Take 7
Performance Reviews || Thursday, 20 September, 2007
It's always with some trepidation that you put a dance film DVD into the machine and wait for it to start. You are always hoping, even praying, that despite your past experiences with dance on camera, this time will be different. This time it's going to be better.
'Take 7' is a compilation of seven short films from the last 13-14 years from a number of dance makers. They include Liz Aggis, Rosemary Lee, Alison Murray, Anthony Atanasio and others. The DVD itself is produced by South East Dance, one of the UK's National Dance Agencies.
The measure of a good film, in my opinion of course, is your desire to want to watch it again. You may not enjoy the film as a whole but in every film you have ever enjoyed there is a section of dialogue, a particular scene, piece of photography, music or, in the case of a dance film, choreography that makes you want to go back and watch again.
Sadly there appears to have been a meeting held some time ago wherein it was decided that "dance films" are not allowed to feature any dancing. If they do have any dancing of any description then that movement has to be carried out by people who are completely unfit for the purpose of executing choreography and the choreography itself has to be starved of energy, wit and original thinking.
One of the films, 'Birds' by David Hinton, doesn't even feature human beings. In his taped introduction to the film Mr Hinton asks if 'Birds' is a dance film at all? The succinct answer is, no it isn't Mr Hinton.
'Birds' is no more a dance film than 'Finding Nemo' is a sports movie or 'Pride and Prejudice' is a science fiction flick!
It is hard to believe that in 2007 the exact nature of what a dance film is is still viewed as a semantic argument. A dance film is a film that features dance executed by human beings with the requisite skills to hold the viewers attention. 'Birds', using stock footage from the BBC, is the worlds most boring editing job.
'Dust' directed by Anthony Atanasio and choreographed by Miriam King is the only film of the bunch to display any photographic flair. Presented in a harsh blue tone throughout with a smattering of jump cutting combined with imaginative sound design we at least have a film with a bit of craft. As with all the other shorts on this DVD though it falls flat in thematic terms because the viewer has no chance of determining just what the hell is going on.
Margaret Williams, the director of "Outside In" speaks of her excitement with regard to using cameras to capture movement. Yet throughout her film we see no evidence of this. We see no evidence of creative flair in terms of photography, composition, lens selection or depth of field. There is simply nothing to suggest a love of film or photography. If you love something you don't treat it with such a staggering lack of respect.
So help me, if just one more dance film maker talks about "choreographing" the camera there will be trouble on an unimaginable scale.
With each of these films a common suspect is to be found. That suspect is Anne Beresford and her production company MJW Productions. You may remember them from a review of the show 4Dance we did about 18 months ago.
South East Dance markets this DVD by describing these films as "the shorts that have shaped the development of dance for film and video in the last decade."
I would counter that by stating Ms Beresford, MJW and these productions have made dance film into nothing more than an abstract irritation. An art form that is filled with people with a staggering amount creativity and talent is being mocked from on high by a crowd of blinkered dilettantes who cannot see further than the end of their own cameras.
As if to add insult to injury this 60 minute DVD will set you back £25 plus £5 for shipping. There are no extras at all. An entire season of 'Lost', with a huge number of additional features, running for over 20 hours can be had from HMV for about £35 and that show, in its entirety, costs more than $40million to create. From where does the arrogance come to ask for £30 for 'Take 7'.
It is as painful to write this type of review as it is to watch this particular DVD. You want dance film to be exciting. You want nothing more than to put this disc into the machine and for it to captivate you from the outset. It fails comprehensively to do so and the entire profession is worse off because of it.
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