Catch This: Dance Film Night in Tacoma

Today in local culture...

Tacoma's own The BareFoot Collective presents a one night-only presentation of dance films, giving insight into the strange world of contemporary dance through, perhaps, a slightly more familiar medium.

Tonight, March 1, at the Merlino Art Center, studio B, 8:00pm. $5 at the door. Popcorn will be served.

It's interesting to consider how dance presented through film can create almost an entirely different art form. Through the use of editing, outside images, various angles and sound effects — an entirely separate choreography is being put into place on top of the dance performance itself. 

Something to think about...

Here's a nice montage of works by one of the participating dance companies, to help get you in the right mindframe for watching and considering dance (think of it as a mental stretch).

Read details about all of the films and participating artists from the press release after the jump:

Included in the evening are films by Tacoma-based artists Michael Hoover and BQ Danza.  Hoover's film Affinity combines the use of clever computer animation and his strong, demanding, dance choreography. Frame created by BQ Danza includes the beauty of an older, well-used and neglected Seattle building. The dancers move in and out of door ways, windows, and around pillars, with lithe and sometimes quick, off-balance movements.

Somebodies Dance Theater shows their film Bodies of Water, a combination of a parched environment, exquisitely filmed, and gestural exploration. Also from Southern California, Kenny McNett's duo of short films Danger Dancer, and Three in Metropolis, shows the humor and imagination of this clever filmmaker.

Edgar Fun Degas, by Seattle-based choreographer Rachel Randall and filmmaker Nathan Vass explores the process of a final rehearsal before a performance, wonderfully filmed in black and white allowing the focus to be on the movement and increased emotional level required to prepare for a dance concert. NorthWest Dance Syndrome unites with filmmaker Tyson James Theroux, to explore the eerie movement of Theroux's worst fears, weaving several haunting scenes into one long nightmare entitled Nocturne.

Also included in the evening is New York-based artist Kimberly Kaplan's Park Trio, Seattle's Kathryn Hightower's Summer Storm Solos, filmed in a thunderous Washington D. C. Green Triangle, Poopy Park created by Rachel Randall and Nathan Vass, and Amanda Herman's fun guerilla filmed Footage.