Introduction to Screendance with David McCormick
Tuesday 15.12.20
11-13:00
In this 2 hour session to screendance you will be given an introduction to the history, theory and practice of screendance by filmmaker and video artist David McCormick. This session is open for everyone and free of charge. There will be time in the end for information and Q/A about the screendance course (more info below) which will be held in Jan-Feb 2021.
Dance and motion-pictures are both concerned with movement. What is lost when dance is simply recorded on film? What can be gained by creative use of the film medium and the mobile camera? What are the relative roles of choreographer, dancer and film-maker in a creative collaboration between dance and film?’
Maya Deren, Dance and Film at the Hanya Holm School, New York, Deren Collection.
Zoom link
Meeting ID: 987 098 8368
Event on FB
The introduction session and screendance course is a collaboration between Skuespiller og Dansealliansen and Praxis Oslo.
Tuesday 15.12.20
11-13:00
In this 2 hour session to screendance you will be given an introduction to the history, theory and practice of screendance by filmmaker and video artist David McCormick. This session is open for everyone and free of charge. There will be time in the end for information and Q/A about the screendance course (more info below) which will be held in Jan-Feb 2021.
Dance and motion-pictures are both concerned with movement. What is lost when dance is simply recorded on film? What can be gained by creative use of the film medium and the mobile camera? What are the relative roles of choreographer, dancer and film-maker in a creative collaboration between dance and film?’
Maya Deren, Dance and Film at the Hanya Holm School, New York, Deren Collection.
Zoom link
Meeting ID: 987 098 8368
Event on FB
The introduction session and screendance course is a collaboration between Skuespiller og Dansealliansen and Praxis Oslo.
Screendance Course with David McCormick
7 sessions:
14 January 2021 11:00 - 14:00
20 January 2021 11:00 - 14:00
28 January 2021 11:00 - 14:00
4 February 2021 11:00 - 14:00
11 February 2021 11:00 - 14:00
18 February 2021 11:00 - 14:00
25 February 2021 11:00 - 14:00
Course Outline:
This is an incredibly challenging and for me certainly exciting time to be working in dance and particularly dance and digital technologies. The disciplinary demarcation lines between film and dance have only quite recently crumbled with the availability and affordability of video equipment and almost everyone has the means to make a film and publish it to audience numbers approaching broadcast levels. This means that as choreographers and dance makers we don’t depend on film crews and unimaginable production budgets anymore in order to explore dance on screen and choreography is now regularly happening on both sides of the lens.
The catch all term ‘Screendance’ has emerged to try and give a name to a collection of avant-garde and experimental approaches to dance and digital media in terms that are still undefined, the potential for definition is made much harder by the endless creativity of dance makers now looking through the viewfinder.
This course is an opportunity to engage with and make a contribution to the future of Screendance and to explore some alternative stages for what we do.
In this course you will explore the dynamic and creative relationship between dance/choreographic practice and the processes and grammar of the screen, in theory and in practice. You will be encouraged to recognise, explore and evaluate the particular filmic and choreographic languages at play in Screendance, short films and interdisciplinary and digital dance practice.
This intersection will draw on your existing dance skills and realise innovative and original ways to stage these in the screen space. This will involve the study of the body in the frame, the body in-site/location and the temporal and spatial relationships that are made available in the composition of single screen film works. Through practical tasks, we will work individually or in small groups (if possible) to undertake a series of explorations of the medium. Depending on the availability of, and access to camera and edit facilities, we will create work for sharing and discussion online.
Summary of Content
- Introduction to dance-film contexts, theories and practices
- Practical exploration of movement in relation to the frame
- Practical exploration of site, space and location
- Practical exploration of movement in relation to the cut
- Creative development of film concept and creation of a short film
Bio:
David McCormick is a filmmaker and video artist working on projects including performance/video collaborations, event video, digital education and research and feature documentary film projects. David worked as a dancer and co-creator with some of Europe’s leading companies Richard Alston Dance Company and DV8 Physical Theatre and established himself as an independent dance artist through his own performance, education and choreographic work. David lectures and is an MA/MFA supervisor in Dance and the Moving Image at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. He is a Senior Lecturer in Choreography and Screendance at The University of Winchester.
