Muy Informal

Bless, last night was a success. The format was very informal, with popcorn and tea and some mattresses on the floor of the dance studio in an old brick building. The films were projected onto a blank white wall and we all sat in fold-up chairs. I and my friend who joined me were the only ones who weren't part of the Barefoot Collective in some way. Suffice to say it was an "intimate" evening. They screened about 12 different films, each from which I learned something.

Now that I've seen many different interpretations of dance on film, I can draw conclusions about the future of dance film in general, and the development of my own style specifically. I think that if dance film wants to go anywhere in the massive art scene, each film has to have a clear concept. I am not saying that each film has to have a "plot" or "narrative," per se, but it has to have some kind of a concept that gets developed throughout the film. I saw several films last night that had many interesting concepts, but none got developed to their fullness because they were crowded by other ideas that the filmmaker had. Some films, to me, actually had the potential to be six or seven films, if only the filmmaker had focused on one idea at a time. I think this is my main struggle as a dance filmmaker.

Secondly, dance films cannot just have dancers dancing in an environment. Anyone can film someone moving around a park or a library. The real artistry comes in what the dancers are saying by dancing in that particular place, and doing those particular moves.

Finally, dance films are more interesting when the camera is not afraid to move with the dancers. I saw some incredible angles last night that suggested more movement than the dancers could do alone.

As for my style, I hope to absorb some of the lessons I learned last night and apply them to my work. I am so happy we had this chance to showcase our work and get inspired to keep moving forward with this project. Congratulations to all the other filmmakers and thank you to the Barefoot Collective!