Fest Dances Across Cultures.

Dance on Camera 2002 Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center New York, New York January 11-12, 2002 By Rose Anne Thom

The thirtieth anniversary of the Dance Films Association's annual Dance on Camera Festival, presented by The Film Society of Lincoln Center, revealed an ever-increasing interest in the interface between dance and film. Audiences have grown considerably over the years and, in addition to the festival's six programs, related events spilled over to other venues throughout New York City. In addition, the Dance Films Association has undertaken an exciting touring partnership with organizations beyond New York City, so that audiences across the country, and even in Monaco, Russia, and Cuba, have the opportunity to enjoy the incredible diversity of dance on film.

This year, festival co-directors Deirdre Towers and Joanna Ney showed primarily new works in six differently themed programs. Occasionally a prizewinner from previous festivals or a particularly timely historical morsel from other archives slips in. The "Salute to Jacob's Pillow," which opened this year's festival, featured just such a morsel: The George Balanchine Trust's priceless footage of a bewitching Tanaquil Le Clercq (who died December 31, 2000) and Nicholas Magallanes dancing Balanchine's La Valse.

The 2002 Jury Winner, Wiped, was choreographed and directed by Netherlander Hans Beenhakker. This is a short, action-packed encounter between a woman (Regina van Berkel) and an unusual man (Bernd Uwe Marszan) who mysteriously appears and disappears. Set in an abandoned mine, the work features rapid-fire cuts and scene changes that give it a breathless, surrealistic bite. The jury awarded an honorable mention to two films. One, When Dancers Go Bowling, a wonderfully wacky escapade involving eight jaded dancers in a bowling alley, was choreographed by Amanda Rabin, directed by Michael DeMirjian, and co-produced by DeMirjian and Joy Malinowski. Much of the humor comes from the deadpan bowling instructions voiceover that accompanies the dancers' goofy antics.

The other honorable mention went to the documentary Betty Oliphant: A Life in Dance, directed by Gil Gauvreau. The startling candor of this film, which concerns the founder of the National Ballet School of Canada, comes primarily from Oliphant's own mouth as she appraises relatives, colleagues, and herself. Gauvreau chose to overemphasize the participation of Nureyev (dancing very poorly) and Baryshnikov at the National Ballet of Canada, rather than Erik Bruhn's directorship. The omission of Bruhn, one of Oliphant's dear friends, leaves a vacuum in the film.

Two new animated films stood out: Nadia Roden's Serenade chronicles a whimsical romance in a free flow of delicate, swirling images and musical notes that sweep across the screen, mirroring the delicacy of the accompanying French music-hall tunes. Elevator World, by Mitchell Rose, ironically juxtaposes computer-animated layouts with a New Age-y voiceover to demonstrate the polite spatial placement of elevator riders. The always inventive choreographer/animator Pooh Kaye applies her unique and colorful imagination to the simple act of getting up and around in the 1980 film Wake-Up Call.

In the "Narratives" program, the possibilities of dance and film fuse most potently. Shot in jungles, deserts, barren cement rooms, and coffee shops, these films distort and exaggerate characters and environments to magnificent proportions. La noche, marejada de un cuerpo (Night Tide) was a disturbing duet choreographed and danced by Carmen Werner and Guillaume Trontin. Brilliantly filmed in black and white by director Daniel Iturbe for the Spanish Provisional Danza, the intimate camera work forces the viewer into a voyeuristic stance as this brutal relationship unfolds.

Schluss, by Dutch producer/director Annick Vroom, allows the mischievous shenanigans involving everyday objects (cigarettes, cups, and saucers) to reflect the interior agitation of a couple (Andrea Boll and Andreas Denk) sharing coffee. In Raiz de agua (Water Root), a Venezuelan entry choreographed and directed by Lidice Abreu and Andres Zawisza, an unseen presence threatens the emotional stability of a young woman (Luis Viana) alone on a chicken farm.

Each festival has included documentaries that provide a glimpse of the world backstage. Standing on the Edge, We Dance, directed by Carmella Vassor, Philip Szporer, and Marlene Millar, takes its lively pace from the incessant activity surrounding Philadanco's determined and resourceful artistic director, Joan Myers Brown. Like Oliphant, Brown pulls no punches in recounting her ongoing struggles and sacrifices while leading this spirited troupe.

A pivotal moment in New York City Ballet principal Nikolaj Hubbe's career propels Dancer, a film sponsored by the Danish Film Institute and Danmarks Radio/TV and shot by Hubee's close friend, director Ulrik Wivel. The viewer shares Hubbe's restless anxiety during the period when he is waiting to learn if he has been chosen director of the Royal Danish Ballet. Going through the meticulous rituals of rehearsal and performance, the physically articulate dancer is in sharp contrast to the tongue-tied interviewee. Whatever his qualifications, the viewer is as incredulous as Hubbe when company officials turn him down on his answering machine.

Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet is director Nils Tavernier's lavish 100-minute excursion behind the scenes of that company and its school. There is nothing rushed about this film; the camera lingers on a dancer's face, the classical sculpture of the Opera's facade, the giggly students in their daffodil-yellow practice clothes, and a contentious debate about a lift between two dancers moments before they go onstage. Several interviews raise the complex issues of training, performance, competition, repertoire, and retirement, but the film's grander theme is the vitality and invulnerability of the entire institution, which Tavernier dramatically accentuates with filmed images evolving into black-and-white stills throughout this magnificent record.

For information about upcoming national mini-festivals, see www.dancefilmsassn.org.