Art Works Video Catalog

Molissa FenleyAW-1 Molissa Fenley

1993, DVD/VHS, 60 minutes $100

Since the early eighties, Molissa Fenley has been intriguing audiences and impressing critics with her unique approach to modern dance. Her work is constantly changing, re-defining itself with each new piece, and she is well known for her work with contemporary artists and composers including Phillip Glass. In this tape, Ms. Fenley talks about her choreography and her approach to the creative process. Also included are clips of a number of important pieces in her repertory.

AW-2 Ellen Bromberg/ The Black Dress

993, DVD/VHS, 30 minutes $50

Winner of the 1992 Bonnie Bird Chore-ography Award for North America and an ADF Young Choreographer in 1989, Ellen Bromberg created this work for the camera. Commissioned by PBS in 1989, “The Black Dress” is a haunting work based on the painting of the same name by Alex Katz. Also included is an interview with Ms. Bromberg about the making of “The Black Dress.” Ms. Bromberg received The Isadora Duncan Award for choreography in 1988.

AW-3 Sally Silvers

1994, DVD/VHS, 60 minutes $100

Ms. Silvers is a New York-based choreographer whose work has been presented in North America, the United Kingdom, and Asia. Mindy Aloff of Dance Magazine has called her “...among the most talented choreographers to emerge in the decade [of the 1980’s].” Ms. Silvers’ choreography has been supported by the NEA, the Guggenheim Foundation, and most recently, the Jerome Foundation. This piece features excerpts from her solo and group work as well as a collaboration with filmmaker Henry Hills.

AW-4 Ai-Amour, Carlotta Ikeda and Her Butoh

1994, DVD/VHS, 45 minutes $100

This film, directed by Kamal Musale and shot in locations around Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and France is a documentary of the work of choreographer Carlotta Ikeda and her collaboration with dancer Ko Murobushi and the Ariadone Company. With strong images and a bold soundtrack, this film takes the viewer through the chaotic world of Butoh Dance. “Ai-Amour” has been awarded the Silver Fipa Award from the 8th International Festival for Audio-Visual Programmes in Nice, France.

AW-5 Dance and Myth, The World of Jean Erdman

1994, DVD/VHS, 3 volumes 60 minutes each, not available separately $300

Executive producer Nancy Allison has created a video series in three parts that provides the most in-depth exploration of the choreography of Jean Erdman. A combination on eleven complete recreated dances intercut with interview, archival and contemporary rehearsal footage gives students and scholars immediate access to the social technical and philosophical influences of the remarkable American Modern Dance artist and their repertory.

AW-6 Maya Deren, Volume One, Dances For The Camera

DVD/VHS, black and white, sound/silent, 50 minutes $100

This is a compilation of some of Maya Deren's most important films:

These films address dance as "...the stylization of movement which confers ritual dimension upon functional motion..." She has been described as an inheritor of the surrealists, however, Maya Deren was one of the earliest pioneers in the adaptation of dance for the camera. As a woman working in the 1940's and early 50's, her work anticipated many of the obstacles and biases of subsequent feminist discourse. Her work has long been the focus of film scholars, but neglected by those in the world of Dance/Film and Video. Maya Deren's work with Anthony Tudor and Talley Beatty among others represent seminal explorations of the possibilities of dance and the camera.

AW-7 Maya Deren, Volume Two, Divine Horseman: The Living Gods Of Haiti

Edited 1977 by Teiji and Cherel Ito, DVD/VHS, black and white, sound, 60 minutes $100

In 1947 Maya Deren traveled to Haiti to make a film on trance dancing. Once there, Deren realized that in Voudoun culture dance and prayer were one and the same, and her focus shifted to the Haitian rituals. This film includes footage of both the secular and religious dances of the Congo and Yoruba cults and is an excellent introduction to the Voudoun religion of Haiti. Shot in 16 millimeter black & white film, this documentary features remarkable footage of Haitian Voudoun practices, dancing, and rituals.

Li Chiao-PingAW-8 Epic (The Land Within) and De L'Eau

1994/95, DVD/VHS, 30 minutes $50

Two video/dance collaborations by Douglas Rosenberg and choreographer Li Chiao-Ping. EPIC (THE LAND WITHIN) uses text, landscape imagery and performance by members of the Dziga Vertov Performance Group to present an expressionistic dance possible only for the camera. De L'Eau, choreographed by Li Chiao-Ping for herself and a male dancer takes place in an abandoned swimming pool. This piece is athletic, risky and elegant.