As Snakeoil Media, David has directed multi-media projects commissioned by the likes of MTV and Siemens, Merce Cunningham Trust, The Royal Festival Hall and Kettles Yard amongst others. Collaborations with dance and theatre makers include Yorke Dance Project, Scarabeus, Punchdrunk, Snag Dance Project, Graeae Theatre Company, The Petrovski Ensemble. The film Cut Out and Keep was short-listed for The Place Dance on Screen Production Award and was screened at Tate Modern, Videodanza Film Festival Italy and the I.C.A. He was the Video Director for Boy Blue Entertainment’s Olivier Award winning production of Pied Piper at the Barbican Theatre. David was the recipient of the Wallace Potts Bursary from the Nureyev Foundation in support of his work as a video and dance artist.
Most recently he has been Director of Photography and Cinematographer for a film collaboration with Kim Brandstrup and Alina Cojacaru, screened as part of an evening of work at Sadler’s Wells, A feature documentary ‘People You May Know’ (released on Amazon Prime - Sundance), a covid-adaptation of Carmen for the Bergen Opera in Norway and the creation of a screened version of Trinity Laban’s graduate Transitions Dance Company tour.
TO APPLY
7 sessions:
14 January 2021 11:00 - 14:00
20 January 2021 11:00 - 14:00
28 January 2021 11:00 - 14:00
4 February 2021 11:00 - 14:00
11 February 2021 11:00 - 14:00
18 February 2021 11:00 - 14:00
25 February 2021 11:00 - 14:00
Course Outline:
This is an incredibly challenging and for me certainly exciting time to be working in dance and particularly dance and digital technologies. The disciplinary demarcation lines between film and dance have only quite recently crumbled with the availability and affordability of video equipment and almost everyone has the means to make a film and publish it to audience numbers approaching broadcast levels. This means that as choreographers and dance makers we don’t depend on film crews and unimaginable production budgets anymore in order to explore dance on screen and choreography is now regularly happening on both sides of the lens.
The catch all term ‘Screendance’ has emerged to try and give a name to a collection of avant-garde and experimental approaches to dance and digital media in terms that are still undefined, the potential for definition is made much harder by the endless creativity of dance makers now looking through the viewfinder.
This course is an opportunity to engage with and make a contribution to the future of Screendance and to explore some alternative stages for what we do.
In this course you will explore the dynamic and creative relationship between dance/choreographic practice and the processes and grammar of the screen, in theory and in practice. You will be encouraged to recognise, explore and evaluate the particular filmic and choreographic languages at play in Screendance, short films and interdisciplinary and digital dance practice.
This intersection will draw on your existing dance skills and realise innovative and original ways to stage these in the screen space. This will involve the study of the body in the frame, the body in-site/location and the temporal and spatial relationships that are made available in the composition of single screen film works. Through practical tasks, we will work individually or in small groups (if possible) to undertake a series of explorations of the medium. Depending on the availability of, and access to camera and edit facilities, we will create work for sharing and discussion online.
Summary of Content
- Introduction to dance-film contexts, theories and practices
- Practical exploration of movement in relation to the frame
- Practical exploration of site, space and location
- Practical exploration of movement in relation to the cut
- Creative development of film concept and creation of a short film
Bio:
David McCormick is a filmmaker and video artist working on projects including performance/video collaborations, event video, digital education and research and feature documentary film projects. David worked as a dancer and co-creator with some of Europe’s leading companies Richard Alston Dance Company and DV8 Physical Theatre and established himself as an independent dance artist through his own performance, education and choreographic work. David lectures and is an MA/MFA supervisor in Dance and the Moving Image at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. He is a Senior Lecturer in Choreography and Screendance at The University of Winchester.
As Snakeoil Media, David has directed multi-media projects commissioned by the likes of MTV and Siemens, Merce Cunningham Trust, The Royal Festival Hall and Kettles Yard amongst others. Collaborations with dance and theatre makers include Yorke Dance Project, Scarabeus, Punchdrunk, Snag Dance Project, Graeae Theatre Company, The Petrovski Ensemble. The film Cut Out and Keep was short-listed for The Place Dance on Screen Production Award and was screened at Tate Modern, Videodanza Film Festival Italy and the I.C.A. He was the Video Director for Boy Blue Entertainment’s Olivier Award winning production of Pied Piper at the Barbican Theatre. David was the recipient of the Wallace Potts Bursary from the Nureyev Foundation in support of his work as a video and dance artist.
Most recently he has been Director of Photography and Cinematographer for a film collaboration with Kim Brandstrup and Alina Cojacaru, screened as part of an evening of work at Sadler’s Wells, A feature documentary ‘People You May Know’ (released on Amazon Prime - Sundance), a covid-adaptation of Carmen for the Bergen Opera in Norway and the creation of a screened version of Trinity Laban’s graduate Transitions Dance Company tour.
TO APPLY
