Dance:Film10 Fringe @ Filmhouse and Dance Base

The DANCE:FILM 10 Fringe programme is so full of exciting content there is a danger of brain-overload or hyperventilation in just listing it. Packed with tasty goodies for anyone with an interest in cinema or dance (or both), and with plenty to bite into for the real tech-heads of dance and film practice. Plus the opportunity to get hands-on with science fiction technology for experiences that re-write the rules of what it is to perform, or be in a film, or be a choreographer, or even be an audience. Phew! And this is just the summary...

The organiser of the event, Steph Wright, gave me a quick run through of how this dance film fest came about and some of the goodies lined up.

“Actually it's one big experiment,” she explained. “Dance Base and Filmhouse put on one of the biggest dance film programmes going, in a festival every two years, with the last one in '09. But for this year we thought: why not put on a mini-festival in-between the main festival? Let's experiment with more tightly focussed programme strands – and let's try some state of the art audience-interaction works that use the very latest technologies. And what better time to put on something like that than the Fringe?”

One themed strand at the Filmhouse is a tribute to the late great Pina Bausch - whose company Tanztheatre Wuppertal are performng at the Festival - with a documentary on her life and work, plus a film of her famous interpretation of The Rite Of Spring (with a Q&A from one of Bausch's company). There's a strand called Bodies of Work showing three films on the national company Scottish Ballet, which shows performance work, plus sides to the company that are more rarely seen – preparing for performance and the creative development of a piece, for example. There is also the first showing in Scotland of the Forward Motion programme, a British Council initiative co-produced by South East Dance, who have been a leading creative force in bringing together film and dance practice. The FM programme has an Intros strand introduced by Liz Aggiss, a leading practitioner and expert on screen dance, to set the scene of modern dance film, followed by short dance films and interviews. The other part to Forward Motion is Artist's Choice, which is a selection made by dance makers of excerpts and full length films, including the chance to see the award winning The Cost of Living on the big screen.

All this.... and more!
There is also the unique chance to hear dance maker Jody Sperling speak about Loie Fuller's pioneering dance and relationship with early cinema (Sperling is currently performing her own re-imagining of some of Fuller's work at the Festival). Jody will be joined by Calum MacDonald, an Edinburgh-based fine art printer who owns some original prints of Edison's original film from the 1890's, some of which feature Fuller, and which he has been able to reproduce as video clips for the lecture and in the photo exhibition at Dance Base.

… And more!
At Dance Base itself there are two hi-tech performance strands: The Point Of Being An Apple containing Point of You - using virtual-world live-action (I don't understand it either) to merge real dancers with the non-real, and whose shifting point of view looks set to totallyblow in the minds of the audience – plus The Impossibility of Being An Apple, which interactively breaks down the performer/ audience boundary. I can't imagine what either of these are like but the description from those who've tried them is 'joyous'.

The other event, When We Meet Again, by the company Me & The Machine takes an audience of one at a time, and involves actually wearing the experience, and taking the part of a dancer. Again, the word from the few who have done it is 'joyous' – and again, imagination fails.

Now, I know what you are thinking: nothing can be this good. But if its only half as good as it sounds, this programme bodes top-line interest and excitement for anyone with even the vaguest interest in dance. I'm polishing my viewing specs now...