Search Results for "modern dance"

A film by Kent Garrett originally a part of Black Journal.

Canadian documentary film depicting the world of contemporary dance. Nominated for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 9th Genie Awards in 1988.

The mavericks whose radical ideas created modern dance in the 20th century.

The pioneering Film, GERMAN LINEAGE IN MODERN DANCE: Solos by Wigman, Hoyer, Holm, Nikolais, Louis  celebrates the legacy of modern dance that started in Germany before World War I and expanded into new dimensions in the United States in the late 20th century. The influence of this complex and compelling heritage has spanned decades and spread to diverse areas globally.  This intriguing film presents solos by innovators and artistic heirs of German Expressionist Dance, or Ausdruckstanz.  Works of each choreographer are highlighted through solos, narration and original photographs. The film features the following choreographies: Mary Wigman’s Witch Dance and Swinging Landscapes (Germany), excerpts from Dore Hoyer’s Affectos Humanos  (Germany), Hanya Holm’s Homage to Mahler (Germany > U.S.), Alwin Nikolais’s Tribe, (U.S.), and Murray Louis’s Figura ( U.S.).

Collaborating with choreographer Douglas Dunn, Atlas uses anthropological text, satirical movement, and vividly colored chroma-keyed backgrounds in an episodic, often humorous look at the evolution of modern dance.

Made in 1980, this film explores the contemporary dance scene through the work of seven New York-based choreographers. They discuss the nature of dance and the evolution of their own work. Filmed at rehearsals, performances, and during interviews, the film is a unique primary source. The artistic roots of these seven artists can be found in Martha Graham's concern with modern life as a subject for dance and in Merce Cunningham's emphasis on the nature of movement. In the 1960s, the interaction of art forms generated choreographic innovations. Especially influential was John Cage, whose radical ideas served as a point of departure for much of the new choreography. Each of the choreographers in Making Dances draws inspiration from the Graham/Cunningham tradition, yet each makes a highly distinctive statement. Structure, movement in non-fictive time and space, and the nature of movement itself are recurring themes.

Where do art, politics and subversive acts collide? Finding Heaven Under Our Feet: Making Modern Dance, a feature-length documentary film, is a journey through time. Choreographer and dance historian, Dr. Jody Weber describes the roots of modern dance in the expressive dance movement of 19th century Boston, illustrating the art form's ties to the early 20th century women's rights movement. Seeing herself as an heir to these early innovators, Weber works with her Somerville-based dance company to address the elusive nature of the genre through community engagement, audience education and the ability of artists to use their work to tackle social and cultural issues, such as climate change and our relationship with the planet.

What are Shadow Dancers DVDs? They are ambient club visuals that lights up screens at events, parties, bars, clubs, casinos and everywhere people gather for good times. They re a Lot of fun!

A film that chronicles over forty years of dancemaking in the San Francisco Bay Area. The film begins with dance revolutionary Anna Halprin and highlights seminal Bay Area choreographers including Mangrove, Tumbleweed, ODC/San Francisco, Margaret Jenkins, Dance Brigade, Joe Goode and Contraband. The films addresses the special nature of the Bay Area's social, political and environmental climate; the marginalization of Bay Area artists due to the New York dance establishment and the unique and vital dance community that continues to grow.

Olympic gymnastics coach Francine Lake and her twelve gorgeous students train on the Island of Crete. The rigors of training preclude most sexual activity with the locals, thus the girls spend their evenings in quiet frustration.

Stéphane Lissner, director of the Paris Opera, entrusts the staging of the opera-ballet Les Indes galantes to the visual artist Clément Cogitore. Based on the experience of his short film Les Indes galantes, the artist updates Jean-Philippe Rameau's baroque masterpiece (1735) by bringing together lyric song and urban dance. The choreography is entrusted to Bintou Dembélé who supervises dancers from krump, popping, voguing or even experimental hip hop. From rehearsals to the Premiere, Philippe Béziat films the meeting of urban dancers with the lyric institution and invites the spectator to share a human and artistic experience.

A love story, portraying the dilemmas and inevitable consequences of ambition. It is a film about a woman's fight for independence, a woman trying to succeed with her own art in the extremely competitive world of dance.

Moving Together is a celebratory love letter to music and dance that brims with kinetic life and energy. This documentary explores the intricate collaboration between dancers and musicians, moving seamlessly between Flamenco, Modern, and New Orleans Second Line.

