Film Preview: Amy O'Neal Goes Solo, But Not Alone

To launch her new solo platform, local choreographer Amy O’Neal has created Too, which premiered last summer at Portland’s Time-Based Art Festival.  The work — part film, part live performance — will be seen by Seattle audiences for the first time at Northwest Film Forum this week. [Read the preview and watch a video teaser after the jump.]

The film, shot by O’Neal and edited by Michele Witten, is a collage of thirty-five duets between O’Neal and other dancers, choreographers and performers, whom O’Neal has danced with and even taught over the years.

The first vignette shows O’Neal and former student Aaron Loux, now a Julliard grad, dancing along the front walk of a Capitol Hill home. That’s just the beginning.  The remaining thirty-four duets were shot at different locales around the country and in Japan.  Another shows O’Neal partnering with choreographer David Dorfman on a rooftop in Brooklyn, NY while a subway train goes rolling by.  O’Neal told me that she traveled to ten different places in 2006, the year she started filming.

Shortly into the performance, O’Neal and dancer Ellie Sandstrom take the stage.  The scenes on film come alive as O’Neal and Sandstrom create a live performance of the dancing occurring simultaneously on the screen.   They are partnering not only with one another but also with their filmic cohorts.

A feast for the senses, Too will be savored by those who appreciate film, dance and music — and what can occur when a talented choreographer isn’t afraid to tackle all of them.  

—Leslie Holleran

Northwest Film Forum, March 25-27, 8:00pm

This video preview of the performance gives a great sense of the dynamic result of pairing dance and film.

AmyO/tinyrage-too (excerpt 1) from Amy O on Vimeo.