While perusing the program for Frame, the upcoming, international London Dance Film Festival (June 9 – 12), a fest entirely devoted to the genre I like to call Screen Dance, I came upon this week’s selection, Shade. Performed by the UK based BirdGang Dance Company, a hip-hop group I had never heretofore heard of whose “goals are not just to entertain but also to explore social issues through dance”, Shade packs its total running time of just under a minute and a half (minus credits) with a wallop. Directed and edited by Simeon Qsyea and danced by Lamar Johnson, the choreography in tandem with the music seems to direct the film, with the movement at times literally commanding the framing in a graphic way.
With the camera moving almost constantly in conjunction with Johnson’s extremely proficient mix of hip hop and more contemporary street based movement – full of Dutch tilts and jumping angles as it introduces his never fully revealed face and figure only incrementally at first – there is a little bit of a dizzying, vertigo effect. The film is dark, seemingly lit entirely by the lamppost the dance takes place under. But the drive of the (un-credited) score and the sheer moxie of the film’s editing with the movement struck this viewer as kind of crazily delightful. Qsyea, a Director, Choreographer and Visual Artist who has worked with the likes of Pink, 50 cent, and So You Think You Can Dance, clearly knows enough what he’s doing enough to risk experimentation.
Enjoy.
Founder/Director of Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival, Sarah Elgart is a Los Angeles based choreographer and director working under the auspice of Sarah Elgart | Arrogant Elbow. Sarah creates original content for stage, screen, and site-specific venues. Her stage and site-works have been performed at alternative spaces including LAX Airport, The Skirball Center, Mark Taper Forum, Van Nuys Flyaway, The Bradbury Building, Jacob’s Pillow, INSITU Site-Specific Festival NY, and Loft Seven, where she created a rooftop work lit entirely by a hovering helicopter accompanied by Nels Cline (Wilco). Her work has been produced by venues including The Music Center, MASS MoCA, Dance Place, Los Angeles Theater Center, Mark Taper Forum and The International Women’s Theater Festival. In film Sarah has worked with noted directors including JJ Abrams, David Lynch, Catherine Hardwicke, and Anton Corbijn. Her own films include award-winning music videos, dance shorts, and an Emmy nominated PSA, and continue to be accepted into festivals internationally. In addition to teaching dance and film, Sarah writes a regular column, ScreenDance Diaries that focuses on the intersections of both genres internationally for online magazine Cultural Weekly. Sarah’s work has received support from organizations that include the Rockefeller Foundation, the NEA, City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, California Arts Council and more. She is an alumna of the Sundance Institute’s Dance Film Lab, a Fellow of AFI’s Directing Women’s Workshop, and a director member of the DGA.