Frame Rush 2020
As a festival that celebrates the promising convergence of dance and film, Frame Rush 2020 presents two days of artistic curation, undertaken by students on the MA in Screendance at London Contemporary Dance School. Scoping a visual palette, the six producers offer a collective voice in the conversation on the significance of the camera and screen in relation to the moving body. Through thoughtful navigation and filtering of fifty hours of footage (an estimated figure from the curators themselves), consisting of submissions that spanned the globe, into four programmes, the festival works to investigate and invoke questions surrounding the ‘parameters which characterise this hybrid form’ and explore the position that screendance can hold in the future.
Embracing Screendance was one of only two devised programmes that I experienced. Described as an arrangement of work that examines the ‘hidden depths of space’, there were moments that offered an invitation into obscured perspectives of the body and frame, ranging in complexity and interplay, to varying degrees of effectiveness. The opening film, ALTA, was aptly placed in the line-up, opening up a conversation between the viewer and the form, both simply and efficiently. The camera follows, averts and distorts the two intertwining bodies dynamically. Stripped and digestible, focusing on only a few elements, this starting point sets up expectations, regarding the direction of the programme, which the progression and flow, of the works that follow, simultaneously respects and challenges; an intelligent decision overall.
The feeling of being grounded in the functional and expressive elements of dance on screen slowly shattered, and we found ourselves lost in the clouds, hypnotised by the spiralling women in red swimsuits; the powerful female image available in Victory of the Rising Sun. Similarly, Being a Prosecutor disturbs the reality of the scene through over exposed landscapes; an image of a man-sized box being dragged through a land stripped of colour and depth comes to mind. Challenging the form of figures and environments communicated an embracing of the possibilities of screendance in a way that works such as Brute and Denominador Común lacked. Their role in this curation is not completely clear, other than their reduced length, providing light relief from longer viewings, which in itself is a purpose and is, upon reflection, much appreciated.
A variety of themes trace through the programme, and often individual works, which at points seems overwhelming. The welcoming , however, of documentaries from Lanre Malaolu and Silvia Cherneva is refreshing, as their productions both exhibit movement that is inherent to the depiction of people and a sense of community, despite contrasting atmospheres. Whilst understandable that the works were separated in the programme, Yacht Club Swing rightfully closing the show with a charming study of regeneration, the heavily weighted emotionality of The Circle arrived slightly early and abruptly. Bumping it down in the running order could have made the transition slightly smoother, without the risk of creating a compositional conflict of interest.
Documentation was also present in the Saturday evening programme, Unfolding Screendance, in the form of Zulu Rema has Learned to Fly. Capturing ‘emotional and physical aspects of humanity’, foundational to this collection of work, a moving story about B-boy and amputee Emeer, known as Zulu Rema, is secure in this programme. Conveying his passion for dance, this underpins a celebration of life, art and love, which can also be observed in Rakkaus (Embrace), through the simplicity of connected hands, and T.I.A. (This is Africa), where an ethereal glow coats the cinematic landscape, creating a vivid dream of liberation through movement.
Succeeding T.I.A in the programme, The Embrace of the Valkyries observes a dream-like ease descend into a shifting fantasy, complete with a multitude of material forms. A bold transition, to slice through the relaxed viewing state and drop the observer into the unknown, where the physicality of interaction questions the human element of humanity. The abrupt awakening was not unwelcomed, however, I am not sure I could quite keep up with the peculiarity.
Concerning illusion rather than fantasy, Inside the Is, Isn’t playfully explores intricate cinematographic techniques which challenge the potential effect, of focus and dimension, on the viewer. Whilst the movement imagery is ephemeral, the relationship between the camera and bodies remains, interrogated within the empty space as it unfolds. In terms of the viewing experience, this work communicated its core relationship with the camera to a greater extent than the illusive void upon which it is supposedly built. For this reason, it seemed lost or misplaced in this collective, though there is a likely suitability to the Embracing Screendance programme; interacting with the likes of ALTA.
On the other hand, Best Game Ever claims its place in the programme epically and, suitably resides at the conclusion of the festival. Conversational and episodic, the work navigates patterns through a layering of movement and physical interaction. Twenty minutes in length, the characters direct the viewer through an uplifting narrative of unity; working together to defeat a system. Recognising that movement is occurring at all times, Best Game Ever draws attention to movement as being the connective tissue between dance and community and, in this sense, deconstructs and renegotiates the form of screendance independently.
The unfolding of screendance, however, is strengthened by collaboration and Leaves emerges from the excess of moving bodies to confront the meaning of ‘a film that dances’. Prominent in its difference, the work of director Camila Garcia questions the conventions of screendance by using nature as the focal subject; movement stemming from the flourishing veins that occupy the space on the leaves. An essential voice in the potential of screendance, the inclusion of this work in the programme opens a conversation about the curation, emphasizing a lack in the variety of moving forms. Where in the process did this occur? Was it linked to the artist arguing for their work as screendance, or through the curator accepting work as screendance? Curation is, undoubtedly, more complex in factors but it is an interesting line of thought to be left with.
Location of Performance: The Place, London.
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