So You Want to Make a Dance Film?
The term “dance film,” and what it actually means, is not universal. In the same breath the phrase dance film is uttered, one inevitably also hears the terms “dance for camera,” “video dance” and “cinedance.” So, what do they all mean? Is there a hierarchy? Do they overlap? As it turns out, the definitions and genres are still being created and contested.
“There's a broader term that we're starting to use called 'Screen Dance,' which is all dance that is made that could be seen on a screen,” says dance filmmaker Anna Brady Nuse, who is also the director of movement media at Pentacle DanceWorks, Inc. “And that really encompasses the whole map of things.”
While the variations of screen dance are regularly debated there are a handful of basic versions:
1. Dance for the Camera. Dance that is created for the camera, and is defined by camera usage and editing. “It could be narrative, but it tends to be a little more abstract because it's movement based, not dialogue based,” Nuse says.
2. Dance film. The re-interpretation of a piece that was originally choreographed for the stage, but has been re-staged for the camera.
3. Visual Arts. Screen dance that is prominent in installation work. “It’s more like video art,” Nuse says. These works often feature “abstractions of the body,” and use technology with the body in new ways.
4. Documentary/Journalistic. Filmed/recorded content for the purpose of preserving and archiving dance performances, as well as the process of creating a piece or work. This can include dance performances that are recorded “live” at a stage event and broadcast on television. This genre helps to create content for...
5. Commercial/Publicity. This category includes a dancer's personal website that provides video clip streaming or YouTube-style web forums. This can also include music videos. “I put music videos, sometimes, in the dance camp because lots of times I think that the dance is what's really driving the video,” Nuse says. “Even though it's about selling the song.”
Although the sub-genres remain somewhat amorphous, the impact of dance and technology overlap is undeniable. Simply type “dance” into a web search engine, and link after link directs you to a gamut of dance videos and films available at the click of a mouse. And helping to fuel the video juggernaut is the reality that the bulk of the search returns are created by new, yet-to-be household names from across the globe.
For many dancers and choreographers, it is difficult to conceive of their work in a different medium, or work in a way that requires sitting still for long periods of time to edit at a computer. For others, the idea of working in a technology-based medium feels like too much of a departure from working with an animated, human body.
“I think the hardest part for young people right now is to dig beneath the crusted layer of media influences that they have,” says Ellen Bromberg, a professor at the University of Utah and a media artist. “Because we're so used to consuming things, that we don't really look at them anymore. And it's just like with any art form, you have to really dig into what the medium is actually about and what it's saying to you.”
For dancers who are interested in screen dance, but unfamiliar with the technology needed to create content, the leap might not be as big as you think. Using five basic steps, you can make your first film or video:
1. Get an idea. That idea can be simple. According to Nuse, “Give yourself a very structured assignment, like, I'm only going to shoot my right shoulder. And I'm going to do a little dance just for my right shoulder. And I'm going to make a very set frame and see what I can do within that frame.”
2. Find a recording device. While most people have access to a modern video camera, don't limit yourself to that. Older cameras or videos recorded on your mobile phone can help you get started.
3. Shoot outside, during daylight hours. This will give you the best video quality, without lighting equipment. An added perk to being outside? It gives you a whole new environment to create content in. “Often, when choreographers start making dance for camera, what happens is they immediately go off-stage,” says Bromberg. “They immediately go into other spaces. They actually start creating site specific work using the camera, because they're liberated from the architecture of the stage.”
4. Find a basic editing tool and experiment. Basic programs, like Apple’s iMovie for Macs, allow you to import any footage you've recorded and begin to arrange your video. “Don't use any of the extra bells and whistles,” Nuse advises. “Use straight cuts, no fades or transitions. And play with different music, too. Sound is really important...Try to think about editing with the sounds and making an interesting sound score...There's lots of little tasks you can give yourself.”
5. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. “I would encourage students to think of media projects just like a sketch book, or like a dancer does when [he or she] goes into a studio to choreograph,” says Douglas Rosenberg, a dance filmmaker and professor of art at University of Wisconsin-Madison. “You mess around, you try things and you see what sticks. 'This feels right. This doesn't feel right. I'm going to do this again.' Video really doesn't have to be any different than that.”
Once you've made your first film or video, it's important to keep up-to-date on screen dance culture. The nature of technology and media is one that allows it to flow and travel easily. While festivals like IMZ's (International Music + Media Centre) “dance screen” in Europe might be out of reach, there are several prominent dance festivals in the United States that you can check out, including the American Dance Festival, Dance Camera West Festival and Dance Films Association's Dance On Camera Festival. And if you can't travel to a festival or sit in a room and collaborate with a fellow dance filmmaker, there are many online resources that can connect you with your community and help you to exchange your work, your ideas and your inspirations.
“Screen dance is a medium that circulates digitally,” Rosenberg says. “So, what I would say is for students to get connected to an international list serve – to an international online community. Get connected to the spaces where people are talking about this work.” Rosenberg recommends www.dance-tech.net and www.media-dance.com as valuable international forums. “You have to be in a community where people are talking about what you're interested in.”
To some, the screen dance boom signals the next step in contemporary dance. Artists and directors see a future where screen dance is truly integrated into the dance universe and discourse. But at a time when economic woes have caused funding for the arts to plummet, there are several points of resistance to screen dance, namely that cheaper, more accessible videos will deplete the audience for live performances. Bromberg argues that this phase will pass.
“The way I have seen dance and technology over these years, eventually that phrase, 'dance and technology,' is going to be obsolete,” says Bromberg. “It will just be 'dance'...We call it ‘and technology’ now because it has to be named something. But I think that as a title or a concept, it's going to just evaporate and it's just going to be dance...I feel that what we're reaching for is an integration of space.”
Others disagree; viewing screen dance is not an evolutionary step, but a separate art form. “I think dance film is not, [and] shouldn't attempt to displace live performance,” Rosenberg says. He views the future for screen dance as one that, “acknowledges live performance, but also tries to create its own space for exploration and experimentation.”
Whether screen dance is a progression of dance or an entirely different art form, video technology used on-stage and off offers new possibilities for various art forms and for dance artists. For Nuse, the evolution of dance as a result of our media culture is already apparent, both on-stage and on-screen.
"This generation of choreographers have grown-up with media and been exposed to media so much more even than live dance, that they think in terms of media," Nuse says. "They think in terms of editing and jump cuts and those sorts of things. And that informs what they make, even if it's live."