Dance and film have shared a dynamic relationship since the advent of cinema--a natural interplay that developed into the genre known as screendance. Charting the history of screendance festivals, this book examines important shifts in practice and theory, distinct festival eras and communities, and the process of selecting and programming works.

The practice of dance and the technologies of representation has excited artists since the advent of film. This book weaves together theory from art and dance as well as appropriate historical reference material to propose a new theory of screendance, one that frames it within the discourse of post-modern art practice.

Names: McPherson, Katrina, author. Title: Making video dance : a step-by-step guide to creating dance for the screen / Katrina McPherson. Description: Second edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018020888| ISBN 9781138699120 (hardback ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138699137 (pbk. ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315452654 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Dance in motion pictures, television, etc.--Production and direction--Handbooks, manuals, etc. | Video recordings--Production and direction--Handbooks, manuals, etc. | LCGFT: Handbooks and manuals. Classification: LCC GV1779 .M36 2019 | DDC 792.8--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018020888

This edited collection assembles international perspectives from artists, academics, and curators in the field to bring the insights of screendance theory and practice back into conversations with critical methods, at the intersections of popular culture, low-tech media practices, dance, and movement studies, and the minoritarian perspectives of feminism, queer theory, critical race studies and more. This book represents new vectors in screendance studies, featuring contributions by both artists and theoreticians, some of the most established voices in the field as well as the next generation of emerging scholars, artists, and curators. It builds on the foundational cartographies of screendance studies that attempted to sketch out what was particular to this practice. Sampling and reworking established forms of inquiry, artistic practice and spectatorial habits, and suspending and reorienting gestures into minoritarian forms, these conversations consider the affordances of screendance for reimaging the relations of bodies, technologies, and media today. This collection will be of great interest to students and scholars in dance studies, performance studies, cinema and media studies, feminist studies, and cultural studies.

Dancefilm: Choreography and the Moving Image examines the choreographic in cinema - the way choreographic elements inform cinematic operations in dancefilm. It traces the history of the form from some of its earliest manifestations in the silent film era, through the historic avant-garde, musicals and music videos to contemporary experimental short dancefilms. In so doing it also examines some of the most significant collaborations between dancers, choreographers, and filmmakers. The book also sets out to examine and rethink the parameters of dancefilm and thereby re-conceive the relations between dance and cinema. Dancefilm is understood as a modality that challenges familiar models of cinematic motion through its relation to the body, movement and time, instigating new categories of filmic performance and creating spectatorial experiences that are grounded in the somatic. Drawing on debates in both film theory (in particular ideas of gesture, the close up, and affect) and dance theory (concepts such as radical phrasing, the gestural anacrusis and somatic intelligence) and bringing these two fields into dialogue, the book argues that the combination of dance and film produces cine-choreographic practices that are specific to the dancefilm form. The book thus presents new models of cinematic movement that are both historically informed and thoroughly interdisciplinary.

The Oxford Handbook of Screendance Studies offers a full overview of the histories, practices, and critical and theoretical foundations of the rapidly changing landscape of screendance. Drawing on their practices, technologies, theories, and philosophies, scholars from the fields of dance, performance, visual art, cinema and media arts articulate the practice of screendance as an interdisciplinary, hybrid form that has yet to be correctly sited as an academic field worthy of critical investigation. Each chapter discusses and reframe current issues, as a means of promoting and enriching dialogue within the wider community of dance and the moving image. Topics addressed embrace politics of the body; agency, race, and gender in screendance; the relationship of choreography to image; constructs of space and time; representation and effacement; production and curatorial practice; and other areas of intersecting disciplines. The Oxford Handbook of Screendance Studies features newly-commissioned and original scholarship that will be essential reading for all those interested in the intersection of dance and the moving image, including film and video-makers, dance artists, screendance artists, academics and writers, producers, composers, as well as the wider interested public. It will become an invaluable resource for researchers and professionals in the field.

Since the advent of digital video technology, ’dance on camera’ has become an increasingly popular, and important genre of dance. This is the first ever ’how-to’ manual for choreographers, dancers and students who want to make dance films. Specifically written from a personal experience of a complete lack of printed material to help beginners get started, Katrina McPherson has produced an exemplary text which combines practical help with aesthetic discussion in an anecdotal and accessible style. Making Video Dance includes: exercises to be used inside, or outside the classroom a production diary interviews with leading practitioners on both sides of the camera. Also including a glossary of terms, anyone involved in making dance videos needs this helpful and remarkable book.