Performa/Dance ON FILM

Since its debut concert in 2015, Performa/Dance has become the hottest dance ticket in Austin, garnering six nominations and awards from the Austin Critics Table and appearing on countless “best of” lists. For the 2020 season, the company perseveres in its mission to commission women and minority artists and present high-caliber, groundbreaking dance work relevant to diverse contemporary audiences and experiences.

For On Film, Artistic Director Jennifer Hart commissioned eight choreographers to explore manifestations of current realities using the unique assets of the dance film genre. Hart says “Film offers a path for choreographers to explore the relationship of movement to process. It has the unique capability of controlling the what and where of the dance: guiding the viewer’s perspective through varying locations and camera angles, and creating narrative and phrasing through editing. Film can free choreography from the constraints of time, place, and subject.” Hart adds, “Emerging themes include expressions of phenomena: real versus imagined, internal versus external, and the liminal space between being awake and sleeping.”