JANUARY 26, 2010 Volume 2, Issue 2
Keep
Courtesy of Film Society of Lincoln Center
Dancing The annual Dance on Camera film festival celebrates the bodies and the brains of dancers—young and old
A scene from Anne Bass’ ‘Dancing Across Borders.’ The film has its New York City premiere as part of the Dance on Camera Festival.
BY SUSAN REITER hatever your idea of a dance film might be, you can find an example of it at the 38th annual Dance on Camera Festival. From feature-length documentaries to four-minute animated shorts, it’s all there during the five days of extensive and varied programming. If the idea of sitting in a dark theater with athletic bodies hurling themselves through the air intimidates you, then maybe watching it onscreen can be a start. The festival begins Jan. 29, at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater, with the U.S. premiere of Jeff McKay’s history of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Forty Years of One Night Stands, and ends Feb. 2 with the world premiere of Michael Backwood’s New York Dance. The documentaries are a particularly strong selection. Two of them profile distinctive innovators who are more than deserving of the insightful, thorough examination these films give them. Ruedi
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Gerber’s Breath Made Visible profiles Anna Halprin, who turns 90 this year and has been a free-spirited, profoundly influential West Coast dance figure. The film’s title refers to her definition of dance, and the film illustrates her affinity for dancing in natural settings. It also reveals her amazingly age-defying presence: She is shown performing, with great wit and agility, at 82, and in the recent interview footage her youthful spirit makes the idea of age irrelevant. She speaks perceptively about her Jewish roots, and how they influenced the adventurous, inquisitive directions in which her dance explorations ventured. She recalls her beloved grandfather, for whom dancing and prayer were linked. Since he fit her vision of what God must be like, “I thought God was a dancer.” Meredith Monk: Inner Voice, by Dutch filmmaker Babeth M. Vanloo, offers insights into Monk’s category-defying work. It’s fascinating to hear her use words to explain exactly why she prefers to make art without words,
and the glimpses into her life, work habits and surroundings are fascinating. The festival devotes Jan. 30 to celebrating Alwin Nikolais, on the occasion of his centenary. Christian Blackwood’s 1986 documentary Nik and Murray, about the innovative multi-media wizard and his partner/fellow choreographer, will be followed by examples of his work for television and a program charting his artistic lineage through the works of two company members. The day will also include panel discussions and Q&As with scholars, critics and former Nikolais dancers. The festival offers an advance look at Dancing Across Borders, Anne Bass’ documentary, to be released theatrically later this March. The film follows the unlikely saga of Cambodian dancer Sokvannara Sar, whom Bass discovered performing traditional dances at Angkor Wat. She saw him as a potential ballet dancer, and made it possible for him to audition for the School of American Ballet. Initially rejected—he
was already 16, tremendously late to begin serious ballet training—his life story took many intriguing turns, and Sar is now a member of Pacific Northwest Ballet. The film’s Cambodian footage—which includes striking landscapes, Sar’s family members and the students at the Khmer dance school where it all began for him—is particularly beautiful and moving. While Bass’ film movingly charts the inception of a dance career, Keep Dancing celebrates two charmingly eloquent and eternally graceful 90-year-old veterans who have seen and done it all. Marge Champion, best known for her film and television work, and Donald Saddler, whose career encompassed the early years of Ballet Theater and Broadway musicals in the golden era (he won a Tony Award for choreography), were memorably paired in the 2001 revival of Sondheim’s Follies. Since then, they have met twice weekly to dance and choreograph in a New York City studio.
KEEP DANCING on page 6