AW-9 Asian/Asian-American Perspectives On Modern Dance

1995, DVD/VHS, 60 minutes $100

Choreographers Kumiko Kimoto, Sun Ock Lee, Mel Wong and moderator Peggy Choy discuss how Asian and Asian-American issues and identity shape their work. The panel discussion is intercut with excerpts of work performed by each choreographer. The participants each offer a unique perspective on the challenges facing Asian/ Asian-American choreographers in addressing stereotypes and cultural expectations.

AW-10 Classical Indian Dance /Two Bharatanatyam Dances

1998, DVD/VHS, 60 minutes $100

In this tape, Swati and Jyoti Argade perform two classical Indian Dances in the Bharatanatyam style. “Natyanjali” (An Invocation of Dance) and “Krishna Keertana” (Song in Praise of Lord Krishna), choreographed by the Dhananjayans of Adyar, Madras, are each shown in their entirety followed by a second version shot in close-up to accentuate the facial expression, footwork, and hand gestures common to this style of narrative dance. Finally, a detailed explanation of the narrative, facial expressions, and gestures is provided by the performers.

AW-11 The Pennsylvania Dance Theatre/World Premieres

1997, DVD/VHS, 60 minutes $100

The Pennsylvania Dance Theatre performs four original dances in their entirety, featuring choreography by Megan Brazil, Colin Conner, JoAnna Mendl Shaw, and Ann Van Kuren. Provides excellent examples of inventive choreography, music, and professional modern dance. Produced by Penn State Public Broadcasting, this is a rare chance to see contemporary choreography in performance.

“Pennsylvania Dance Theatre has that athletic, aerobic look that comes with the territory of postmodernism”. —Dance Magazine

AW-12 Shirley Clarke/ Dances For the Camera

1998, DVD/VHS, black and white and 60 minutes $100

Ms. Clarke’s dance films, though rarely seen, are seminal in the history of dance for the camera. The tape features

Shirley Clarke began her career as a dancer, having studied and performed with Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow, and Hanya Holm. Her background as a dancer is evident in her body of film and video work, in her use of a wandering, improvisational camera and the sense of movement that pervades even her earliest black & white films. Dancing propelled her into filmmaking and eventually to an Academy Award for her film Robert Frost: A Lover’s Quarrel With The World, the 1962 documentary commissioned by President John F. Kennedy.

AW-13 Six Solos: Li Chiao-Ping Dances

1998, DVD/VHS, 60 minutes $100

This documentary, directed by Douglas Rosenberg, follows the progress of “The Cross-Cultural Choreography Commissioning Project” or “The Men’s Project,” a bold and innovative undertaking in which dancer Li Chiao-Ping commissioned six male choreographers of international stature to choreograph solo dance works for her. This project explores how cultural factors including issues of race, gender, age, and sexuality bear on the production of dance.

The choreographers collaborating with Ms. Li on The Men’s Project are

Highlights from all six works are featured in the piece as well as interviews with each choreographer.

AW-14 Eisenstein's Carmen

1998, DVD/VHS, 20 minutes $50

The Last Conversation: Eisenstein’s Carmen Ballet takes its name from a miniature ballet created in 1947 by the famous Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein. A distillation of the final scene of Bizet’s opera Carmen, Eisenstein’s duet for two Bolshoi dancers was one of the last creative acts of this 20th century artistic giant. This documentary video follows the re-creation of Eisenstein’s ballet, reconstructed by noted dance historian and author Sally Banes in collaboration with the dancers Galina Zakrutkina of the Kirov Ballet and James Sutton. Directed by Sally Banes.

Anna HalprinAW-15 Video Dance

1998, DVD/VHS, 30 minutes $50

This work by director Douglas Rosenberg, a regular collaborator with contemporary choreographers, is a collection of three dances created specifically for the camera. Each work features Rosenberg’s lyrical camera work and suspends the choreography within an elegant frame. The dances for the camera featured on this tape include works by internationally respected dance artists; “Wind” with Eiko and Koma, “Bardo (In Extremis)” with Molissa Fenley, and “My Grandfather Dances” with Anna Halprin.

