In Intros, Professor Liz Aggiss of the University of Brighton introduces us to the genre of ‘screen dance’ with a programme of important British short films.

The first of three films set in London, Touched takes place over the course of a single evening in a bar, as its protagonists talk, smoke, drink, fight, laugh, weep and dance their way through their own personal dramas, while Gold documents - with the aid of some staged scenes - the demanding training and daily lives of a pair of young gymnasts, capturing their determination, vitality and playful competitiveness. Inspired by club dancing, and the dynamic paintings of Jackson Pollock and employing fluid samba rhythms, Line Dance uses the technique of ‘motion capture’ to illustrate the beauty of natural human movement.

The Incomplete Autobiography with its first-person narration and sepia-tinted visuals invites us into the intimate and idiosyncratic world of a child and her perceptions of the world around her, the animation lending it a dreamy or imagined quality, while Tra La La combines stop frame animation and live performance in a poetic reflection on the ephemeral nature of innocence and childhood.

Sardinas was recorded in one shot from a fixed position, and treats the viewer to an everchanging series of quick witted tableaux completely controlled by the choreographer. Basini poignantly and expressionistically shot in black and white features a lone, vulnerable dancer; dark shadows compliment the awkward, painful and rigid choreography, melancholic music with haunting vocals conjuring up a feeling of desolation and despair. Motion Control is a duet between camera and dancer; using point-of-view, the camera becomes a performer with needs, agility and a personality all of its own, relentlessly pursuing and courting its partner as the film builds towards an operatic and gravity-defying climax.

Vena Ramphal presents a programme of experimental British dance films. In the award-winning Horizon of Exile two women journey across a timeless desert landscape travelling as though released from consciousness or gravity, falling and recuperating, haunted by an irrepressible past. In Vanishing Point, it is a lone figure that makes her way across windswept sand dunes performing a simple series of gestures, each time moving a few steps closer to the camera; with its haunting ethereal sound track, the viewer is left feeling that they have witnessed a form of meditation or pilgrimage.

In Magnetic North adolescent rituals are played out across the wintry landscapes of a small Finnish town; young girls skate on a frozen lake, while indoors teenage boys play and pose with guitars, evoking a world of adolescent fantasy and yearning. Night Practice uses the sight of a group of young men practicing football on a floodlit pitch being encircled by a lone runner to mesmerizing effect; it is an authentic and touching portrayal, capturing both their fragility and powerful physicality.

Snow is constructed solely from archival footage, using movement from a bygone era to often comic effect, while Film, which runs entirely backwards, is a playful exploration of the texture of materials - in this case clingfilm - and motion. Fold is a lush and vibrant rendition of a South Asian dance, Bharatha Natyam , allowing the viewer an intimate experience of performance and performer that could never be realized in the theatre, as does Hands which is literally a dance  — choreographed by Jonathon Burrows – for a single pair of hands.

There is a Place is the exciting outcome of the first collaboration between CCDC and Dance House and Goat Media in Scotland. Sang Jijia, a Tibetan dancer-choreographer based in China, travelled to the Highlands of Scotland to make this 7-minute dance film with screen dance artists Katrina McPherson and Simon Fildes.

Combining exquisite movement and stunning landscapes with skilful camerawork and editing, the film takes the viewer into Sang’s world of pure dance.

Master Class with screendance artists Katrina McPherson and Simon Fildes

This intensive course is open for those interested in exploring the creative interface between improvised dance & video dance practice. Each session starts with exercises to awaken the body, and then proceeds to focused practical sessions on in-camera editing facilitated by Katrina or Simon, looking at different issues for dancing and filming, using improvisation as the primary creative method. They will also explore the ways in which improvisation can be used to generate video dance material and how camera techniques can capture certain characteristics of dance performances: spontaneity, energy, presence, how it connects to an audience. Participants are expected to have some experience of filming.