The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in partnership with Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth is delighted to once again celebrate the art of dance! This summer's festival features a thrilling array of live performances and an exciting film festival spotlighting award-winning films about dance.

 

Live Performances

 

Friday and Saturday, July 8-9

8 pm            

CD/FW Dance Exchange:  A Choreographers' Showcase

Grand lobby; Admission free

 

Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth kicks off its eighth annual Modern Dance Festival at the Modern with the 21st edition of the CD/FW Dance Exchange: A Choreographers' Showcase. The Dallas Morning News named this showcase one of the Top 10 Dance Events of 2005: "Vast space and rippling water gardens at the Modern proved an ideal setting."  Special guests include soloist Lonny Gordon of Winifred Haun & Dancers, Chicago; Jhon R. Stronks's "there. . . in the sunlight;" Contemporary Dance, Houston; Satellite-Dance Company, Denton; and composer/musician Jon David Johnston.

 

Friday, July 15

7:30 pm

Saturday and Sunday, July 16-17

1 pm

The Palace at Night

Special touring appearance by New Mexico Aerial Dance Company, Project in Motion

Reflecting pond lawn; Admission free

 

Aerial Dance Company Project in Motion (Las Cruces/Mesilla)will perform The Palace at Night outside on the Modern's lawn near the reflecting pond. Inspired by the life and writings of Alberto Giacometti, The Palace at Night is a vignette of five aerial and terrestrial pieces choreographed by Hilary McDaniel-Douglas. Dancers climb, twist in bungees and hammocks, and relate the secret activities transpiring in this minimalist castle's various rooms. A birdlike creature glides skyward, beyond the grasp of her love, a man in a cage swings on bungees below. In other rooms a mother dances alone attached to the palace itself and high above an aerialist transforms from a pod to a man. 

 

VIEWING GUIDELINES: Audience members can watch from inside or outside the Museum, with distant viewing points available on the lobby terrace, inside the lobby, or from the windows in the east galleries.  Admission to the Museum is required to watch from the windows inside the galleries or the walkway over the lobby.  Free access is available to the lawn, the lobby terrace, and the lobby.  The full program runs approximately 35 minutes.  Outdoor viewers are welcome to bring an umbrella for shade and/or a blanket to sit on.

 

Saturday, July 16

2pm

Lecture: Modern 101 and Flight 2011

Museum auditorium; Admission free

 

Members of CD/FW will provide an introduction to the basic philosophies and styles of modern dance. Guest Hilary McDaniel-Douglas, artistic director of New Mexico's Project in Motion company, will also give a brief overview of the history of aerial dance and speak about her work integrating aerial dance with modern contemporary dance.

 

Saturday and Sunday, July 23-24

1 and 3 pm

The Butterfly Effect and Other Beautiful Catastrophes

Grand lobby; Admission free

 

The Butterfly Effect and Other Beautiful Catastrophes is a collaboration between Austin composer William H. Meadows and choreographer Kerry Kreiman, with members of CD/FW company.  Back by popular demand, this joint project uses interactive technology to transform dancers'movements and gestures into sound using Nintendo Wii remotes as well as a Wacom graphics tablet to control and alter prerecorded text passages in real time.  Utilizing ideas from chaos and catastrophe theory as part of a dance structure, each performance is a unique event.  First premiering at the Modern in 2009, the Star-Telegram praised it as "a fascinating kaleidoscope of sound and movement . . . it was a strange and wonderful scene." 

 

Saturday, July 23

2 pm

Cinematic Caricatures

Museum auditorium; Admission free

 

North Texas choreographer Shelley Cushman will present short films from her "Cinematic Caricatures" project, a collaborative multimedia work combining dance choreographed by Cushman, algorithmically generated computer music composed by Phil Winsor, and videos/films by Ben Levin.  These works in progress are organized in "books" of 10 pieces each (30 pieces in three books).  The first book was supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.  Each piece varies in length from one to four minutes.  Although the concept of "Cinematic Caricatures" is present in each of the works, the imagery differs in each. Films from this project have been screened at dance, music, and film festivals/conferences around the world.  Cushman will be on hand to introduce the films and a Q&A session with the audience will be offered at the end.

 

 

 

 

MODERN FILM FEST 2011

Let's Dance!

July 8-10 and 15-17

 

As an official touring partner with the Dance Film Association, the Modern is proud to present shorts, documentaries, and feature films from the 2011 Dance on Camera Festival at Lincoln Center, in addition to premieres of new films and screenings of classic films about dance, such as Robert Altman's The Company.

 

The Dance on Camera program is presented as part of the Dance Films Association (DFA) international touring program of its Dance on Camera Festival, and is made possible with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts. The Film Society of Lincoln Center has coproduced DFA's festival (now in its 40th season), since 1996.