 

THE WORLD OF ALWIN NIKOLAIS has 5 different programs. Internationally acclaimed choreographer, lighting designer, music composer, and costume designer, Alwin Nikolais' creations are brought to life in this five part television series. Performed by the Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis Dance Company with narration by Murray Louis.

AW-25 The World of Alwin Nikolais-Program 1

DVD/VHS, 45 minutes, $75

The dances performed are:

AW-26 The World of Alwin Nikolais Program 2

DVD/VHS, 45 minutes, $75

The dances performed are:

AW-27 The World of Alwin Nikolais Program 3

DVD/VHS, 45 minutes, $75

The dances performed are:

AW-28 The World of Alwin Nikolais Program 4

DVD/VHS, 45 minutes, $75

The dances performed are:

AW-29 The World of Alwin Nikolais Program 5

DVD/VHS, 45 minutes, $75

The dances performed are:

AW-30 HARRY dance and other works by Senta Driver

DVD/VHS, 60 minutes, $100

This documentary of the work of Senta Driver includes conversation with this renowned choreographer with highlights from "Video 5000", "Missing Persons" and "Reaches".

AW-31 Jose Limon Technique with Daniel Lewis

DVD/VHS, 60 minutes, $100

This is a step by step demonstration of the Limón technique. Unlike a class, this is a careful explanation of this highly stylized dance technique with accurate demonstrations by Limón-trained dancers.

New Releases From Artworks Video

AW-32 The Physical TV Company

DVD/VHS, 30 minutes $50

Based in Sydney, Australia, Karen Pearlman and Richard James Allen have been making dance films since 1985. They formed The Physical TV Company in 1997. This collection features three of their over 20 works for the camera:

AW-33 Kaeja d’Dance

DVD/VHS, 60 minutes $100

Established in 1991 and founded by artistic directors Allen and Karen Kaeja, Kaeja d’Dance is recognized for creating an eclectic array of vividly original dance performances that simmer with athletic intensity and theatrical imagery. Film is an exciting and vital process of transformation for Allen and Karen Kaeja’s choreographic vision. This volume features:

AW-34 Children of Ibdaa: To Create Something Out of Nothing

2002, DVD/VHS, 30 minutes $50

A Palestinian children's dance troupe from a West Bank refugee camp uses performance to express the history, struggle, and aspirations of the Palestinian people in a creative and non-violent way. Filmmaker S. Smith Patrick chronicled the Ibdaa dance troupe during the troupes' two United States performance tours. The film has been screened worldwide through film festivals, television, and educational and activist forums, and has won numerous awards.

AW-35 ARC: A Dance Trilogy

2000, DVD/VHS, 23 minutes $50

ARC is a trilogy of solo dance works created and performed by acclaimed New Zealand choreographer Douglas Wright. In three distinct sections the film charts a transformation: a journey from a primeval landscape of despair, through a bizarre and hilarious confrontation with a talking bird, and the emergence of "gravity's angel" in a space of air and delight.

AW-36 KROMA Productions

DVD/VHS, 60 minutes $100

KROMA Productions is based in Porvoo, Finland. This volume features the following films:

AW-37 Dance for Camera, Anthology One

DVD/VHS, 36 minutes $50

AW-38 Molissa Fenley and Peter Boal: The Restaging of 'State of Darkness'

DVD/VHS, 24 minutes $50

This intimate and exciting documentary of Peter Boal’s performance of Molissa Fenley’s “State of Darkness” was produced by Ellen Bromberg. The film reveals the challenges of blending two dance cultures through the restaging of a critically acclaimed solo.

AW-39 Singing Myself A Lullaby
with John Henry

DVD/VHS, 60 minutes $100

What role does truth play in the retelling of historical events in performance and art? Is performance a stage practice or do we construct and perform our identities throughout our lives? These and other questions are explored in this moving documentary about West Coast dancer John Henry, as he deals with his legacy in the face of the end of his life.

Singing Myself A Lullaby by Douglas Rosenberg and Ellen Bromberg, was funded by a grant from the Project on Death in America (funded by the George Soros Foundation) and co-produced by Wisconsin Public Television. The piece focuses on dancer and educator John Henry as he, along with Bromberg and Rosenberg, creates a work for the theater based on his life. The work was created during the last few years of Henry's life and the documentary continues, incorporating new information learned about him, after his death from HIV/AIDS. The documentary, which includes commentary by many former colleagues including Margaret Jenkins, David Gere, Dr. Peter Goldblum, Beth Harris and many others, has relevance to a variety of academic disciplines including Performance Studies, Cultural Studies, Gender Studies and Dance History and Theory.

