Despite a thin turnout of less than ten people for the dance/film masterclass, we had a great, thougthful discussion with British filmmaker Alex Reuben today at Objectifs.
What constitutes a dance film as opposes to a document of a live performance? What are the possibilities of the camera, editing, technology, and sound in film? We had a good discussion in between four of his shorts and a feature documentary. The films spanned a broad scope of his work which includes dance as sociology-political comment, movement transformed by computer and technology into abstraction and pure line, dance with literary text. I liked his work best where he allowed the simplicity of images, movement and sound to do the speaking – in the catchy Line Dance where he creates astounding depth with only stick figures, and the impressive documentary ‘Routes’ that speaks volumes about race and politics in America without a single word or narrative text.
A DJ and visual artist by training, and a film maker with a pedagogical flair, Alex was really approachable and frank in his sharing. I didnt stay for the subsequent class by James Allen because (duh) I went to watch Shelly Love’s films at Cathay. Sadly I hear this class was even smaller than the first. The good news is that when I swapped over to Cathay in the afternoon, the Shelly Love films that had been advertised as ‘experimental’ managed to draw about 50 people.
Kudos to Danny K and Objectifs for pulling the masterclasses together against the odds. I hope we will have more dance film events in future.
Routes, Line Dance and a couple more of Alex Reuben’s shorts are showing tomorrow 6 June at the Cathay at 12.40pm (tickets from Sistic). The tough part is that you have to trade off the dance/film forum if you want to see them.
Sze
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Hey there, sorry you missed my masterclass. We also had a lively session, looking at the nexus of choreography and cinema, with particular reference to the role of the director and evolutions in new technology, as well as touching on some of my personal interests in spiritual thematics. Thanks to all for making it happen – had a wonderful time in Singapore and great to share with your creative community. Best, Richard
Comment by Dr Richard James Allen February 23, 2011 @ 5:37 am