Festival celebrates decade of dance on film

Ten years of Dance on Screen at The Place is being celebrated through a week-long series of events in London from November 7, showcasing and celebrating the expansion of filming choreography during the last decade.

Bringing together documentaries, international and British screenings, pop promos and an open forum where young film makers showcase their work, the festival will feature contemporary dance, movement, and choreography.

Gitta Wigro, spokesperson for Dance On Screen at The Place, said: “There is a huge breadth of films being shown and the quality of the films is very high. It has come from being housed in the diverse hothouse of contemporary dance and is now looking out towards a new medium and the welding of a new art form. We are aiming to make it more of a melting pot where the skills of both come together.”

Bafta and Emmy Award winning director David Hinton, who led the masterclass earlier this month, will be in discussion on November 11. Best known for his direction of DV8 Physical Theatre’s Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men and Strange Fish, for which he was awarded a Prix Italia, Hinton has also made TV documentaries featuring various artists including choreographers Siobhan Davies and Russell Maliphant.

Litza Bixler, the choreographer for Basement Jaxx, Sugababes, Sophie Ellis Bextor and Beverly Knight, will be speaking at a pop promo retrospective evening on November 14 to conclude the week’s activities. The festival will include the best of British and international dance films, talks and events with leading practitioners and film showings of features and documentaries.

New dance films screened include those by DV8 director Lloyd Newson’s The Cost of Living, which will be broadcast on Channel 4 in 2005, and internationally renowned choreographer Pina Bausch’s Ladies and Gentlemen Over 25. The festival is curated by dancer, choreographer and film maker Philippe Decoufle, best known for creating the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1992 Winter Olympic games in Albertville.