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"We drank wine, watched porno films, danced as though we were dancing contact improv or working for Forsythe, Kylian, Anne Teresa de Keersmaker, " said the charismatic dancer Jordi Cortes Molina about his collaboration with Daniel Munoz in the making of COUP DE GRACE based on two men whose friendship was brought to an abrupt stop - only to be tested again after 40 years. "We tried everything to get to all the layers of the friendship of these two men with their long long history together. Every day, we'd improvise, sometimes for 3 hours straight, continuing until one of us called to stop."

Molina was a font of information and insight about the challenge of making dance films in our Artists Chat, here in the charming city of Haugesund, pop. 25,000, in the Norsk Festival for Dans og Film. Now in its third year, this dance film festival has the distinction of being developed with the support, from its inception, with The Norwegian International Film Festival now in its 40th year. Anne Jorunn Salhus and Rikke W Lie started their Dans Og Film Festival in 2010, but sadly Anne passed that year. The screenings were primarily on the 4 screens of Edda Kino as well as the Maritim Hotel. This year's festival had the distinction of presenting 4 Norwegian premieres with the opening film being KON TIKI.

The screening in Haugesund of COUP DE GRACE directed by Clara van Gool, shown at Dance on Camera Festival 2012 in NYC, was a highlight of Dans Og Film, along with the screening of other old favorites such as HORIZON OF EXILE, ONE FLAT THING RE-PRODUCED, and a new short involving a staggering about of post-production from USA,  SOLIPSIST by Andrew Thomas Huang, noted by Creativity Magazine as a Director to Watch. Jordi revealed how close he was to Clara van Gool, with whom he had made 6 films. When he worked for DV8, he made 2 films with David Hinton, STRANGE FISH and TOUCHED. Quite relaxed and warm in person, Jordi often appears imperious and domineering on screen. He confided that he had to learn to do much less for the camera and slow everything down. He currently is fascinated by the idea of body memory, exploring fossils as a catalyst for a new project. He begins in September to direct a documentary in Barcelona about his work with the disabled.

Dans og Film Festival ran August 19-21, 2012, offering screenings, 4 day workshop with Peter Jasko and Milan Herich from the Brüssels based Les Slovaks dance collective, artists chat, and the lecture/screening of my "100 Years of Dance on Camera."

For more information, see http://www.nf-df.no

Thursday, January 24, 3:30 – 5:00 p.m., Room 165 Thompson Library 

Marlon Barrios Solano (creator and producer of dance-tech.net, dance-tech.tv and more than 400 video interviews and webcasts) will share his experience on developing horizontal architectures for knowledge production, exchange and distribution afforded by the new internet and portable technologies. His projects explore social networking and internet video production and distribution, live video broadcasting, online curatorial strategies and tactics, collaborative creativity/learning and mobile augmented reality technologies. He investigates the internet as a participatory creative ecosystem and as a space for social innovation and collaborative action. He interfaces and recombines the crowd and the cloud within hybrid knowledge landscapes.

co-sponsored by the Digital Arts and Humanities Working Group, Humanities Institute and the OSU Libraries.  

I am so upset that the great flamenco artist Enrique Morente Cotelo just died, Monday, December 13, only 12 days shy of his birthday.

What a gift he had. He could make your guts burn with only a few notes. And he experimented with so many forms, always excelling.

Why do so many of the great & talented always seem to die young? Is it because someone upstairs says - "OK. You've done all you possibly can to remind the rest of them that the mysterious forces of nature are always there, available to be tapped."

Born on Christmas Day 1942 in Granada, Spain, Enrique Morente began his career in Spain in the mid-1960s, and performed at the Spanish Pavilion of the 1964 World’s Fair in New York and again in NY in recent years at BAM and Lincoln Center. Mr. Morente’s survivors include his wife, Aurora Carbonell, a dancer; and three children, one of whom, Estrella Morente, who is my favorite performer in Carlos Saura's latest film FLAMENCO FLAMENCO that Dance on Camera Festival will show on January 29, 2011.

“I like doing what comes from inside,” Enrique Morente told The Boston Globe in 2003. “If that means I’m innovating, it’s pure coincidence.”

May 11th

As a festival like this, or maybe every festival, it is always a contact-making-connections-pool.

Across the hall where the festival happens, Alexander Carot ( http://www.carot.de/ ) is giving his workshop on a software he developed to enable musicians to rehears and perform together without meeting in real person. Having the problem of delivering the sound with a delay he invented his software “Soundjack” ( http://www.soundjack.eu ).

After a very intriguing key note by Mark Coniglio about his work, he is giving a workshop on the software Isabora, which he invented himself.

In his lecture he was talking about some art pieces which work with the matter of fact that we are the number one in our life.

I am - is the most used expression in Skype chat.

When we use interactive environments we are fascinated by the music I can create because I move (or graphics etc).

Mark introduced us to one of his recent works "loopdiver". Loopdiver was created with the Isadora software.

They basically filmed a dance phrase from 6 different ankles and then cut them apart and together in all possible orders. In addition they put loops on top with different durations and so on.

At the end, the dancer had to learn what they created with the software.

