This
year’s six programs aim at demonstrating the diverse range
of possibilities offered by dance film/video collaborations and
to introduce Russian audiences to some of the different directions
the hybrid genre of dance film navigate as well as at allowing
a glimpse into the creative process of making dance films.
Program
I  Program
II Program
III Program
IV Program
V Program
VI
Program
I: Artist in Person: Victoria Marks
Monday, March 24, 2003
Victoria
Marks creates dances for the stage, for film,
in community settings, and for professional dancers. Her work
magnifies and develops the unique characters of the people she
works with - and communicates that, through performance, to
a wider audience. Victoria is an associate professor of choreography
in the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA where she
has been teaching since 1995. Before taking her post at UCLA
she lived in London, where for three and a half years she worked
on her own choreographic projects and created a choreography
program for London Contemporary Dance School. During her London
residency and later on in the States, she collaborated with
Margaret Williams, a British filmmaker. Trained as a painter,
Margaret Williams started her film career as an animator for
Hanna Barbera in Hollywood. She returned to London and, after
two years at the BBC, started her own production company in
1975 and has been directing and producing ever since. Her work
is characterized by use of humor, a strong sense of composition
and visual flair and innovation. Some of her most respected
and internationally successful films have been 'creations for
the camera' - collaborations between Margaret as film director
with a composer, choreographer or writer.
Together, Victoria Marks and Margaret Williams created three
dance films. Those works are among the most awarded dance films
in the world. "Outside In",
for example, has been shown on major television networks throughout
the world and won Prague d'Or, National Film Board of Canada
Creativity Award, the Screen Choreography Award at IMZ Dance
Screen and Grand Prix at festivals in New York and Bulgaria.
Margaret
and I therefore set out to undo the conventions of theatrical
space and real space, and to create a magical one. –
Victoria Marks
One of the most liberating things for a choreographer working
on film or video is that they don't have to get people on
and off stage. One of the most liberating things for a filmmaker
is not having to worry about the text. – Margaret
Williams
“Outside
In”
by Victoria Marks and Margaret Williams, 13min, 1994
Made for
the CandoCo, a British company of able bodied and disabled
dancers, the film is "an unusual journey along tracks
and pathways both real and imaginary." It is a witty
and affectionate exploration of physicality, identity and
movement that transforms our understanding of dance.
"Mothers
and Daughters"
by Victoria Marks and Margaret Williams, 8min, 1994
This film
examines the potency and sensuality of the relationship between
mother and daughter. Working with 12 pairs of mothers and
daughters, many of whom had never performed before, the film
looks at the unique and the universal from a micro and macro
perspective.
“Men”
by Victoria Marks and Margaret Williams, 20min, 1997
"Men",
a 20-minute dance made for the camera, is performed by 7 elderly
men living in Canmore, Alberta. The men, who have never performed
before are retired from careers as miners, teachers, accountants
and law. The theme of the piece is mortality where the ephemerality
of human lives is set against the permanence of the Canadian
Rockies. This piece is a living requiem, a celebration of
lives well lived.
Program
I Program
II Program
III Program
IV Program
V Program
VI
© Kinodance–Russia, 2004
akovgan@kinodance.com
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