pre workshop drinks
tonight most of the participants met at the Drill Hall. David Hinton spoke a little about his work and his approaches and thoughts about dance film. one of the interesting points he made was that when he started making dance films there really wasn’t a field that defined this genre. and in the 20 years since it has grown and become more and more defined (yet he still feels that we’re yet to see someone fully realise the form - “the Marlon Brando on dance film” is yet to arrive).
it was a lovely way to start the workshop in an informal setting with a few drinks. David also mentioned his views on the 3 different ways dance film can be made; as a translation of a stage based work; as a work that is choreographed with film in mind; and, where the choreography of the film is created in the editing. he also showed excerpts from his own work that fit into these categories:
dead dreams of monochrome men
touched
birds
respectively. (couldn’t find any good web references for the last two films - check you tube for excerpts of “dead dreams”)
in the short time there i had a few thoughts about my own work - how sometimes the work i do falls into more than one category. i’ve never really made work from something that was already a stage piece. but my recent films Ready and Taut both cover the second and third category. they are improvised for the camera, with the camera in mind, and then the final choreography of the work is created in the edit. i suppose this is mostly possible because of the nature of improvisation - and that the final edit plays the deciding role in the outcome of the film. but… i feel that these categories are less discrete for me and there is a blending between them that interests me.
