Blogs

MoveStream 03
Dance and Documentary
03 Nov 2010

Interviews with
Boris B. Bertram (DK) Tankograd (2009)
Andy Wood (UK) Decreasing Infinity (2010) Commissioned by Balbir Singh Dance

Documentaries
Is it the dance or the narrative that draws in/drives the documentary maker?
Is it the dance or personal story that attracts the filmmaker and viewer?
Is it the personal and/or the political, the human story that attracts us or is it the dance amplified by the lens that draws us in as documentary makers and viewers?
Can the dance performed by the dancer create character and story, reveal the personal, the personality of the performer? Or does it always co-exist? a combination of the two?

Here are two examples of two very different dance documentaries.

A young world-class dance company is based is based in the most radioactively contaminated place on earth - 20 times higher than Chernobyl!. Chelyabinsk city, or Tankograd, Tank City, in Western Siberia is infamous for its extreme radioactive pollution and contaminated areas that are threatening to spill into the Arctic Sea. Curiously, the city also has one of Russia's most vibrant dance scenes.

Tankograd tells a human story through events and character development highlighting personal human stories, with a dramaturgical event narrative. The personal and the political drive the documentary narrative forward. We empathise with the plight of the dancers, in the world of the narrative - Chelyabinsk, Russia. Here the dance is captured and amplified by the camera and edit in order to bring out the dramatic elements.

Fact and Fiction
1) Personal and political
2) The personal stories of people and empathy
3) What becomes amplified by the documentary makers lens
4) What starts the interest, why and how do you choose a subject for a documentary?
5) Is it the narrative, the events, the people or the empathy that attracts us to these true stories?

Awards, Nominations & Screenings
1) Winner - Best International Documentary Camden Film International Festival (Oct 2010)
2) Nomination - Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award Contender (Nov 2010)
3) Screening Art Docs Moscow - Documentary Festival (Dec 2010)
Boris Bertram online:
http://www.dfi.dk/faktaomfilm/danishf...

HYPERLINK "http://moviemoxie.blogspot.com/2010/05/hot-docs-2010-tankograd-q-with-director.html"http://moviemoxie.blogspot.com/2010/0...
for interview at Canadian International Documentary Festival ran from April 29 - May 9, 2010 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
For more info: http://www.tankogradmovie.com/

Trailers:

Boris B. Bertram Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rWGhJKtzNQ

Tankograd trailers

The personal Stories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLNjYZLexx4&feature=related

The Movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0MyU8Vab8s&feature=related

Decreasing Infinity (2010) by Andy Wood
Decreasing Infinity reveals character and dramaturgy through the dance itself and the aesthetic choices of the documentary maker informing us of this, by means of different colors, grading, shots and video quality. It subtly amplifies the subtext of the subjects working in a dance studio in London. The documentary maker includes the personal by highlighting the concerns of the choreographer and his collaborators in the rehearsal period where they attempt to fuse Kathak and Contemporary dance styles with beat boxing. Through this, character and emotion are revealed. It is however the dance that is highlighted, and not the character's personal life stories. The documentary works within alive performance being screened first with the live performance rolling out of it into a Q&A session with the audience.
Dance and Form
1) Explore new/different/old forms of dance
2) Examine cross disciplinary work
3) Social and cultural mixes in the dance
4) Hybrid doccie forms arising from the exploration of the dance and its amplification
5) Aesthetics and technical choices - emotional subtext

Andy Wood Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr01fROIz-Q

Trailers

Decreasing Infinity Intro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENqR08-gAJ8&feature=player_embedded

Decreasing Infinity - The Musicians

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHjqZLU48Po&feature=player_embedded

Shot and edited by Jeannette Ginslov
Video Produced by
Walking Gusto Productions 2010
and
dance-tech.net 2010