Theatre News South Africa

Golden Arrow Studio hosts 2012 Baxter Dance Film Festival

A dynamic and rarely seen selection of top dance movies will be screened at the seventh annual Baxter Dance Film Festival in the Golden Arrow Studio from 8 to 11 August at 7.30pm, and an early showing at 5pm on Saturday, 11 August.

Presented in association with Cinedans (Netherlands) and the Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts (GIPCA), the line-up showcases films in single screenings over four days.

This includes works by celebrated South African-born Danish dance and film-maker Jeannette Ginslov, as well as that of renowned choreographer Akram Khan, most recently seen at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. The programme also profiles Royal Ballet resident choreographer Wayne MacGregor and charts the plight of the Béjart Ballet Lausanne after the choreographer's death.

Dance and film are separated

"Since its inception in 2005 the Dance Film Festival has become a must-see for choreographers, directors, dancers, teachers, documentary and dance film lovers," says Baxter associate producer and planning manager Nicolette Moses. "Following the positive feedback received over the past two years we decided to separate our dance and film festivals to give dancers, choreographers, dance studios and companies and the dance community the opportunity to attend the film festival as well."

The line-up kicks off on Wednesday, 8 August with Point Taken 2 which premièred at Cinedans in the Netherlands last year. On Thursday Sacred Monsters, with artistic direction and choreography by Akram Khan and performed by him and Sylvie Guillem, which was filmed live at Sadler's Wells.

Festival closes with short films

On Friday the multi-award winning Of Heart and Courage, directed by Arantxa Aguirre and produced by J.L. Lopez Linares, follows the world-famous Béjart Ballet Lausanne working in order to survive following the death of its founder and principal choreographer, Maurice Béjart. The early performance on Saturday, 11 August at 5:00pm is Wayne McGregor: Across the Threshold, directed by Nigel Wattis.

The festival closes on Saturday at 7:30pm with a programme of short films produced during the GIPCA Film and Dance Symposium held in July this year, presented by Jeannette Ginslov. GIPCA decided to initiate a workshop programme so that the form may be explored in practice. This is followed by a screening of dance works by Ginslov which include Sandstone, Karohano, Freedom, Sanctum, CoNCreTe, Clinton's story, Autopsy, Eros "la petite mort".

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