FilmFest by Rogue Dancer: RE-Sister
(APRIL 2024)
April 19 - May 5, 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
☯☯☯
«»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
Your Playbill
women's right to vote
film by Benedikte Esperi (c) 2018 SWEDEN
Tribute to Frigga Carlberg who became the central figure within social and politically interested women's circles in Gothenburg, and when the Swedish Society for Woman Suffrage was founded in 1902, she took the initiative for the establishment of the Gothenburg section and was elected as its chairman for its entire duration. She was well informed about in particular the British and American suffrage movement, and once invited English suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst (1882 – 1960) for a lecture. She also represented Sweden at several international conferences of women suffrage: first as a member of the Swedish Society for Woman Suffrage, and the last time, in Rome in 1923, as the representative of the Swedish government.
Benedikte Esperi - Director, Writer, Producer, Dancer & Composer
NOT AN EXIT
film by Jane Pittman (c) 2021 USA
Inspired by a simple door sign, this film explores the idea of exits – when they are presented in life, and when they are not. The piece metaphorically asks: Can you truly exit? Is an exit really needed? How does the need for an exit change when support is or isn’t available?
Jane Pittman - Director, Editor & Producer
Sara Lavan, LMP Collective - Writer
Dancers - April Lawyer, Eboni Jones, Silvia Burstein-Hendi, Ila M. Conoley, Lauren DeVera, Cameron Este, Sara Lavan & Kylie Murray
Mathieu Mazza - Cinematographer
Sara Lavan - Choreographer
Sara Lavan and Kylie Murray - Artistic Directors
Mėxed
film by Lissi Simpson (c) 2021 UK
"If 'frizzy' is just a word, why do I hate it so much?"
The mixed race ethnic group is the fastest growing, yet least represented.
Mėxed tells a collective story of biracial (Black & White) women, using spoken word, natural allegory and dance to comment on micro-aggressions placed upon afro-hair terminologies.
Lissi Simpson - Director & Writer
Joseph Archer - Producer
Chantal Brindley - Dancer
Dominic Howlett - Director of Photography
Christina Charcharidi - Editor
Jodie Grayer - Composer
Charged
film Daniel Gwirtzman (c) 2021 USA
Charged showcases an over-caffeinated Everywoman in her kitchen on the brink of disaster. A portrait of a driven, detailed woman who manages an array of tasks, alternating between the discipline of accomplishing and the daydream of departure. Humor, grit, exhaustion, frustration, and liberation emerge as themes as the soloist pursues unexpected and surprising actions within an expected and unsurprising setting.
Daniel Gwirtzman - Director, Concept, Choreography & Editor
Dancer - Sarah Mondle
Director of Photography - Andrew Ina
Devouring Stones Up Close
film by zap mcconnell & Cat Rider (c) 2023 USA
A non-linear dance film that serves as a visually poetic abstract expression of personal and shared rage, artistic harvesting, and channeling the spirit of those whose land we walk, create and dance on.
zap mcconnell - Director, Costumes & Producer
Cat Rider - Director, Director of Photography, Editor, Dancer & Producer
Dancers - Jasmine Fitch, Mizuho Kappa & Katie Schetlick
Walking the Mile
Film by Alexandria Davis (c) 2020 USA
Walking the Mile explores the impact of memory, perception, and rebellion on the evolution of the African American matriarch. Choreographed, danced, filmed, and edited by Alexandria Davis, Walking the Mile uses asymmetrical conversational gestures to disclose the internal conflict of a mind caught between shifting states of sophistication and unhinged being. Walking the Mile debuted in 2020 and was featured in Midwest RAD Fest, In/Motion Chicago's International Dance Film Festival, Arts x SDGS Online Festival, Rogue Dancer, The BeBOP Channel, and Detroit SheTown Women's Film Festival.
Alexandria Davis - Cinematography & Performance
Branford Marsalis - Music
Single Use
Film by Jody Sperling (c) 2020 USA
A Covid-era dance short by renowned choreographer Jody Sperling, “Single Use” is a meditation on the nature of disposability and resuscitation. Sperling dons an outfit fashioned from over 150 reclaimed plastic bags to romp and roll down an abandoned stretch of Broadway. Skittering and careening across the asphalt, she transforms into blossoming organic forms.
Jody Sperling - Director, Dancer & Producer
ba(ME)
film by Michael Garret (c) 2021 UK
ba(ME) sheds light on an intertwined journey of being both an immigrant in the U.K. and a minority artist in the dance industry. The film explores situational experiences of being a 'model immigrant / minority', and adds to a dynamic conversation on immigration and diversity in the arts.
