Lewis-Smith, C (2016) The dancer camera pas de deux. In: III International Meeting of Screendance, 9 - 10 September 2016, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
Abstract
Writing about her 1945 work A Study in Choreography for the Camera, Maya Deren described the film as: ‘as a film that she and dancer Talley Beatty made together’. Screendance making is, for the most part, a smaller scale and more intimate process than is the filming of dance for mainstream cinema productions, and Deren’s statement implies a sense of equality between dancer and filmmaker that would be hard to create on the set of a larger scale work. Where the film industry tends to draw on the dance community from the outside, screendance productions often take place within a community of artists with dance sensibilities. This paper proposes that, in spite of the more intimate processes that are common in screendance production, an imbalance of authorship usually persists. The camera is still in control as the senior partner, and the camera-person, the director, is usually the dominant partner, and the dancer the junior partner. Through reference to my own practice, and that of other screendance makers, this paper examines films that are shot as single takes, using a single dancer and a single camera person operating a mobile camera. These productions can favour the sense of equality that Deren suggests existed in the production of A Study in Choreography for the Camera. I propose this relationship, as a Pas de Deux, as one that engenders a unique sense of equality in production, and a subsequent viewing experience that reflects it.
| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | dance on camera, screendance |
| Subjects: | N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR |
| Divisions: | Bath School of Music and Performing Arts |
| Date Deposited: | 28 Jul 2016 11:06 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Aug 2021 09:42 |
| References: | Bazin, A 2005. What is Cinema? Volume 1. London & California. University of California Press. Bordell, D 2006. The Way Hollywood Tells it. Berkeley. University of California Press. Deren, M. 2005. Essential Deren. Collected Writings. Ed: McPherson, B. New York. McPherson and Company. Doane, M. 2004. Subtitles. On the Foreigness of Film. Eds Egoyan, A & Balfour, I. Massachusetts Instituts of `technology and Alphabet City media. Dodds, S. 2004. Dance on Screen. Hampshire UK. Palgrave Macmillan. Franks, P. 2016. Interview with Chris Lewis-Smith. Transcript available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oVrutARSfb4HhvvvbVT6Kyi0zkZ0XFHRgRN0QCkm8E4/edit?usp=sharing Kember, S. (1998), Photography, New Technologies, and Subjectivity. Manchester. Manchester University Press. McPherson, K. 2014. Interview with Lewis-Smith. Skype. 19 September 2014. Transcript available: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v-vQH347c2dDcOxthhOx8hHVLwyIYc-4uEq05wbpFTk/edit?usp=sharing Miller, G. 2015. Cinemablography. Available: http://www.cinemablography.org/blog/still-rolling-the-elegance-of-the-long-shot-in-cinema-today (accessed: 24/9/15) Porter, J. 2009. Dance with Camera. Atlas, C in interview with Becker, N. USA. University of Pennsylvania, Institute of Contemporary Art. Rosenberg, D. 2012. Screendance. Inscribing the Ephemeral Image. New York. Oxford University Press. Santos, X. 2016. Interview with Chris Lewis-Smith. Transcript available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oVrutARSfb4HhvvvbVT6Kyi0zkZ0XFHRgRN0QCkm8E4/edit?usp=sharing Tsivian, Y. (n.d.) Cinemetrics. [On-line]. Available at: http://www.cinemetrics.lv/2006.php. [accessed: 24/9/15]. Williams, M. 2014. Interview with Chris Lewis-Smith. Transcript available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pV9Ro7aqx0vIX4_tdv1QyTIicOXyXoTNMdvfcy_OlfI/edit |
| URI / Page ID: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/7937 |
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