16 Millimeter Earrings

Second Glances

January 1979 •English

The intention of this film was to explore movement flow. Specifically, the consequences of cutting, inserting, and patching an image of a movement flow into itself. For material, I chose sequences of a Contact Improvisation duet between two dancers who had a great appetite for extended flow. My task was to devise real-time editing techniques that could re-create a sense of flow while disrupting an already flowing dance. Each study uses a different improvisational score for real-time editing actions. The technology was 3/4" U-matic. While watching two monitor screens above me, I had to press the editing buttons (in and out) forcefully while standing up, making the activity a full-body interaction with my eyes.

Step Up Revolution: Hip-Hop Cardio Burn

December 2013 •English

The Heartbreak Kid

October 2007 •English

Eddie, the 40-year-old confirmed bachelor finally says "I do" to the beautiful and sexy Lila. But during their honeymoon in Mexico, the woman of his dreams turns out to be a total nightmare, and the guy who could never pull the trigger realizes he’s jumped the gun.

Navel and A-Bomb

October 1960 •Japanese

Short film in which butoh dancing is used to reflect on the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Step Sisters

January 2018 •English

Jamilah has her whole life figured out. She's the president of her black sorority, captain of their champion step dance crew, is student liaison to the college dean, and her next move is on to Harvard Law School. She's got it all, right? But when the hard-partying white girls from Sigma Beta Beta embarrass the school, Jamilah is ordered to come to the rescue. Her mission is to not only teach the rhythmically-challenged girls how to step dance, but to win the Steptacular, the most competitive of dance competitions. With the SBBs reputations and charter on the line, and Jamilah's dream of attending Harvard in jeopardy, these outcast screw-ups and their unlikely teacher stumble through one hilarious misstep after another. Cultures clash, romance blossoms, and sisterhood prevails as everyone steps out of their comfort zones.

Off Ground

January 2013 •English

A light grey room. A slender woman of 50 and a 12 year old boy. Joined together like the links of a chain. Changing positions at a constant rate. One flowing movement. Never losing touch with each other. A game played by a mother and her child. A kind of tango. Sound of feet. Breathing. Faint smiles. Until suddenly the woman's hands let go of each other.

La Bayadere

November 2020 •English

The purity of classical dance meets the opulant exoticism of the Maharajas' India in this 150-year-old ballet, glorified by Nacho Duato for the Mikhailovsky Ballet.

Honey

November 2003 •English

Honey Daniels dreams of making a name for herself as a hip-hop choreographer. When she's not busy hitting downtown clubs with her friends, she teaches dance classes at a nearby community center in Harlem, N.Y., as a way to keep kids off the streets. Honey thinks she's hit the jackpot when she meets a hotshot director casts her in one of his music videos. But, when he starts demanding sexual favors from her, Honey makes a decision that will change her life.

Step

July 2017 •English

The senior year of a girls’ high school step team in inner-city Baltimore is documented, as they try to become the first in their families to attend college. The girls strive to make their dancing a success against the backdrop of social unrest in their troubled city.

Striptease

June 1996 •English

Bounced from her job, Erin Grant needs money if she's to have any chance of winning back custody of her child. But, eventually, she must confront the naked truth: to take on the system, she'll have to take it all off. Erin strips to conquer, but she faces unintended circumstances when a hound dog of a Congressman zeroes in on her and sharpens the shady tools at his fingertips, including blackmail and murder.

Madonna: Truth or Dare

May 1991 •English

From the rains of Japan, through threats of arrest for 'public indecency' in Canada, and a birthday tribute to her father in Detroit, this documentary follows Madonna on her 1990 'Blond Ambition' concert tour. Filmed in black and white, with the concert pieces in glittering MTV color, it is an intimate look at the work of the icon, from a prayer circle before each performance to bed games with the dance troupe afterwards.

The Masseurs

December 1963 •Japanese

Anma (The Masseurs) is a representative and historical work by the creator of Butoh dance, Tatsumi Hijikata in his early period in the 1960s. The film is realized not only as a dance document but also as a Cine-Dance, a term made by Iimura, that is meant to be a choreography of film. The filmmaker "performed" with a camera on the stage in front of the audience. With the main performers: Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, the film has the highlights such as Butohs of a soldier by Hijikata & a mad woman by Ohno. There is a story of the mad woman, first outcast and ignored, at the end joins to the community through her dance. Inserted descriptions of Anma (The Masseurs) are made for the film by the filmmaker, but were not in the original Butoh. The film, the only document taken of the performance, must be seen for the understanding of Hijikata Butoh and the foundation of Butoh.

Dancing, Some Days

January 1996 •English

The Hollywood musical is brought to a Glasgow street. Amidst the crush of city life, two street musicians provide the backdrop for a girl meets boy story, with a spark of purely Glasgow magic.

Vimazoluleka

March 2017 •Spanish

Year 1966 Vimazoluleka is the first play that Levy Rossell staged at the Ateneo de Caracas (Quinta Ramia) starting on August 18, 1966. He moved to the auditorium of the Faculty of Engineering and from there to the Aula Magna. He won a scholarship to study in New York and staged it in English for five months off Broadway. He returned to Caracas and showed it throughout the 70s and 90s. He gave it that title from the first words of the names of his close classmates: Vicente Amengual, María Angelina Rodríguez, Zobeida Ramos, Luis Kolster, Levy Rossell and Carlos Hernandez.

Appalachian Spring

January 1958 •

A filmed version of Aaron Copland's most famous ballet, with its original star, who also choreographed.

Paris

February 2008 •French

Pierre, a professional dancer, suffers from a serious heart disease. While he is waiting for a transplant which may (or may not) save his life, he has nothing better to do than look at the people around him, from the balcony of his Paris apartment.

Broken Fall (Geometric)

February 1971 •English

One of a series of ‘falls’ by Bas Jan Ader that he recorded on film, this work was filmed in West Kapelle, Holland in 1970.

Broken Fall (Organic)

February 1971 •English

Bas Jan Ader hangs from the branch of a tall tree, until he loses his grip and falls into a river below.

Nightfall

March 1971 •English

Shot in his garage-studio, the camera records Ader painstakingly hoisting a large brick over his shoulder. His figure is harshly lit by two tangles of light bulbs. He drops the brick, crushing one strand of lights. He again lifts the brick, allowing tension to accrue. The climax inevitable—the brick falls and crushes the second set of lights. Here the film abruptly ends, all illumination extinguished.

Narcissus

August 1983 •English

In this short film by Norman McLaren, dancers enact the Greek tragedy of Narcissus, the beautiful youth whose excessive self-love condemned him to a trapped existence. Skilfully merging film, dance and music, the film is a compendium of the techniques McLaren acquired over a lifetime of experimentation.