Dance Camera West Announces Its 2021 Festival Winners

The Broad Stage and Dance Camera West have announced the winners of the Dance Camera West Drive-In, Best of the Festival. The Outstanding Achievement Award winners are Henrique Pina (for Beast and Dusk) and Adi Halfin (for Earth Odyssey and Lost Horse). The Best of the Fest Award winners are Robbie Synge (for Forest Floor) and Garry Stewart (for The Circadian Cycle). Additionally, Hofesh Shechter was awarded the Best Screen Adaptation Award (for Clowns), screened earlier in the festival, and Finishing Fund Grants have been awarded to the following Los Angeles-based artists: Marquesa Gardner and Austyn Rich. The Finishing Fund Grant is an initiative to financially support films from underrepresented artists and to complete films already in production, which premiere at a later date.

The Best of Fest and Outstanding Achievement Award films will be presented by The Broad Stage in a unique drive-in experience showcasing the very best dance films from around the world on the big screen with two different programs on Saturday, January 30, 2021 and Sunday, January 31, 2021 outdoors at the Santa Monica College Bundy Campus - East Parking Lot. Each film will make its World, United States and/or Los Angeles premiere.

Award winners Henrique Pina and Adi Halfin's films will be shown in Program A and B. Directed by Henrique Pina of Portugal, Beast portrays an encounter between the choreographer Victor Hugo Pontes and Braga Municipal Stadium, by the architect Eduardo Souto de Moura. Order and disorder. Men and beasts in flocks. Wild conquest among mute roars. Concrete and stone. Light and shadow. Color. Immensity and vertigo. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Chrysalis. The hatching of beasts. Pina also directed Dusk, which portrays an encounter between the choreographer Olga Roriz and Mudas of Portugal - Contemporary Art Museum, in Madeira island, by the architect Paulo David. Horizon. Sea. Sky. Rock over the sea. A spiraling run from an interior to an exterior. A body thrown into the space. The quest's anxiety.

Directed by Adi Halfin of Germany, Earth Odyssey was made by dancers from different continents filming themselves in their confinement with their personal phones and computers. It was made in the first week of April 2020 while almost 2 billion people around the globe were unable to move freely due to the restrictions imposed in an attempt to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Following Earth Odyssey, Halfin's vision for Lost Horse was another creative solution for a period where it is virtually impossible to create international collaborations due to the restrictions as a result of the global pandemic. The director decided to go with the flow and have the dancers film themselves. Mixing their dance into a documentation of their personal life. Armed with their own camera, modern dance power-couple Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber set about documenting their intimate daily lives in a new genre of "Musical" style documentary. Mixing improvised choreography driven by their immediate emotions with the relentless, never-stopping rolling of the camera, the two created an abundance of scenes reflecting the many aspects of a relationship full of multitudes. A life full of beginnings and endings coexisting in us all. The music featured in both films was written, composed and performed by Asaf Avidan.

The films of the Best of the Fest winners, Robbie Synge and Garry Stewart, will be featured in Program B. Directed and choreographed by Robbie Synge of the United Kingdom, Forest Floor was shot in Abernethy Forest in The Cairngorms. Forest Floor considers different bodies and physical access challenges in a rural location. Close friends Julie and Robbie sit quietly together on the ground, a simple idea requiring a novel approach. Garry Stewart of Australia conceived and directed the short film, The Circadian Cycle, with cinematography from renowned director and filmmaker Cordelia Beresford. Filmed within the stunning South Australian landscape, The Circadian Cycle draws upon choreography from Australian Dance Theatre's award winning mainstage work The Beginning of Nature. Using the dancing body as a metaphor, The Circadian Cycle examines morphology, biological rhythm and animal behavior. The film charts a day from sunrise to evening, moving through cycles of nature, from nascence and awakening to predation and death.

Program A showtimes are Saturday, Jan. 30 at 5:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. Program B showtimes are Saturday, Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 31 at 5:30 p.m.

