LIFF Screendance Competition
Ongoing since 2014 | Leeds International Film Festival | UK | Programmer
The screendance competition at LIFF, initiated by Andy Wood and supported by Yorkshire Dance, presents a selection of current screendance work as part of this premier UK festival. Founded in 1987, LIFF is the largest film festival in England outside London.
The screenings take place in November – check the LIFF website for updates.
MA Screendance
Ongoing since 2018 | London Contemporary Dance School | UK | Unit leader
I lead one of the three core units on this MA for artists working with dance and moving image, which focuses on the public place of screendance and the conceptual, ethical and professional issues that arise.
I also support the management of course generally, and in 2020/21 took on its leadership as a maternity cover (you can imagine that the pandemic made that experience quite interesting…)
If you are looking to develop your screendance practice through a tailored postgraduate programme, this might be just the ticket.
And look out for Frame Rush, an annual screendance event led by the MA students as part of the unit!
Choreoscope
16-20 October 2024 | Choreoscope | Spain | Juror
I’m excited to join the jury of Chorescope 2024, the dance film festival based in Barcelona, together with Douglas Rosenberg and Kati Kallio, and experience the festival in person.
Ciné-Corps
13 October 2024 | Ciné-Corps | France | Co-curator
I will again be working with Virginie Combet on a film programme for the cinéma Trianon in Romainville.
Details to follow.
Manifest Dance-Film Festival
30 June 2024 | Manifest | India | Panel member
On the invitation of Ashavari Majumdar and Abhyuday Khaitan of AuroApaar I am joining Clare Schweitzer, Lorand Janos, Kati Kallio, and Regina Lissowska to discuss the “why” behind dance film festivals.
Light Moves Festival
10 Nov 2023 | Light Moves | Ireland | Speaker
A speculative fiction presented as part of Light Moves: a festival director shares their report of the Future Screendance Festival in 2043, when a computer virus wiped out all remote communication, and the festival had to scramble to make an in-person event possible. I hope to invite the audience to look at the pandemic experience through a different lens, and reconsider what we know, and what we assume, about events and audiences for screendance today.
Dance (Lens)
July 2023 | Dancehouse | Australia | Curator & juror
Dancehouse invited me to curate a programme of my choice, and it’s been a wonderful journey to pull together a programme, alongside some contextualising content.
I’ve chosen a programme focused on sound design; an area often overlooked in favour of visuals. Five films which all offer very different sonic worlds, and relationships between image and sound; accompanied by a conversation about sound and sound design with artist Graeme Miller, whose work traverses film, sound, performance and music.
I’ve also been honoured to be part of the jury for the festival’s official selection, and the conversations with fellow jurors Feras Shaheen and Siobhan Murphy have been fantastic.
Motion Dance Collective Podcast
July 2023 | Motion Dance Collective | UK | Guest
A conversation with Anna Clifford and Omari Carter of Motion Dance Collective.
Omari is also an alumnus of the first cohort of the MA Screendance, and so it was a particular privilege to return to a mode of exploring and sharing curiosities and hopes for screendance.
Screendance Circle
June 2023 | The Place | UK | Speaker
This is a further iteration of the Screendance Circle, an international project to create an oral history / first person account of aspects of the contemporary form of screendance. It is an opportunity to capture informal conversations between artists and researchers whose contributions have been instrumental in shaping the field.
The circle comprised Dr Erin Brannigan, Omari Carter, Dr Simon Ellis, Cara Hagan, Dr Katrina McPherson, Douglas Rosenberg, Dr Heike Salzer and myself.
The first Screendance Circle took place at the Screendance Symposium in April 2022 at UW Madison. The goal of this project is to build an open-source repository for oral histories, documentation and media- based histories of the field of screendance. Visit the archive here.
Tanssivirtaa Tampereella Festival
May 2023 | Tanssivirtaa Tampereella Festival | Finland | Co-curator
A screening of Finnish and British dance films, “Connected”, was co-curated as a dialogue with Kati Kallio. The programme invites the audience to step into someone else’s experience and witness connection: with one’s surroundings, or with other beings. The films not only invite us into another perspective (functioning as Roger Ebert’s “empathy machine”), but to really perceive these characters, to actively reflect on their world, their experiences and to expand our own thinking beyond our own.