 

Tickets for screenings are $8.50; $6.50 for Modern members; and $6 for Reel People. Advance sales begin two hours prior to the show. Festival passes available for purchase beginning July 1.

 

Festival Pass (admission to nine different programs)

$68 ($76.50 value)

Modern member $52 ($58.50 value)

Reel Member $48 ($54 value)

 

 

Friday, July 8

6 pm

 

Award Winners from Dance on Camera Festival 2011

 

Hoop
Marites Carino, 2010; Canada, 3:50 minutes
 

Everyone carries a hula-hooping memory. In Hoop, the viewer's perspective of the childhood toy shifts when the floor is pulled away.

 

Bow
Rannvá Káradóttir, 2010; Faroe Islands, 3:57 minutes
 

Five artists from the United Kingdom, Belgium, Faroe Islands/Denmark, China, and Malaysia participated in a cross-cultural exchange project motivated by notions of bowing-metaphorically, culturally, and physically. The shadows, light, and repetition in this short attempt to capture ideas and movement related to folding and origami, rhythmic patterns, and ritual during the studio process.

 

Ase
Nicole Brooks, 2010; Canada, 6 minutes
 

A celebration of the lives of African slaves in the Caribbean who managed to preserve their religious worship rituals.

 

Ebony Goddess:  Queen of Ilê Aiyê
Carolina Moraes-Liu, 2009; Bahia, 24 minutes
 

Threewomen compete to be the carnival queen of Ilê Aiyê. The selection is based on Afrocentric notions of beauty, in counterpoint to prevailing standards of beauty in Brazil. Contestants dress in flowing African-style garments and perform traditional Afro-Brazilian dances and songs.

 

The Last Tightrope Dancer in Armenia  Inna Sahakyan, Arman Yeritsyan, 2009; Armenia, 55 minutes
 

Two septuagenarians, the most celebrated tightrope dancers in Armenia, share the same dream: that their only remaining student will keep their daring heritage alive.

 

Saturday, July 9

2 pm

 

Dance on Camera Selections from Past Festivals (audience favorites and award winners!)

 

Boy
Rosemary Lee, Peter Anderson, 1994; United Kingdom, 6 minutes
 

Considered a dance film classic, this solo turns an ordinary boy into a superhero as he moves with stealth and grace through a dramatic coastal landscape, responding to this empty universe, manipulating it and conjuring up his own imaginary world.

 

Sunscreen Serenade -Nominated for Jury Prize for Best Short
Kriota Willberg, 2009; United States, 5:30 minutes
 

This innovative homage to Busby Berkeley celebrates the merits of skin protection.

 

Rapture
Noémie Lafrance, 2008; United States, 6 minutes
 

Celebrating the opening of Frank Gehry's Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College in 2008, dancers defy gravity and scale, rush up and down the hills of a metallic desert against the empty sky.

 

The Last Martini-Nominated for Jury Prize for Best Short
Vickie Mendoza, 2009; United States, 6:16 minutes
 

Inspired by the noir films of the 1940s and 1950s and the posters that publicized them, The Last Martini plays out the rain-soaked reverie of a man whose psyche becomes tangled in a broken dance of passion and heartbreak.

 

The Cost of Living-2005 Jury Winner
Lloyd Newson , 2004; United Kingdom, 34 minutes
 

Choreographer/Director Lloyd Newson of London's famed DV8 takes us to a faded seaside town where street performers David and Eddie struggle to find work and romance. A film that hurls provocations and scalding humor at notions of how the fit and unfit are supposed to act.

 

Bone
Mila Aung-Thwin, 2005; Canada, 48 minutes
 

A collaboration of two extremely different cultures created by the Beijing Modern Dance Company and Snell Thouin Project of Canada. This unusual documentary reveals the raw excitement of discovery by young Chinese artists as they absorb the choreographic ways of the West in the first ever China-Canada coproduction.

 

Saturday, July 9

5 pm

 

The Company

 Robert Altman, 2003; United States, 112 minutes

 

"Altman is often thought of as having a loose, scruffy frame, but he proves in The Company that his looseness is deceptive-the work of an artist who conceals his art. Somehow his camera is always in the right place; he isolates parts of the dancers' bodies only after establishing their overall silhouette, and then only briefly. Neve Campbell got back in shape after 10 years "off pointe" for this movie. She's not quite as ethereal as some of the other dancers, but she has such long, shapely limbs and such a beautiful face that it doesn't matter. More important, she shows here what she loves, and why she had to leave it. This is an absolutely miraculous movie." David Edelstein, NPR. In this "fictional" narrative drama, master filmmaker Robert Altman focuses on Chicago's Joffrey Ballet and its dancers' pursuit of artistic expression, and the grueling physical toll of stretching their bodies to the limit.

