FilmFest by Rogue Dancer: PLAY!

(MARCH 2024)

March 22 - April 7, 2024

«»dance for the camera», «video dance», «cine dance», «screendance», – may seem somewhat interchangeable, they are, in actuality, quite specific. Each term speaks to a particular combination of performance and materiality, and each sites the dual properties of their hybridized identities in an order that signifies the relative importance of the parts.” - Douglas Rosenberg, Screendance

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«»dance for the camera», «video dance», «cine dance», «screendance», – may seem somewhat interchangeable, they are, in actuality, quite specific. Each term speaks to a particular combination of performance and materiality, and each sites the dual properties of their hybridized identities in an order that signifies the relative importance of the parts.” - Douglas Rosenberg, Screendance ☯☯☯

“We think the only way to change the worlds is through ART & we appreciate our audiences more than you know. Thank you for experiencing the DANCE with us, please enjoy this month’s event!

Click on the picture below to access this month’s SHOWCASE. ”

— Jennifer Scully-Thurston, Rogue Dancer Creator & Curator

Vimeo Showcase

Your Playbill

DominGo

film by Beatriz García Díaz (c) 2021 CUBA

Four characters will meet face to a resolution of a Dominoes game. The strategies to be taken will depend on the characteristics of each one. Subjectivity will be a door to illustrate interpersonal relationships from a physical score as an absolute expression.

Beatriz García Díaz - Director, Writer & Dancer

Armando Gómez Brydson - Writer & Dancer

Daniela Miralles Zamora - Dancer

Esteban Aguilar Domínguez - Dancer

OUTLOOK | stereopsis

film by Einy Am-Sparks (c) 2020 NORWAY

A dance film that explores the strength of community, with all of our different perspectives and differences, as well as the loneliness we may feel when this is gone. Inspired by the unique architecture of the museum building at Aasen-tunet in Norway designed by Sverre Fehn.

Einy Am-Sparks - Director

Dancers - Ingrid Ovidia Alfsvåg, Live Bjerkvik, Oda Elise Grimstad, Johanne Hovden, Li Na Osborg, Frida Runde, Giselle Sefu & Einy Åm-Sparks

Leeks, Onion, and Pork Fat

film by Ludovic Jolivet (c) 2020 USA

Alberto experiences an unexpected connection when his daily rhythm is interrupted by two beautiful younger women. This is an adaptation of Day 1, Story 10 from the Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio.

A background on the Decameron...

“In the face of the Black Death, the pandemic that ravaged 14th-century Europe, Giovanni Boccaccio wrote at the time, “all the wisdom and ingenuity of man were unavailing.” Well, maybe not all: Boccaccio’s masterpiece “The Decameron” imagines 10 young people fleeing the plague-swept city of Florence for the relative safety of the countryside, where their pastimes include telling 100 stories, including innuendo-threaded romps, moral parables and tragic romances." (#WashingtonPost)

Ludovic Jolivet - Director

Dan Istrate - Director, Writer, Producer & Dancer

Francesca Jandasek - Producer & Dancer

Stephanie Jolivet - Dancer

Lift Off

film by Hanne Vartiainen, Teemu Kyytinen (c) 2024 FINLAND

Lift off is a caption of play and joy of five merging female aerial dancers doing what they love:dancing in the air. Despite of their aging bodies they have released themselves from what they are expected to be able to do with their minds and bodies. It is a revolution on movement!

Hanne Vartiainen - Director

Teemu Kyytinen - Director

Dancers - Raili Eero, Pirjo Eerikäinen, Maija Hakkarainen, Maura Korhonen & Katri Ruotsalainen

Obstructed View

film by Mitchell Rose (c) 2022 USA

When we can't see all, what we do see we see anew. Here, 70 women weave together a choreographic thread from Bebe Miller.

Mitchell Rose - Director, Writer & Producer

Bebe Miller - Choreography

Sun Comes This Way

Film by Cara Hagan (c) 2022 USA

Northeast Ohio on the cusp of spring. Two University of Akron dancers move in and around the public artworks at True North, a project of the Curated Storefront in Akron. A burst of color signals warmer days to come.

Cara Hagan - Director & Writer

Rachel Brownlee - Writer & Dancer

Marissa Kartler - Writer & Dancer

CORE OF A NATURE. Der Grund einer Natur

Film by Felix Nguyen (c) 2023 GERMANY

Experience a mystical journey through nature performed by a movement artist. Felix faces the whirling challenges of his inner turbulence with an emotionally charged dynamic, delicate strength, graceful dignity, as well as ecstatic devotion. Behold the fire dancer in the night.