Ciné-Corps
March 2023 | Ciné-Corps | France | Co-curator
Ciné-Corps’ screening “Gentrification de l’être” is a co-curation with Virginie Combet.
With ten dance films and a live performance, presented at the Triannon Cinema in Romainville, we invite you to experience the phenomenon of urban transformation on the scale of the individual. Like the ongoing process of shift and change in the inner suburbs of Paris, you will discover how filmmakers and choreographers trace who gets to inhabit what space, and how.
Focus Screendance 2022
January – December 2022 | Man With A Hat | Bulgaria | Consultant / mentor
Man with a Hat exists to support, develop and produce Bulgarian talent in the field of contemporary dance and dance film. I’m supporting the next state of the Focus Screendance project with advice on overall trajectory and specifics such as the artist development programme.
Dance On Screen Film Festival
November 2022 | Dance On Screen, Graz | Austria | Lecturer & juror
The 7th edition of Dance On Screen will feature a workshop unpacking some of the key discourses of screendance today, which I’ve been invited to design and lead.
Choreosocope Festival
September 2022 | Choreoscope, Barcelona | Spain | Juror
Choreoscope Festival continues its interest in looking at screendance across creatiove and commercial fields. It introduced a new award in 2021, for Best Dance Sequence in a Series or Feature Film. I’m so excited to be asked back for this year’s prize for the Best Opening Sequence in a Series or Feature Film.
ZED Festival Internationale Videodanza
August 2022 | ZED Festival, Bologna | Italy | Juror
The third edition of this festival includes a focus on VR and AR work, alongside dance film and live performance. I’m part of the festival prize jury, alongside Mitchell Rose, Elena Cervellati and Stefano Mazzotta.
Screen Dance International
Summer 2022 | Screen Dance International, Detroit | USA | Juror
I’m delighted to have been asked back to be part of the panel for this festival.
BA Moving Image / Film and Screen Studies
October 2021 – January 2022 | University of Brighton | UK | Lecturer
This autumn term I’ll be teaching a module on film festivals, looking at the aesthetic, practical, ethical, economic and societal aspects of the festival form.
Dance Film Workshop Hungary
October 2021 | Parallel Art Foundation | Hungary | Guest curator, lecturer and mentor
A one-week intensive workshop, designed by Gábor Pintér and Mariann Gaál to introduce the genre of dance film to young artists working in fine arts and media. I’ll be presenting a programme of films, facilitate sessions and mentor one of the participant groups. Fellow lecturers include Thierry de Mey and Claudia Kappenberg – I couldn’t be more exited.
CPI 2021 workshop
October 2021 | KOFICE, Seoul | South Korea | Guest lecturer
I am a guest speaker as part of an 8-week-long online training program for 12 dance artists from India, which is supported by the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange. I’ll be speaking with the artists about approaches to disseminating dance film work.
Choreoscope Festival 2021
September 2021 | Choreoscope, Barcelona | Spain | Juror
Choreoscope Festival is introducing a new award in 2021, for Best Dance Sequence in a Series or Feature Film.
It has been a delight to watch the longlist, and stretch my framework for watching dance on screen.
The award also raises a rich discussion about the film, dance and television industries, which I’m looking forward to continuing.
BA Contemporary Dance
September 2021 | Trinity Laban, London | UK | Guest lecturer
A session with BA3 students, looking at their entry into the freelance field. I always enjoy this session, and it brings into focus the things that do and don’t change over the years…
Screen Dance International
Summer 2021 | Screen Dance International, Detroit | USA | Jury
Now in its fourth year, SDI is expanding its programming to include dance documentaries. The festival will also include lecture demonstrations and integrated community projects.
Screendance Course
May 2021 | Bulgaria | Guest speaker
Dance artists Silvia Cherneva and Stephanie Handjiiska are running the first ever, year-long screendance course in the country. It will cover key practice and theory, and enable the participants to produce their own film.
I’m excited to contribute with a session about disseminating work and the dance film festival circuit.
FrameForm Podcast
December 2020 | Frameform, USA | Guest
Frameform is a “A podcast discussing movies, moving and everything in between.”
Set up and hosted by Jen Ray (Cascadia/Capitol DFF), Hannah Weber (Screendance Collective) and Clare Schweitzer (artist / San Francisco Dance Film Festival), the podcast discusses dance film work, production and exhibition. I was invited to join the conversation about the networks and connections in dance film.
Gitta Wigro 