 

Sunday, July 10

Noon

 

Repeat screening

Award Winners from Dance on Camera Festival 2011

 

 

Sunday, July 10

2 and 4 pm

 

Tango

Carlos Saura, 1998; Argentina, 112 minutes

 

"If the film is visually beautiful, it is also ravishing as a musical-which is really what it is, with its passionate music and angry dance sequences. It is said the 'musical' is dead, but it lives here." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times. Carlos Saura's 1998 Academy Award nominee, follows Mario, aMARIO SUAREZ launches himself into the making of the ultimate film about Tango. Using poignant, beautifully stirring tango music as a source of inspiration, Mario searches to find a narrative thread which will hold it all together. Images of his own...  lonely and broken man dedicated to making  the ultimate film about Tango. Using poignant, beautifully stirring tango music as a source of inspiration, Mario searches for a narrative thread that will hold his visions together. Images of his own life (his successful career, his midlife crisis, and his ex-wife) converge in this movie revolving around riveting dance numbers of requited and unrequited love.

Spanish, with English Subtitles

PG-13 for sensuality, some disturbing images, and brief language

 

 

Friday, July 15

6 pm

 

NY Export: Opus Jazz

Henry Joost, Jody Lee Lipes, 2010; United States, 61 minutes

 

Shot on location in New York City and starring an ensemble cast of New York City Ballet dancers, NY Export: Opus Jazz takes Jerome Robbins's 1958 "Ballet in Sneakers" and reimagines it for a new generation in this scripted adaptation.  After winningan Audience Award at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival, the film aired nationally on PBS's Great Performances series and was nominated for the Rose d'Or Award.

 

 

Friday, July 15

8 pm

 

Never Stand Still

Directed by Ron Honsa; Narrated by Bill T. Jones, 2011; United States, 90 minutes

 

Never Stand Still is a stirring new documentary filmed on location at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, a National Historic Landmark and America's longest running dance festival. Narrated by Tony Award-winner Bill T. Jones, the film immerses audiences in the world of dance through the stories, performances, and personalities of the world's most exciting dance artists. The film features backstage access, intimate conversations with choreographers and dancers, thrilling HD performances, and rare archival footage. Onstage and backstage footage includes Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Chunky Move, Stockholm 59° North, Shantala Shivalingappa, the Royal Danish Ballet, Mimulus Dance Company of Brazil, and Zaccho Dance Theatre. Candid artist interviews provide insight and inspiration from Paul Taylor, Suzanne Farrell, Judith Jamison, Bill Irwin, Rasta Thomas, Nikolaj Hübbe, and one of the last filmed interviews with dance legend Merce Cunningham.

 

 

Saturday, July 16

5pm

 

Shall We Dance

Masayuki Suo, 1996; Japan, 136 minutes

 

"One of the more completely entertaining movies I've seen in a while-a well-crafted character study that, like a Hollywood movie with a skillful script, manipulates us but makes us like it." Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times.A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.

 

Sunday, July 17

Noon

Repeat screening

 

NY Export: Opus Jazz

Henry Joost, Jody Lee Lipes, 2010; United States, 61 minutes

 

Shot on location in New York City and starring an ensemble cast of New York City Ballet dancers, NY Export: Opus Jazz takes Jerome Robbins's 1958 "Ballet in Sneakers" and reimagines it for a new generation in this scripted adaptation.  After winningan Audience Award at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival, the film aired nationally on PBS's Great Performances series and was nominated for the Rose d'Or Award.

 

 

Sunday, July 17

2 pm

 

A Good Man(preview screening)

Gordon Quinn, Bob Hercules, 2011; United States, 86 minutes

Filmmaker Bob Hercules in attendance

 

For over two years, filmmakers Gordon Quinn and Bob Hercules tracked the creative evolution of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company's work "Fondly Do We Hope . . . Fervently Do We Pray," from the initial Ravinia Festival commission to the final performance. A Good Man explores one of this century's most complicated, yet emotional and dramatic modern dance choreographers, Bill T. Jones, and his diverse company's efforts to come to terms with today's most searing questions and contradictions about race and the legacy of the Civil War. In doing so, they mix dance, theater, musical composition, songwriting, and visual art to present an unforgettable performance that deepens our understanding of both Abraham Lincoln and Bill T. Jones-the man, the artist, and his artistic process.

 

Sunday, July 17

4 pm

 

Every Little Step

Adam Del Deo, James D. Stern, 2008; United States, 96 minutes

 

"A thrilling combination of documentary and musical dazzler." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.

Every Little Step follows the plight of real-life dancers as they struggle through auditions for the Broadway revival of "A Chorus Line" and investigates the history of the show and the creative minds behind the original and current incarnations.