Felix Nguyen - Director, Writer, Producer, Dancer, Costumes, Voice, Choreography & Artistoic Direction

Nadine Böhme - Producer

Aljoscha Wuzella - Lighting & Camera

Samuel Albert - Editing

Bjarne Taurnier - Sound

Lea Sumey - Co-Choreography

Masanori Takahashi - Music

Benedict Uphoff - Director of Photography, Technical Direction & Colorization

Temporal Weaving

film by Maryam Taheri ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

"Temporal Weavings" is a captivating dance project delving into the connections between time, choice, and life's diversity. Through innovative choreography, two dancers reflect on the threads shaping our journeys.

"Temporal Weavings" contemplates how timing shapes lives, reflecting on pivotal choices.

Maryam Taheri - Director and Dancer

Mahshad Fallahpour - Dancer

A Place Named Home

film by James Morrow & Mikey Rioux USA

James Morrow - Director

Mikey Rioux - Director

She Dreamt Alone

film by Nina McNeely (c) 2023 USA

A short story expressed through the art of dance about a young outcast who,

From childhood’s hour had not been

As others were- had not seen

As others saw- could not love

From a common spring

Could not awaken

Her heart to joy with the same tone

And all that she dreamt…

She Dreamt alone

Nina McNeely - Director, Choreographer & Editor

Devin Jamieson - Producer & Colorist

Dancers - Madison Cundiff, Amy Shuster, Artrell Brown, Bineet Kaur, Breanna Ottinger, Chyler White, Dai Boyd, Ellie Weimer, Hannah Stebe, Justine St-Onge, Kaitlyn Otis, Kylie Sicilian, Lindsey Peterson, Logan Donnelly, Megan Keenan, Peyton Bass, Sien Vercruijsse & The CLI Conservatory

Zak Ryan Schlegel - Assistant Choreographer

Daniel Phakos - Cinematographer

Hyperdaze - Composer

Teddy Forance - Conservatory Director

Rogue Reflection

film by Juliet McMains (c) 2022 USA

A tap dancer, discovering that her reflection refuses to mirror her movements, engages in a playful battle with herself.

Juliet McMains - Director

Rachel Zuraek - Dancer

PLENIR

film by Daša Grgič (c) 2023 ITALY

Plenir is a precious basket with which milkmaids and bakers used to go to Trieste (Italy) to sell agricultural products. The central point for the short dance movie are the exceptional woman from Carsic area in Trieste and from Istria, whose activities helped to survive in the difficult times of the past. They deserve attention, as they are an irreplaceable part of cultural heritage.

(Trieste lies in the northernmost part of the high Adriatic in northeastern Italy, near the border with Slovenia).

Daša Grgič - Director, Producer & Dancer

Balkan Dance Project - Producer

Max Jurcev - Composer

GAZE - Dance on Film Short

film by Rivkah French (c) 2023 USA

GAZE is a new immersive dance film by Rivkah French Choreography that explores the beauty and intimacy of queer relationships. The film innovates the field of dance through striking video effects, dynamic music, performative body paint application, and virtuosic, intoxicating movement. GAZE brings the viewer into the experience of moving with the dancers rather than viewing them from a distance.

The dance film features two contemporary dance trained, gender non-conforming dancers performing choreography inspired by Eastern and African dance-inspired gestures blended with Western dance aesthetics. As they move through the space, they partner with each other and the camera in increasingly complex ways, entangling and dancing as one person with four limbs. the camera becomes a third onstage entity that allows the audience to interact with the dancers. The camera--and by extension, the viewer--dances with the performers, joining in their duet and transforming from detached spectator to engaged participant and seeing perspectives unavailable in live performances.

GAZE celebrates and explores:

-Queer Dance Theory: Breaking traditional gender roles in dance via assigned female at birth persons expressing physical strength and partner-lifting - and dancers presenting as non-binary or gender-nonconforming.

-The beauty, challenges, and rewards of relationships. GAZE is an inspiring vision of humanity’s future integrating technology, intimacy, and emotional intelligence.

-The power of touch and physical connection. Coming out of the pandemic, society now has a greater appreciation of the importance and value of intentional, responsible contact with others.