AW-40 Dances for Television

2003, DVD/VHS, 30 minutes $50

A suite of dances made for television from award-winning director Douglas Rosenberg, this project is based on the work of renowned choreographers Sean Curran, Li Chiao-Ping, and Amy Sue Rosen:

AW-41 Extreme Moves

2002, DVD/VHS, 75 minutes $100

This video features Li Chiao-Ping and members of her company demonstrating her "Extreme Moves Training Method™, a regimen of strength-building and balance exercises and techniques. This revolutionary curriculum trains dancers to perform rotational, upside down, and gyroscopic movements and to use unusual parts of the body for balance, taking weight, and locomotion.

AW-42 Doris Chase

DVD/VHS, 60 minutes $100

Painter and teacher, sculptor of monumental kinetic forms, Doris Chase is best known as a pioneer in the field of Dance for the Camera. Beginning in the 1970s, she produced more than fifty videos now regarded as key works in the history of video art. This collection features her most important works.

AW-43 Amy Greenfield

DVD/VHS, 30 minutes $50

Amy Greenfield has been pushing the boundaries of dance and cinema since the early 1970s. Her work is known for its earthy rawness and proto-feminist point of view. This collection of her early work includes “Element,” “Transport,” and other landmark cine-dances.

Venous FlowAW-44 Venous Flow

2003, DVD/VHS, 30 minutes $50

Venous Flow weaves first person narrative with contemporary dance to tell the story of a community of dancers and artists and their resolution to overcome personal trauma. “Grace” is a large group piece performed by Li Chiao-Ping Dance and a community of elders shot on a frozen lake in winter, revealing the stark beauty of winter as well as the warmth of community.

AW-45 Jazzdance by Danny Buraczeski

DVD/VHS, 30 minutes $50

Choreographer Danny Buraczeski and notable dancers from the company’s 25 year history explore the world of “Jazzdance by Danny Buraczeski” through interviews and dance excerpts.

AW-46 Mary Anthony: A Life in Modern Dance $100

A film by Tonia Shimin

This film traces the story and career of Mary Anthony, a vibrant modern dance pioneer who for over 50 years, continues to inspire, through her teaching, spirit and perseverance, an international community of dancers and people in all walks of life. 

Featuring excerpts from 11 works of choreography and interviews with Mary Anthony and luminaries in the dance and theater world, this vital work explores her roots in Kentucky to her passionate reasons for coming to New York to dance with twenty five dollars in her pocket. From her early years as assistant to Hanya Holm to her presence as a dance icon of New York, Mary Anthony: A Life in Modern Dance sheds light on the development and work of an extraordinary and seemingly immortal artist and on an important era of American modern dance. 

DVD features include:  

AW-47 Been Rich All My Life $100

Meet the Silver Belles, five tap dancers who performed in 1930’s Harlem. Together again, after a few decades hiatus, they're dancing to standing ovations - as sassy as they ever were.

AW-48 Behind the Scenes Volume 3: Music and Dance $100

David Parsons, a choreographer for the American Ballet Theatre and former dancer for the Paul Taylor Dance Company, shows how dances can begin with the simplest everyday movements.

JoAnn Falletta, one of America's most promising young conductors, shows how a symphony orchestra uses layers of sound to create music.

Jazz composer and pianist Allen Toussaint demonstrates the art of musical composition by writing a melody at the piano and then recording it in a studio. Bobby McFerrin lends a hand!

Max Roach, the legendary jazz percussionist and composer, brings the accent to music, using layered and funky rhythms to turn you on by feeling the beat!

Hosted by magicians Penn and Teller, Behind the Scenes goes behind the scenes to discover the creative process with renowned artists.

AW-49 Dance For Camera $100

Dance for Camera presents six films that are among the most outstanding examples of a new film genre that merges dance and film. Selected from festivals in Europe and North America, and winners of over 17 international awards, these films present an array of humor, drama, beauty and rhythm not usually seen on film or stage made by young emerging artists from around the world.

