Kicks flicks
As a new festival of dance movies slides into Edinburgh, Kelly Apter talks to the two programmers who believe audiences will leave cinemas with a spring in their step
it WSl) the nation went wild l'or legwarmers: in IDS} dance classes were lilled to bursting:
and in 2000 boys took to ballet like neyer
belore. Such is the power ol‘ the dance lilm. that I'ilttlt’. I’lashtlance and Billy [fl/int gripped the public's imagination like a snug leotard. And there are plenty more l‘ilms which send an audience out into the night with one collectiye thought: ‘I want to do that‘.
Whether you act upon that compulsion or not. there‘s no denying that dance lilms can produce an incomparable l‘eelgood l‘actor. Which is why two women with a combined loye of both dance and lilm l‘elt that Scotland was crying out for a
l'estiyal deyolcd to the genre. Steph Wright ol‘
Dance Base and Beyerley Nicolson ol' the
l~'ilmliouse haye put together a programme ol~
l‘eature lilms. shorts and workshops capturing a \\ itlc Variety (ll. dance styles.
So when you walk out ol‘ the l‘ilmhotIse consumed by the ‘I want to do that‘ feeling. you can head oyer to Dance Base and get to it. Workshops in flamenco. breakdance. ballet and mambo are all lined—up. while the l‘ilms
themselyes are drawn from the less oby'iotis shell'
ol' dance moyies.
'We were keen to show lots of dil‘l‘erent dance styles] says Wright. ‘;\nd although we could quite easily haye gone for the l‘i(l.\'/l(/(Ul('(’.
Saturday Night Fever. Strict/y Hal/mum kind of
lilm. we wanted to show that there are different kinds ol' dance lilms out there.‘ l)iyersity has delinitely been the key to Wright and .\'ico|son‘s programming. with films running the gamut from Hollywood musical to gritty documentary. Opening with the Gene Kelly classic ()2: the than the liestiyal goes on to showcase ballet in The Turning Point. flamenco in Carmen.
breakdancng in The Freshest Kids: .-\ History at.
the B—Boy. Krumping (an aggressiye form of hip hop) in Ri:e. and mambo in Dirty Dancing. Pltis
there’s an extensiye programme of shorts. and Rhythm ls lt.’. a l‘ascinating documentary l‘eaturing Scottish choreographer. Roy-ston Maldoom.
‘We wanted to lind lilms that weren‘t exactly obscure but maybe weren't as widely seen.’ says Wright. ‘l)irty Dancing is. of course. the exception. but the unique thing about that is you woulan expect to come to the l‘ilmhouse and see it. So it‘s also about trying to attract a different audience into that cinema and new people into Dance Base.‘
For Nicolson. an important element was giying people a chance to watch lilms on the big screen that are only currently ayailable on DVD. "l'hat was one of the key points about all the films inyolyed.‘ she says. ‘That apart from Dirty
Dancing you'll yery rarely get to see any ol
these l‘ilms at the cinema and lime that big screen experience. So that’s why we're starting with a musical and a bit of ra/lle daule.‘
As well as the obyious audience deyelopment benefits for both yenues. Wright was also keen to attract more males to the genre. ‘()ne ol‘ the constant battles is to get boys and men dancing.~ she explains. ‘But we'ye programmed some yery masculine dancing roles. (iene Kelly performs ballet in ()n the 7min. but in a yery muscular. masculine way. as does Mikhail Bat'yslmikoy in The Turning Point. And it‘s the same with Rire. with some yery big. muscly men not being ashamed to dance.‘
‘IT'S A CONSTANT BATTLE TO GET MEN DANCING SO WE'VE PROGRAMMED VERY MASCULINE ROLES'
From top left: Dirty Dancing; On the Town; Rize; Rhythm Is It!; breakdance at Dance Base
Nicolson and Wright hope this inaugural eyent will be the start ol~ something bigger. possibly spreading to cinemas and dance agencies across Scotland. They'ye barely scratched the surlace ol' the dance liilm canon. but ii the eyent does become annual. Dirty Dancing is as cheesy as they're prepared to go. ‘()\ er the past l'ew years there haye been a lot ol' mainstream dance lilms. lils'e Yitkt' the Lead and Step (’p.‘ says \Vt‘ighl. ‘And although the dance is always ama/ing. the lilms are a bit debatable. So we want to show people that you can haye amazing dance. but that the lilm can be great. too..
Dance: Film Festival, Dance Base and Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Mon 29 Oct-Sun 4 Nov. For full programme details and ticket offers go to www.dancefilmscotland.com
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