B-boy rivalry and 1940s glamour breaking new ground at Dance Base

Published on Tuesday 19 May 2009 19:06

WATCHING dance up close can be a powerful and moving experience. And capturing that feeling on-screen has been a challenge for film-makers since the dawn of cinema. Not everyone succeeds, but those who do may well find themselves in the increasingly ambitious Dance:Film festival.

Following an inaugural weekend of screenings and dance classes in 2007, the festival is back with even more hidden gems and blockbuster classics. Now running over ten days, Dance:Film 09 brings together feature films, documentaries, shorts, talks and, once you're suitably inspired, eight tie-in dance workshops.

"The main criteria behind Dance:Film is that it's meant to be a celebration of all aspects of dance on screen," says festival director Steph Wright. "And I'm trying to approach it in as many ways as possible."

Wright has spent the past 18 months sourcing films, inviting submissions and pulling together some interesting characters for post-screening Q&As and talks. What she hasn't done is go for the obvious.

"I don't want to show films like The Red Shoes or Strictly Ballroom – titles that immediately pop into your head when you think of dance films," says Ms Wright. "It's not that I don't think they're fantastic, they are, but you can easily see them on TV. I want to give people films that are more difficult to get hold of, or haven't been screened for a while."

Each festival will be bookended by a Hollywood musical and what Wright terms "a cheesy 80s movie" – this year's being the Fred and Ginger classic, Swing Time and the hugely popular Flashdance – films that people may well have seen before, but usually in their living room.

"When we opened with On The Town at the '07 festival, we had people writing in to say how wonderful it was to see it at the cinema. And I'm very much a fan of the wonder of that, because seeing a film you've only ever watched on television up on the big screen can be quite magical."

Alongside feature films from the USA, China, India and France, Wright has gathered several international documentaries, focusing on a range of dance styles. Perhaps more than any other film genre, they capture the passion that fuels dancers and choreographers.

"In the past five or six years documentaries have become increasingly popular and the quality these days is much higher than it used to be," says Wright. "Now they're complete cinematic journeys and there are loads which have been made about dance."

One of the highlights of Wright's documentary programme is Inside The Circle, a fascinating look at two Texan B-boys, Josh and Omar, as they move from adolescence to adulthood. Director, Marcy Garriot first hit upon the idea for the film when she attended a breakdance battle in 2002. "It wasn't just about how athletic or artistic it was," says Garriot. "It was that the battles and the dance were very emotional. The dancers were bringing in aspects of their own lives, and that's what really grabbed me."

Both Josh and Omar were the strongest dancers Garriot witnessed that day, but equally appealing was the boys' relationship. Formerly best friends, they were now in rival crews and going through a number of personal highs and lows. The thrill of watching breakdance up close is somewhat diluted on screen, but Garriot feels her film can offer something live performance can't – the chance to watch intricate, fast-paced moves at a leisurely speed.

"It's a huge challenge to capture the beauty of live dance and translate that to film," says Garriot, "and that's one of the things that appealed to me about the project – I wanted to try and do that. Usually we show things in real time, but for really critical moments we also show it in slow motion, while the dancer talks about how they felt in that moment. And that's a very different experience to seeing it live, where it just goes past so fast."

Both Garriot and Omar are travelling to Edinburgh to introduce the screening and answer questions. Omar will also appear at the Diamond Circles Jam Session at the City Nightclub – an afternoon of major breakdance battling that the public (of all ages) are actively encouraged to attend.

"People can watch the breakdancing in the film and then go and see it in reality," says Wright. "Which is something I'm really keen on – because it's great on TV or the big screen, but when you see it live it's pretty awesome."

Dance:Film 09 is at the Filmhouse and Dance Base, Edinburgh, tomorrow until 30 May. More information at www.dancefilmscotland.com