Films Include:

AW-50 Dancer, The $100

A Film by Donya Feuer

The Dancer follows the young and gifted Katja Bjorner through years of intensive training at the Royal Swedish Ballet School as she develops into an international ballet star. Filmed with an eye toward conveying the physical aspects of dancing — the pain, sweat, and tears, as well as the exquisite beauty — The Dancer captures the fierce determination and struggle that goes into the desire to dance at the highest level.

AW-51 Etoiles: Dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet $100

Etoiles celebrates the legacy of the famed Paris Opera Ballet by weaving together rehearsals and tour snapshots of classical ballets as well as contemporary works.

Celebrated filmmaker Nils Tavernier delves into the psychology of dance by talking candidly with some of the biggest stars in dance today, who give perspectives on how and why they endure the emotional and physical hardships of the drive to be on stage.

AW52 Last Dance $100

A film by Mirra Bank

Powerhouse creative forces unite, and sparks fly, in Mirra Bank's award-winning Last Dance. Bank follows the dazzling Pilobolus Dance Theater and legendary author-illustrator, Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) as they collaborate on the dance-theater work that honors a haunting holocaust legacy. Last Dance weaves rehearsal footage, probing interviews, chilling Nazi propaganda footage and breathtaking performance into a thrilling insight into the creative process.

The film holds nothing back as philosophies clash, confrontations abound, and artistic disaster threatens at every turn. But in the end we are rewarded as Pilobolus dancers -- pure bolts of force and grace -- give life to a stark and stunning dancework.

AW-53 Sacred Stage: The Mariinsky Theater $100

A Film by Joshua Waletzky

Set against the backdrop of the magical White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, SACRED STAGE features the best in Russian symphonic music, ballet and opera at Russia’s premier theater—the Mariinsky, also known as the Kirov. SACRED STAGE explores what the theater has meant to Russian and Soviet culture and how it has somehow maintained its artistic excellence through war, revolution and the collapse of Communism.. It also looks at the life and work of Maestro Valery Gergiev, artistic and theater director at the Mariinsky, and captures the excitement of his world—a world populated with artists, socialites, financiers, politicians and celebrities.

Narrated by Emmy Award-winning actor Richard Thomas, SACRED STAGE is illustrated with stunning performances from the opera and ballet, as well as candid interviews with luminaries, scholars and performers.

Featuring: VALERY GERGIEV, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor; YEVGENY NIKITIN, Opera Singer; YULIA MAKHALINA, Ballet Dancer; GEORGE TSYPIN, Opera Set Designer; ELIZABETH KENDALL, Dance Critic and Scholar; and PLÁCIDO DOMINGO

AW-54 Five Dance Films About Place $100

Five site-specific dance films shot on location in rural Wisconsin. Each vignette is created in and of the landscape and local architecture and speaks to metaphors of the senses, relationships, and the changing of the seasons.  Emmy nominated Director Douglas Rosenberg and Gemini nominated Director Allen Kaeja collaborate with Li Chiao-Ping and Karen Kaeja as well as guest artists from Kaeja d’Dance and others including Heidi Latsky, David Dorfman, Lisa Race and performers and musicians from the United States and Canada. This suite of films is among the first High-Definition dance films shot in North America and was funded in part by BravoFACT! And Wisconsin Public Television.

Includes:

AW-55 Artists In Exile: A story of Modern Dance in San Francisco

Color, VHS 85 minutes 2000 $100

Artists In Exile: A story of Modern Dance in San Francisco chronicles over forty years of dancemaking in the San Francisco Bay Area. The film begins with dance revolutionary Anna Halprin and highlights seminal Bay Area choreographers including Mangrove, Tumbleweed, ODC/San Francisco, Margaret Jenkins, Dance Brigade, Joe Goode and Contraband. The films addresses the special nature of the Bay Area’s social, political and environmental climate; the marginalization of Bay Area artists due to the New York dance establishment and the unique and vital dance community that continues to grow.

AW-56 Douglas Rosenberg: Video Art 1984-1988

Color, DVD $50

A compilation of video art produced by award-winning videographer Douglas Rosenberg. Collection includes

AW-57 Douglas Rosenberg: Compilation 1997-2002

Color, DVD $50

Dance works produced by award-winning videographer Douglas Rosenberg. Click on each link for more information and previews.