( http://www.troikaranch.org/vid-loopDiver.html )

In one corner you could see a huge table with stooped people around again soldering something together. The goal was to built a small LED Gadget/Screen with a USB connection which can be fed with any information you want. Some of the components just need to get a software, which has yet to be written.

( http://www.daal.at/ )

Before dinner time I was sitting together with some people and Frode Volden (docent for cognitive psychology and human interface design at Gjøvik university) for a so called focus talk.

The question to discuss was on perception of quality. What does it mean to us. How do we use it in a artist approach.

This focus talk is used as a platform to develop a new vocabulary in the field of audio-visual cognition in order to find a way to measure quality. To install parameters and make technology/interfaces more effective, better designed for an intuitive use, to simply define it with its own words/vocabulary.

A few statements shall be listed here

- in the moment there is human energy invested it has a high level of quality

- everything containing passion has high quality

- that would be nice

- it is a matter of (expert) knowledge if you receive something as high or low or no quality

- it's a matter of content

- don't mix high and low quality components

- but "south park" does it

- does technology helps to raise the level of quality?

- depends on the use of it

- restrictions within the use of technologies can be useful

and so on.

Frode Volden was mostly listening, making some notes and asking some questions.

Even that we all came from a very different background (musician, dancer, wearable LED artist, VJ, programmer) we were able to talk on an equal level. We made similar experiences and so had a platform of communication in a high quality ;-)

After dinner there will be a concert with Alexander Carot.

http://www.carot.de/

TenduTV announces the launch of the digital Dance on Camera Festival on Hulu, at www.hulu.com/network/tendutv. The digital Dance on Camera Festival is an extension of the Dance Films Association's Dance on Camera Festival (DOCF), which it has produced annually for the last 38 years, the last 14 of which have been co-presented with the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

"This new venture presents an exciting opportunity for dance film artists to expand their audience. The bulk of today's viewers consume their media digitally. Our partnership with TenduTV widens our distribution while offering an excellent, new venue for our participating artists," said Deirdre Towers, artistic director of Dance Films Association.

"We're excited to take this first step forward towards meeting the needs of the dance field. Finally, dance audiences can begin to get the access they eagerly desire. The Dance Films Association is a great partner and we're looking forward to doing all we can to help them fulfill their mission," said Marc Kirschner, General Manager of TenduTV.

TenduTV will be adding new films on a regular basis, providing viewers with a diverse range of dance on screen. While the initial films primarily represent contemporary works from prior editions of the festival, the Dance Films Association and TenduTV will also curate focused collections of dance films. Planned themes include "Past Masters," "Africa" and "Animation."

The first six films are available now, and feature dancers from some of thedance world's most renowned companies, including Tanztheater Wuppertal, Frankfurt Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and Armitage Gone! Dance.

These films are:

Arcus, a jury prize nominee, DOCF 2004
directed by Alla Kovgan and Jeff Silva

Arising,from DOCF 2009
directed and choreographed by Ben Dolphin

FoliesD'Espagne, a jury prize nominee, DOCF 2008
directed by PhilipBusier
choreographed by Austin McCormick

Madrugada,from DOCF 2005
directed by William Morrison
choreographed byDeborah Greenfield

Vanishing Point, DOCF 2009
directedby Patrick Lovejoy

Wiped, Jury Winner, DOCF 2002
directedand choreographed by Hans Beenhakker

TenduTV also announced the addition of Cory Greenberg to its advisory board. Ms. Greenberg is Director of Operations & Special Projects for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, as well as Ailey's in-house counsel. She received her undergraduate degree cum laude in Art History from Duke University and her law degree from New York University School of Law, where she was an Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Fellow and a recipient of the Vanderbilt Medal for Public Service.

About TenduTV

Founded in 2008, TenduTV seeks to deliver dance to audiences through the highest quality digital distribution network available to the art form today. Through TenduTV's platform partners, dance artists and organizations will be able to transport their vision beyond the physical theater and engage audiences through computers and 200 million digital devices including internet-enabled televisions, portable video players and mobile devices. By empowering artists to connect with audiences on a global scale, TenduTV believes that the dance field can be as strong financially as it is creatively.

About Dance Films Association, Inc.

Dance Films Association, Inc. (DFA) is dedicated to furthering the art of dance film. Connecting artists and organizations, fostering new works for new audiences, and sharing essential resources,
DFA seeks to be a catalyst for innovation in and preservation of dance on camera. DFA was founded by Susan Braun in 1956, and included Ted Shawn, the founder of Jacob's Pillow, as its charter member, as well as modern dance pioneer Jose Limon and ballerina Alicia Markova as members of its first Board of Directors. A tireless advocate, Ms. Braun devoted her life to finding, showcasing, preserving dance films and videos until her death in 1995. Today, DFA seeks to carry on her spirit of creativity and collaboration in a time of extraordinary transformation.

For more information, visit www.dancefilmsassn.org and www.tendu.tv.

Jan 6-Ben Dolphin (director of ARISING) Jan 7-Alla Kovgan (co-director of NORA)Jan 8-Daniel Belton (director of MATCHBOX and AFTER DURER)Jan 9-Douglas Rosenberg (co-director of OF THE HEART)

Work sample of Alla Kovgan

SOMA SONGS (7' version) Daniel Belton and Good Company

Venous Flow: State of Grace by Douglas Rosenberg