Our commitment is to create a groundbreaking, moving work that further expands the dance film canon - while empowering each audience member to experience dance and film in a new way.

"Childhood/ Adulthood"

film by Jagoda Turlik (c) 2022 POLAND

Bathed in colors, cheerful and carefree "Childhood", despite having fun, has its end. We "get out" of it in different ways. Its turning point is "Adulthood" which brings its inevitable change. Regardless of the "scenery" in which we live and the "costume" we wear as adults, "Childhood" is part of us and we can always refer to this land of joy. Together.

Jagoda Turlik - Director, Writer, Choreography, Edit & Costumes

JaTu Film Jagoda Turlik - Producer,

Julia Domagalska - Dancer & Choreography

Szymon Pacholec - Dancer

Piotr Werewka - DOP, Postproduction & color correction

Szymon Pacholec - Choreography

Mieczysław Karłowicz "Serenade for strings" op. 2 part. 1 - Erdódy Chamber Orchestra - Music

Jean Sibelius "The Spruce from The Trees" op. 75 - piano Marek Mizera - Music

Scena "Supernova" Cracow - Location

Écume.Froth

film by Elias Djemil (c) 2023 CANADA

At the water's edge, the froth stirs, seeking its way towards its deeper nature. She immerses herself in it, unfolds, becomes nature. Bringing everything to the surface, and then evaporates to become water again.

Elias Djemil - Director

Marilou Bourdon - Dancer

Spirit Of The Tree

film by Ysabelle Taylor (c) 2023 UK

A magical tale of loss, yearning, rejection and acceptance.

A spirit of a felled tree searches for a new tree to make her home.

A nearby tree rejects her advances and propels her onto the lawn. Here she sees the shadow of another tree and asks if the shadow can help her, but it also rejects her. In the distance she sees a beautiful copper beech. This tree welcomes her and she finds peace.

This film connects with people about the importance of saving and looking after our trees.

Ysabelle Taylor - Directpr, Writer, Producer & Dancer

Élisabeth Pion - Composer and musician

Our Own Ghosts

film by Aimee McDonald (c) 2022 USA

When we think back to our childhood, are those children in our memories ghosts of who we are now? Or are we the ghosts of the children we were?

Aimee McDonald - Director, Choreographer,Editor & Photo

JG Luitje - Dancer

CORPUS

film by Iskra Petrova Prodanova BULGARIA

Blurred image of naked life - minimal, vegetative, impulsive, the body tries to crystallize, as if to cry and find its own form of life - by resistance. The body beyond cultural, anthropological, social, political and tribal beliefs.

Beauty Lives in Me

film by Ryan Timms (c) 2021 USA

"In 2019 my team filmed a short documentary featuring Kim and A Chance to Dance. I just have not been able to let them go. Kim, her daughter Reagan, and all of the dancers and parents just really touched my heart…I felt like I wanted to do something more.

I reached out to Kim back in December of 2020 about possibly filming another project. I wanted to focus more on dance this time. I had it in my head that we could use this big empty warehouse and make it look really beautiful and cinematic for them.

Thank you to the entire crew who donated their time and skills to make this piece come to life! Special Thanks to Kim, ACTD, and all of the parents for letting us share their story." - R

Emma and Ava are students at A Chance to Dance for special needs in Charlotte, NC.

Please consider making a donation to help provide our dancer's unique opportunities through the magic that is dance.

Your donations will be used to provide dance scholarships and to help with costumes and classroom supplies.

PATREON Only

Maiden-Blossoms

film by Marlen Schmid, Basil Oberli, Sean Wirz, Cassandra Schurtenberger (c) 2023 SWITZERLAND

Based on the song cycle "Mädchenblumen" (1888) by composer Richard Strauss, artists from music, film and dance develop interdisciplinary new interpretations of the old masterpieces. The four short art songs are each dedicated to a type of flower and, via the metaphorical level, to a "type of woman". The lyrical tonal language of the composer, who was only 23 at the time, playfully and memorably traces the various facets of the poems of the same name by the German poet Felix Dahn. How can these song texts, which are problematic from today's feminist point of view, be combined with a modern visual aesthetic? The collective is looking for an aesthetically pleasing and artistically differentiated translation.

Marlen Schmid - Director

Basil Oberli - Director

Sean Wirz - Director

Cassandra Schurtenberger - Director

Yvonne Sieber - Dancer