Michael Garrett - Filmmaker, Director & Editor
Cathy Waller - Creative Producer, Project Manager & Co-Director
Ailin Conant - Co-Director, Dramaturg & Writer
Julie Ann Minaai - Performer, Choreographer & Writer
Omari Carter - Producer
Yukiko Masui - Choreographic Consultant & Additional Dancer
Lewis Wright - Composer
Torben Lars Sylvest - Featuring Music By
Cher Nicolette Ho - Behind the Scenes ‘BTS’ Videographer/Editor
Venetia Lim - BTS Video composer
Camilla Greenwell - Photographer
Julie Ann Minaai - Herself
Nigel Pilkington - Voice Over Artist
Alistair Goldsmith - Body Actor as Choreographer and Immigration Officer
Alexander Love - Audition Dancer
Ella Holappa - Audition Dancer
Lúcia Salgueiro - Audition Dancer
Mason Presley - Audition Dancer
Andrea Vilarrubias - Audition Dancer
Lesly Avendaño - Audition Dancer
Tom Pipe - Audition Dancer
Jule Cecilia Niekamp - Audition Dancer
Emily Lue-Fong - Audition Dancer
Emma Burbidge - Mother
Elliot Burbidge - Child
Gerson Saldanha - Support Team
Marc Scotter - Support Team
AFreedom to go!
film by Ingrid Nachstern (c) 2015 IRELAND & ITALY
'Freedom-to go! is a commentary on present day USA, in verse form. It comments on child beauty pageants, war, sex and celebrity culture’
Ingrid Nachstern - Director, Writer, Producer & Dancer
Lucia Kickham - Dancer
Michael Cooney - Dancer
Luca Truffarelli - Videographer
Michele Ragni - Camera Assistant
Alexander Balanescu - Composer
Gabriele Paperini - Sound Effects
Miriam Duffy - Location Manager
Emma Downey - Costumes
Alison Finn - Costumes
Stefano Baldinelli - Titling
OTW To Freedom
film by Jurne Smith (c) 2023 USA
OTW: To Freedom opens up a conversation concerning the subject of code switching within the context of forced assimilation within the African American community specifically, and the ways in which it has affected our mental health. Learning from a young age that to adapt or hide the essence of yourself for the sake of social safety and acceptance is a unique skill that offers debilitating long term consequences. This film uses the experiences of a dancer, whose job is to replicate and perform in a style and movement pattern that is foreign to her with a high level of success and accuracy, to mirror the experience and expectation put on African Americans where we are not represented equally to assimilate and perform towards an often unrealistic standard. The intent of this project “OTW: To Freedom'' was to mimic and reflect the awkwardness, realness, and performance of code switching. The process of trying to take on the aspects of another culture or structure, that isn’t natural or wasn’t previously taught to you, with the hope that you will be regarded as qualified or valued. This film was developed with the goal of showing that there are subtle nuances that come from having a lived experience in a culture that is hard to replicate from the outside, and it’s one of the many things that makes cultures, communities, and individuals precious.
Jurne Smith - Director & Producer
Malanah Hobgood - Dancer
Cultivate
film by Sima Gonsai (c) 2023 UK
Two dancers ground themselves in soil and ritual as they dance a duet with the earth. Drawing on the success of the 2021 dance film ‘And Breathe’ inspired by the newly introduced Clean Air Zone in Birmingham, ‘Cultivate’ responds to localised climate research about soil health focusing on soil toxic inheritance, farming practices and soil preservation. Told through combining South Asian dance and film, ‘Cultivate' highlights the human interconnectivity of soil and celebrates soil ecosystems. It features two female dancers, filmed in high winds and warm temperatures for the time of year, grounding themselves in soil and ritual. The toxic and destructive farming process, the frantic urgency needed to sustain the environment and the intimate inter-webbing of roots that form connections in nature and humankind are inexorably enmeshed in this cinematic artwork.
Sima Gonsai - Director
Pip Piper - Producer
kesha Raithatha - Dancer
meera patel - Dancer
Karen Wood - Movement Director
Annie Matani - Composer
Daniel Alexander - cinematography
PATREON Only
She Moved the Prairie
film by Cheyla Clawson & Bret Jones (c) 2021 USA
She Moved the Prairie is a dance film based on the work women did both in the home and on the land in the early 20th century on farms and ranches.
Cheyla Clawson - Director, Writer & Producer
Bret Jones - Director & Producer
Dancers - Sarah Frangenberg, Alison Huddleston, Rhiannon Vieyra, Megan Reinhart & Sara Boehm