CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The University of Illinois department of dance has joined with the Art Theater Co-Op and Dance Partners to present a Dance Film Festival that they predict will become an annual event. The lineup includes a dozen films – some features, some shorts – that will be presented over three consecutive Tuesdays, beginning at 7 p.m. on Sept. 2 at the Art, 126 W. Church St., Champaign.
“We see this as a great educational opportunity to showcase the power of dance,” said Rebecca Ferrell, a dancer, choreographer and assistant to dance department head Jan Erkert.
The festival opens with the frothy showbiz of Fred Astaire’s “Royal Wedding,” a 1951 MGM musical comedy that includes the famous scene in which Astaire appears to dance on the walls and ceilings. Next is “Birds,” a 10-minute short by acclaimed dance film director David Hinton, whose honors include British Academy Awards. This short, however, uses no human dancers, but instead features only avian aerialists.
“It’s brilliantly edited, and makes you look at nature in a totally different way,” Ferrell said.
“The Cost of Living,” a 2004 film featuring the DV8 Physical Theatre, will be screened at 9 p.m. It tells the story of two street performers – one an amazing, legless dancer – and has won numerous awards. It will be followed by the documentary “Nora,” following Zimbabwean dancer Nora Chipaumire as she returns to South Africa and rekindles memories of her youth. Alla Kovgan, co-director of the film, will be present to talk about her work.
On Sept. 9, the lineup begins at 7 p.m. with “Flex is Kings,” followed by “Paris is Burning” at 9.
“Flexing” is a dance style born in East New York and Flatbush, Brooklyn, that uses gliding, shivering, dropping and contorting to portray the grittiness of street life. Some dancers specialize in “bone-breakers” – moves that look like the dancer’s shoulder or arm is being injured. “Flex is Kings,” directed by a New York Times photographer, follows a group of flex dancers for more than two years as they prepare for a competition.
“Paris is Burning,” filmed in the 1980s, explores the “ball” nightlife of the black and Latino gender-variant community through not only ball competition footage but also interviews with prominent drag performers. This film won the Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize and many other awards, and was named one of the best films of 1991 by the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, National Public Radio and TIME Magazine.
The short “Queens for a Day” will be shown between the two features.
On Sept. 16, the 7 p.m. feature is “Only When I Dance,” a 2010 documentary about two young ballet students from Rio de Janeiro attempting to dance their way out of the slums. The New York Times praised the film as “more clear-eyed than this microgenre demands, with a minimum of manufactured sentiment and gauzy performance footage.”
The 9 p.m. features are “Glow” and “Frame Dances” – two contemporary works choreographed for stage rather than for the camera. “Glow” uses ingenious technology to embellish a 30-minute solo choreographed by Gideon Obarzanek, artistic director of the Australian-based company Chunky Move. “Frame Dances,” choreographed by Susan Marshall, combines live action and video to watch dancers maneuver inside and through an art installation.
The festival will conclude with the screening of several short dance films made by Illinois students and alums. One will receive the Loie Fuller Award.
Individual tickets are $9.50 per feature, or $16 per evening ($8.50 and $11 for students). A festival pass is $41, or $26 for students.
For more information, visit www.dance.illinois.edu.
To reach Rebecca Ferrell, call 217-300-1193; email rferrel@illinois.edu.
