We all know you’ve been waiting, and here it is.. April’s edition of What to Watch! This month, we have collected a range of dance films from UK-based dance companies, practitioners and organisations – feature length films, animations, a cinematic dance experience and one screen dance film which is a nod to Marie Antoinette. Enjoy watching and let us know what you think! #GDWhatToWatch
Under 5 Minutes
1. REACH - Botis Seva & Far From The Norm
Director Billy Boyd Cape collaborates with dance artist, choreographer and director Botis Seva and his hip-hop theatre collective, Far From The Norm, to explore the themes of love, abandonment and fatherhood. On a journey of independence, we discover a man’s inner struggle of his mind versus his soul in this emotional dance film, made in association with Sadler’s Wells.
Dance On Screen
2. Let Them Eat Cake! - AWA Dance
Created by the dance charity AWA Dance, Let Them Eat Cake! is a dance film on girl empowerment, where three teenagers rebel against how society dictates how they see themselves. In Let Them Eat Cake! The three characters transform from being “perfect girls” to agents of change, by embracing who they really are.
Feature Length
3. Breathless Puppets - Akram Khan & Naaman Azhari
From Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage we share Breahless Puppets. Choreographed by Akram Khan and directed by Naaman Azhari, this powerful short film tells the story of two men with a passion for dance who reconnect through the tragedy of the pandemic.
Forced apart in childhood by the expectations of their cultures and the disapproval of their fathers, two men with a passion for dance reconnect through the tragedy of the pandemic. It uses rotoscope animation, created by hand-drawing over live action footage, some of which was filmed in Sadler’s Wells Theatre.
The trailer is courtesy of Manchester International Festival, and you can see the full 17-minute, or 23-minute with audio description, version here.
In Case You Missed It
4. Creature - Bodies In Action
From the London based company Bodies In Action comes the short film CREATURE.
CREATURE is a contemporary dance exploration that studies the difference between examining the superficial value versus the thorough aspects of something we, as humans, are unfamiliar with. A short film of approximately 9 minutes, it researches different perspectives of this creature to see how it reacts when put in vulnerable and hostile positions and situations.
Dance On Screen
5. Eightfold - Ballet Black
For our final feature length, we share Eightfold by Ballet Black. Trailer is courtesy of The Coronet Theatre, and you can watch the 34-minute film here.
Join Ballet Black for their film screening debut, Eightfold, a film unprecedented in its radical use of light, film and drone technology with some of the most diverse and exciting choreographic talent from around the world and performed by the multi-award winning Ballet Black. Featuring narration written by Natasha Gordon and voiced by Ballet Black’s Patron, Thandiwe Newton, Eightfold is an extraordinary dance film created at an extraordinary time.