Jonathan Reeves is tasked with infusing more contemporary styles and modernism into the American Ballet Academy, and enlists his top choreographers Charlie, Cooper and Tommy to recruit dancers to compete at a camp where the winners will be selected to join the Academy. Bella Parker, who has always lived in the shadow of her hugely successful sister Kate, finally gets her chance to step into the limelight as one of the dancers recruited for the camp.

When his first stage show fails, songwriter Cole Porter goes off to fight in WWI until, injured, he lands in a hospital. He impresses nurse Linda Lee with his creativity, but their budding romance must wait as Cole heads home. Back in New York, he mounts a series of popular shows, and when his work brings him back to Europe, he eventually marries Linda. But success doesn't spare him from marital complications or bad news about a beloved relative.

Four of Sweden's most innovative choreographers travel to Ingmar Bergman's home on Fårö to explore and get inspired. The result is a unique contemporary dance film.The renowned Swedish choreographers Alexander Ekman, Pär Isberg, Pontus Lidberg and Joakim Stephenson, with principal dancers Jenny Nilson, Nathalie Nordquist, Oscar Salomonsson and Nadja Sellrup from the Royal Swedish Ballet, interpret Ingmar Bergman through four unique dance performances reflecting on human relations and intense feelings. The dances are linked together with images of the epic natural beauty of Fårö and Bergman's poetic home Hammars, including the voice of the master himself - Ingmar Bergman - revealing his thoughts about movements and music.

Pina is a feature-length dance film in 3D with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, featuring the unique and inspiring art of the great German choreographer, who died in the summer of 2009.

Modern dance is an evocative narrative tool in Georgia Parris' debut, which investigates a young woman's identity and the complex relationship she has with her mother and sister.

Salome was the daughter of Herod II and Herodias. According to the New Testament, the daughter of Herodias demanded and received the head of John the Baptist. This is a choreographed version of the play by Oscar Wilde.

Nate, a workaholic drummer, spends all his time practicing, always striving for perfection. After he meets Yazmine, a like-minded, dedicated modern dancer, he realizes that the key to success isn't just to work hard – sometimes it requires you to play hard.

A filmed version of Aaron Copland's most famous ballet, with its original star, who also choreographed.

Portrait of Lester Horton, a Los Angeles-based dancer, choreographer and teacher who trained many world-reknowned dancers and built the first American theater devoted permanently to dance. Former students and friends, including Bella Lewitzky, Alvin Ailey, and Carmen de Lavallade, help create a picture of Horton through interviews. Includes numerous dance excerpts.

Birgit Cullberg's 1950 dance adaptation of Miss Julie was the breakthrough for modern dance in Sweden. 30 years later one of her sons plays the role of Jean in this adaptation for TV.

A professional dancer struggles with his cravings for human flesh until his 'hambre', or hunger, becomes all encompassing. Accepting his status as an apex predator in human form, he fully embraces his life as a carnivorous hunter.

While most of Ken Russell's documentaries for the BBC's Monitor arts strand focused on a single creative figure, he would also occasionally make more wide-ranging surveys of the state of a particular art. The Light Fantastic (BBC, tx. 18/12/1960) was written and presented by Ron Hitchins, a Cockney barrow boy who has long been interested in a great many dance forms, and who has recently taken up Spanish dancing. Hitchins participates in some of the dance sequences, but his main contribution is an enthusiastic commentary that helps personalise what could have been simply a disparate collection of dance footage. He's not shy about expressing likes and dislikes, being none too keen on ballroom dancing (too choreographed), rock'n'roll (too monotonous) and Morris dancing (just doesn't like it), though anything genuinely spontaneous gets a thumbs up, even if it's a room full of people dressed in black swaying to the sound of a gong.

Released on DVD as part of The Criterion Collection's "Martha Graham: Dance on Film" collection.

An experimental animation for "One of These Days" by Pink Floyd.

Chantal Akerman followed famous Choreographer Pina Bausch and her company of dancers, The Tanzteater Wuppertal, for five weeks while they were on tour in Germany, Italy and France. Her objective was to capture Pina Bausch's unparalleled art not only on stage by behind the scenes.

“Siddharta” is a landmark contemporary ballet by Angelin Preljocaj, created for the Paris Opera Ballet and inspired by the spiritual journey of Siddhartha Gautama, the future Buddha. Set to an original score by Bruno Mantovani, this production fuses philosophical narrative with avant-garde choreography and striking visual design by Claude Lévêque. The piece explores themes of desire, suffering, and transcendence, following Siddharta’s path from royal privilege through temptation and enlightenment. The work stands out for its blend of spiritual intensity, physical virtuosity, and the grandeur of Paris Opera’s leading dancers.

A glimpse into the world and methodology of dancer Martha Graham.