Pauline Adamek
“It’s like parkour on ’shrooms!”
That’s the first response of choreographer Victor Quijada to artist Gustavo Godoy’s latest large-scale sculpture that forms an exciting and unusual set for his newest dance work, Restructure. Quijada’s dance troupe Dance Camera West will perform BODYTRAFFIC/Gustavo Godoy Architectural Art, Live Performance – a new work co-commissioned by Dance Camera West along with The Music Center. The new dance piece premieres tomorrow, Friday June 6th, and is part of the 13th Annual Dance Media Film Festival.
A celebration of the vibrant art of dance — happening this weekend and next — the 13th Annual Dance Media Film Festival is a public event incorporating dance as explored through film, live performances and architectural art.
Several free live dance performances, an outdoor movie screening, a family-fun Dance-Along, Lester Horton Dance Awards and the inaugural CalArts@ Dance Camera West Emerging Artists Competition ceremony, and over twenty shorts and long-form films and documentaries to be screened during the festival taking place in downtown Los Angeles on June 6, 7, 8, and 13, 2014.
Venues include The Music Center, Grand Park, REDCAT, The Museum of Contemporary Art and Union Station.
This year’s theme of ‘Restructure’ includes a large-scale “fast-formal” sculpture created specifically for the festival by artist Gustavo Godoy and co-commissioned by The Music Center, making its debut with free live dance performances with LA’s own BODYTRAFFIC dance company as well as a free live performance from the Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company that will take place at Grand Park.
FREE live performances are scheduled to take place daily throughout the 13th Annual Dance Media Film Festival at The Music Center Plaza, June 6th at 7:30 p.m., June 7th at 2:00 p.m. and June 8th at 2:00 p.m.
Screening sessions are $15.00; All other events are FREE.
Visit the official site here or call 310-248-4944 for a complete schedule and more information.
Interview with the artists:
Says artist Gustavo Godoy, “This is a new way of working for me.”
Although the sculptor has created interactive and large-scale sculptures before, this will be the first time he will see a dance troupe devise and perform choreographed movement on one of his artworks. Godoy says he did a series of weight-tests of the platforms, ramps and climbing elements, but as the contraption needs to be moved from this tennis court (where it was built) to the Music Center for the first performance, some of the pieces seem a little wobbly… It transpires that various sections are apparently weight bearing and structural while other parts are purely decorative.
Godoy takes simple materials, such as basic lumber, and takes it out of its usual realm of mere construction. “I translate it into a formal art medium,” explains the artist. He applies the concepts of modernism and minimalism into a form that permits the audience and the dancers to interact.
The massive yellow-painted wooden sculpture certainly has impact. Comments Godoy, “There’s a moment where it feels like it’s either being built or it’s falling apart into wreckage, or being reassessed,” he offers. Most of all, Godoy is interested in the question of ‘How can I inspire the dancers’ movement?’
Encountering their set for the first time, the troupe of 6 dancers — four male, two female — cautiously explore the set’s possibilities. “Did you baby-proof it?” jokes choreographer Victor Quijada, when a dancer shows where she was impaled.
One of the dancers, Yusha Sorzano, confides her first impressions. “It’s artistically interesting,” she murmurs. “Its nooks and crannies have inspired me to find my way; now I wanna play on it!”
Sorzano brushes off any concerns regarding its not-so-stable sections, “It’s like a tree that moves — it still feels secure to me.”
The BODYTRAFFIC Company members / dancers are:
Brandon Alley, Tina Berkett (also BODYTRAFFIC co-director), Bynh Ho, Guzmán Rosado, Yusha Sorzano and Andrew Wojtal.
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The 13th Annual Dance Media Film Festival, 2014.
Runs June 6, 7, 8, and 13, 2014
Downtown Los Angeles
SCHEDULE:
Friday, June 6 – Opening Night.
