Ohio State students reimagine dance through filmmaking

Megan Weiss
Tue, 07 Feb 2017 06:21:16 +0000
Arts & Life, Movies, News, academy awards, dance, dance film 2, dance@30fps, exquisite corps, in nothingness, joshua manculich, juanjo gimenez, max wildenhaus, mitchell rose, Ohio State Department of Dance, oscar, the weaner center for the arts

“Shift,”?directed by Rachael Lincoln and Amelia Rudolph, is one of the films that will be shown at Dance@30FPS. Credit: Courtesy of James Adamson?

Ohio State dance students will be seen dancing in a variety places outside of their typical home of Sullivant Hall.

OSU’s Department of Dance joined the Wexner Center for the Arts to bring a series of award-winning short films that present intersection between dance and filmmaking.

Dance@30FPS, which stands for 30 frames per second, will be celebrating its sixth year with this title, but the event has existed for more than 15 years. The program features 14 films ranging from two to 13 minutes in length that are a combination of shorts from around the world. The lineup includes three OSU student-created films.

Max Wildenhaus, a fourth-year in film studies and comparative studies, Joshua Manculich, a graduate student in fine arts, and dance and associate professor of dance Mitchell Rose all will have films featured at the event.

“Dance film reimagines the experience of what dance is or could be. The film itself is the dance,” Rose said. “This program will be an intimate experience of dance for the audience.” ?

Dance films are created in order to show different angles and close ups of the performers and their movements, allowing the audience to feel engulfed in the film and involved in the dance, Rose said.

“Exquisite Corps” is one of Rose’s shorts that will be presented Thursday night. This short film contains 42 American contemporary choreographers Rose described as “linking together on a chain love letter to dance.”

“Timecode,” a short film by Spanish director Juanjo Gimenez, will also be shown. The film, currently up for an Oscar for Best Live-Action Short, was the winner of the Palme d’Or award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in France.

Wildenhaus’ short “In Nothingness” will also be featured. Wildenhaus recently began working with dance film and explained that his piece is abstract and without dialogue, setting it apart from the other shorts shown.

“As They Walk” is a piece created by Manculich last fall in Rose’s Dance Film 2 class. Inspired by an instant energy shift he feels when stepping outside, Manculich’s short was filmed in a corn field that he described as “constantly changing.” He said it is a reminder to appreciate the now.

“I was able to see Dance@30FPS as a student last spring, and now to be apart of the program is such an honor,”Manculich said. “Mitchell (Rose) has opened up a new confidence for me in being a filmmaker.”

Before each short, there will be a 30-second Skype introduction from the filmmaker to connect the viewers to the creator of the piece they are about to see. The shorts will be arranged within thematic groups of three to four films with time set apart for discussion between the sections.

Dance@30FPS is Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Film/Video Theater at the Wex. The program will last approximately 80 minutes and admission is free.`