For information and tickets visit thebroadstage.org/dancecamerawest

The Broad Stage is led by Rob Bailis, Artistic and Executive Director. Dance Camera West is led by Kelly Hargraves, Executive Director and Artistic Director.

Finishing Fund Grant for Underrepresented Artists

Dance Camera West (DCW) has awarded Los Angeles-based artists Marquesa Gardner (Miss Prissy) for Thy Queendom Come and Austyn Rich for Stay Sane a finishing grant award of $1,000 to re- conceptualize, reshoot or re-edit their recent films made during BLM/COVID quarantines. The filmmakers will also be partnered with a BIPOC mentor through their process.

Since 2000, Dance Camera West has connected diverse cultures and environments through its exploration of dance on screen, bringing thousands of entertaining, challenging and provocative films to Los Angeles from around the globe, effectively bridging the gap between the uniquely influential Los Angeles film community and the significant local dance populace.

Dance Camera West aims to foster groundbreaking talent and to encourage new work in the area of dance film by supporting creation, presentation and distribution of films. DCW presents an annual international festival held at renowned arts venues throughout Los Angeles, and informative and educational events throughout the year, to bring dance to the world beyond the stage and through the language of film.

The films include (partial list):
D = Director, C = Choreographer

Program A

Sat, Jan. 30, 2021 at 5:30 p.m.
Sun, Jan. 31, 2021 at 8 p.m.

• Sedimented Here (D/C: Rachel Barker, United States)
• Traces (D/C: Alex Murrull, Spain)
• 4 (D: Mariana Palacios, C: Adrián del Arroyo, Sweden)
• Earth Odyssey (D: Adi Halfin, C: Dancers, Germany; Music written, composed and performed by Asaf Avidan)
• Beast (D: Henrique Pina, C: Victor Hugo Pontes, Portugal)
• Liminality (D: Jennifer Akalina Petuch, D/C: Annali Rose, United States)
• Where The Spiders Live (D: Holger Mohaupt, C: Felix Watts, United Kingdom)
• Escape (D/C: Heidi Duckler, also lists Filmmaker: Felipe Díaz Galarce, United States)

Program B

Sat, Jan. 30, 2021 at 8 p.m.
Sun, Jan. 31, 2021 at 5:30 p.m.

• Dusk (D: Henrique Pina, C: Olga Roriz, Portugal)
• ID (D/C: Cass Mortimer Eipper, Australia)
• Forest Floor (D/C: Robbie Synge, United Kingdom)
• Second Seed (D/C: Baye & Asa, United States)
• Lost Horse (D: Adi Halfin, C: Bobbi Jene Smith, Or Schraiber, Germany; Music written, composed and performed by Asaf Avidan)
• The King (D/C: Jonathan Redavid, United States)
• Being (D: Pablo Destito and Agustina Videla, C: Agustina Videla, Argentina)
• The Circadian Cycle (D/C: Garry Stewart, Australia)

The films range from dance in wide open landscapes to those sheltering in place at home, all reflecting the times we are experiencing with COVID-19. It is a way to experience the outdoors in new ways and from different vantage points. It is a welcome to inside the artist's experience of confinement.

Location & Pricing:

These programs will take place in person at the Santa Monica College Bundy Campus - East Parking Lot, 3171 S Bundy Dr at Airport (between Ocean Park Blvd. and Palms) Los Angeles, CA 90066). All guests will have required safety COVID-19 protocols (including masks and distancing). Each program is expected to have a 65-minute runtime.

Both programs are screened each evening. Single program tickets are priced at $45 per car (unlimited passengers); a $80 Premium Pass includes both programs for a single car plus the complete 2021 Dance Camera West Digital Festival Collection, which includes a set of 40+ films, sent to ticketholders in February. There will be a limited number of $10 student tickets with appropriate identification. Venue and processing fees apply.

Please note: The films are recommended for ages 10 and up.

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