BODYTRAFFIC/Gustavo Godoy Architectural Art, Live Performance
7:30 p.m.; Free The Music Center Plaza, Grand Ave, between Temple and 2nd
Opening Night International Short Films – 8:00 p.m.; $15 Eva and Marc Stern Grand Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Music Center, 135 North Grand Ave – Today’s the Day (USA, 2013)), 14:00 – Snap Into It (USA, 2014), 3:32 – Sergei Polunin: The Fragile Balance (England, 2013), 12:00 – Pas (USA, 2013), 3:12 – Demand For Love (Norway, 2012), 5:00 – Homegoings: A Dance (USA), 5:00 – Sonata (FRANCE, 2013); 11:00 – ICOSAHEDRONIC (Netherlands, 2012), 1:15 – Adelaars/Eagles (Slovakia, 2013), 9:29 – Rooms (USA, 2013), 5:58 – Angsters (Los Angeles, USA, 2013), 7:11 – Drop the Game – Flume & Chet Faker (Australia & USA), 4:10 – YLYK Super Slow Motion (Singapore, Japan, S. Korea, USA, 2013), 4:10 – Filmmakers Q&A and no-host bar to follow
Saturday, June 7
BODYTRAFFIC/Gustavo Godoy Architectural Art
2:00 p.m.; Free Live Performance,The Music Center Plaza, Grand Ave between Temple & 1st
International Dance Films
2:30 p.m.: $12 (MOCA admission) Ahmanson Auditorium, The Museum of Contemporary Art, 250 South Grand Ave – Swift (Australia, 2016) 14:30, by Ros Warby – Michio Ito Pioneering Dancer-Choreographer (USA, 2013) 21:20; by Bonnie Oda Homsey – Globe Trot: Crowd-Sourced Filmmaking and Collaborating from Afar (USA & 22 Countries, 2013) 30:00; Presentation by Mitchell Rose – Free 2 Be Me (USA, 2013) 32:00 by Jeannette Godoy – All This Can Happen (UK, 2012) 50:00; by Siobhan Davies & David Hinton – Filmmakers’ Q&A to follow
Site-specific adaptation of L.A. Contemporary Dance Company’s Prite Oef Stringh Commissioned by Grand Park, Live Sunset Performance
7:00 p.m.; Free Located between Temple & 1st, from The Music Center to City Hall
Lester Horton Dance Awards, Grand Park
8:00 p.m. Located between Temple & 1st, from The Music Center to City Hall
Outdoor Screenings, Grand Park
8:30 pm.; Free Located between Temple & 1st, from The Music Center to City Hall – Beneath Our Own Immensity (USA, 2013) 10:05 – Miss Hill: Making Dance Matter (USA, 2014), 80:00 documentary; the inspiring and unknown story of Martha Hill, a visionary who fought against great odds to make dance a legitimate art form in America.
Sunday, June 8
BODYTRAFFIC/Gustavo Godoy Architectural Art
2:00 p.m.; Free Live performance; The Music Center Plaza, Grand Ave between Temple & 1st
Afternoon Screenings and YouTube Choreographers Discussion REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd Street; 2:30 p.m.; $15.00
YouTube Choreographers Discussion – Tony Testa, Director/Choreographer (Moderator); Vincent Paterson, Director / Choreographer (Michael Jackson, Madonna); John Chu, Director (Creator of Ds2dio, LXD, GI Joe); Ian Eastwood, Director/Choreographer (YouTube sensation– 300,000 subscribers); Sponsored by DANCEAMATIC: a global platform that aspires to empower, support, and unite the global dance community through dance, film, and social media. The panel discussion will focus on the new wave of content creators who are sharing their work primarily on YouTube and other social media. Featured Screenings: Josh Killacky/Let Me Love You, Tim Milgram/Jammin, Alvin de Castro and Frace Mercado/Euphoria, Stewart Maclennon/You Know You Like It.
Screenings – Etereas (Mexico, 2013) 3:52 – Flying Bodies (Japan, 2013), 78:00 Documentary; Q&A with Sochi Olympics Choreographer Daniel Esralow; the film follows the one night only performance of Aomori Men’s Rhythmic Gymnastics Team collaborated with the world renowned fashion designer, Issey Miyake and their behind-the-scene effort.
Evening Screenings / Dance Camera West Awards / CalArts @Dance Camera West Emerging Artists Competition Awards Ceremony REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd Street; 7:00 p.m.; $15 – Body Without a Brain (Indonesia & USA, 2014), 6:30 – UPAJ: Improvise (USA & India, 2013) 60:00; Directed by Hoku Uchiyama; Choreography & Performances by Chitresh Das and Jason Samuels Smith. A riveting behind the scenes documentary chronicling the birth and journey of India Jazz Suites, the ground breaking collaboration between Indian Classical Dance Icon, Chitresh Das and Tap Star, Jason Samuels Smith. Their unlikely meeting and collaboration is now a phenomenon, the world over. Q&A to follow with the performers.
Friday, June 13
3rd Annual Dance-A- Long, Union Station
7:30 p.m.; Free Union Station, 800 North Alameda Street
– Dance Camera West and Los Angeles Film Festival continue their partnership and present the 3rd Annual Dance-A-Long and movie screening of La Bamba. Bring your dancing shoes and your friends and family for a fun dance lesson prior to the movie with the folks from Contra Tiempo!
TICKETS/INFORMATION: Screening sessions are $15 each; all other events are free.
Please visit the official site here or call 310-248-4944 for a complete schedule and more information.
Brian Sonia-Wallace
