must register in advance, 608-262-1691. |
Influential dance film and video makers, curators and theorists will gather to share their expertise in a public forum, “Dance for the Camera,” Feb. 9-13.
“This historic meeting will attract not only scholars and practitioners of the genre, but choreographers and video/film makers who are new to the art form as well,” says Douglas Rosenberg, Dance Program assistant professor. “It’s an incredible opportunity for students and the public to learn how the art form evolved and continues to evolve as technology becomes more and more sophisticated.”
In addition to generating dialogue on history and theory, the symposium includes roundtable discussions, lectures, and a screening of selected dance film and video work from around the world.
Special guest speakers include:
- Elliott Caplan, filmmaker in residence at the Cunningham Dance Foundation from 1983 to 1998, where he collaborated with Merce Cunningham and John Cage in the production of a wide range of creative and archival films and videos of Cunningham’s choreography.
- Doris Chase, internationally acclaimed visual artist and multimedia pioneer, whose sculpture and work in video are in collections around the world. Recently her 15-ton bronze sculpture, “Moon Gates,” was installed in Seattle Center’s public outdoor sculpture garden.
- Elaine Summers, a pioneer of intermedia performance who combines dance with film, sculpture, theatre pieces and music. Summers has made 15 films and is a research scholar on the subject of historic film dance.
International artists include Rodrigo Alonso, Argentina (curator/historian); Nuria Font, Spain (curator); Sita Popat, England (choreographer/dance researcher); Ami Skanberg, Sweden (choreographer/ filmmaker); Silvina Szperling, Argentina (dance video artist/curator) and Laura Taler, Canada (director).
U.S. artists and scholars include Ellen Bromberg (choreographer), Amy Greenfield (filmmaker), Daniel Nagrin (choreographer), Lisa Naugle (dance/technology), Deirdre Towers (executive director, Dance Films Association), Malcolm Turvey (film scholar) and Wendy Woodson (choreographer, video maker).
University faculty include Sally Banes (dance historian), Noel Carroll (philosopher/writer), Joseph Koykkar (composer), Li Chiao-Ping (choreographer/video dance maker), Rosenberg (video artist/director) and Jin-Wen Yu (choreographer).
UW–Madison alumnus Jeffrey Gray Miller (performance technologist) also will participate. The symposium is dedicated to the late Hilary Harris, a seminal figure in cinema and dance.