Re: Dogma Dance

From: Deveril (D.Garraghan@surrey.ac.uk)
Date: 10/23/00


At 21:12 20/10/00 +0000, you wrote:
>Hi Deveril:
>
>
>I agree with Kent, let's hear more. Is the website already up?   
>
>Do I hear, between the lines, a reference to the Danish Dogma
>filmmakers, dancing in the dark? so you will be filming only by natural
>light?
>
>
>
>Johannes Birringer
>

Hi!

The website is under construction and should be up soon - if the designers
haven't already sneaked it up without my knowing! I'll let you have the URL
asap.

Yes - no hidden reference. One of the initial ideas was to propose a Dogme
95 (anti-)style manifesto, with  similar kinds of rules for making dance
films in a certain way. But we found that it was in some respects too
restrictive. I am interested in working within restrictions and with
limitations, but the emphasis we wanted was to be more about freeing the
dance film maker and assisting the creativity in such artists, most
importantly by getting work made with whatever facilities could be begged,
borrowed and stolen(!), and shown and discussed. We felt that many funding
opportunities were closed to certain kinds of film, and that dance itself
is being pushed further out of the criteria. Obviously this raises
questions about what dance is, and issues along those lines, and this is
something that we have been trying to re-configure (I won't say re-define).
It seemed to us that many dance films were being made that to us weren't
dance films at all - despite our having the widest, most diverse complex
idea of what dance is. It's a can of worms - we know - but we want to
side-step certain given notions and organisations and bring the body back
into dance films.

I'll not go on any longer.

Thanks for all of your responses. I've answered to some personally, but
thought I'd share this one with the list.

Deveril xxx

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Deveril
Dance Dept.
University of Surrey
Guildford
GU2 5XH
Home Tel.:01483 232646

"In the meantime, I must uphold my 
ideals, for perhaps the time will come 
when I shall be able to carry them out." 
Anne Frank, July 15th 1944


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