EMPAC Presents: DANCE MOViES 1

For Immediate Release TROY, N.Y. — The first in a new series of dance film screenings, Rensselaer's Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) presents DANCE MOViES 1 at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 21st, 2005. Projected on a large screen on Rensselaer's football field, you will see a selection of short films and experimental videos made by contemporary dancers and filmmakers from all over the world. Dancers will be roaming, dancing and acting out in the most unlikely places: a city street in Nigeria, a steep mountainside in Switzerland, a bedroom in the US, an endless field in France, an asphalt lot in Australia. This is not MTV, not Swan Lake, not Fred Astaire - but physical power, tender movements and oddball antics captured on the screen. The films presented in the first installment of DANCE MOViES include several classics of the genre as well as recently released works. Wake-up Call (1985) by acclaimed performance artist and filmmaker Pooh Kaye, bristles with stop-motion animation and a wacky sense of humor; Reimerswaal (2004), by Dutch director Clara van Gool, depicts a mysterious and disturbing underwater courtship between a young couple; Le P'tit Bal (1994) by prolific French choreographer Philippe Decouflé, creates a surreal and funny duet as a couple pantomimes the lyrics to a whimsical song; black spring (2002) by Heddy Maalem and Benoit Dervaux builds a stunning portrait of contemporary African life and dance; and Reines d'un jour (Queens for a day) by Pascal Magnin follows six dancers as they tumble, fight and dance down the steep, lush mountains of the Swiss Alps to end up partying at a village festival. What are dance films? Dance films are an exciting hybrid genre of work created specifically for the screen, combining the visceral physicality of movement and dance with the open possibilities and magic of film, pushing the boundaries of both. Admission to DANCE MOViES 1 is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the North Lot on the Rensselaer Campus, with the entrance located on Peoples Avenue. In case of inclement weather, the event will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Room 3303, in the Sage Building on the Rensselaer campus.

ABOUT RENSSELAER

Founded in 1824, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is one of America's leading research universities, with a student body of 5,100 undergraduates, 1,800 graduate students in residential programs, and 2,800 students in distance programs and at Rensselaer at Hartford. Rensselaer is known for providing an undergraduate education of undisputed intellectual rigor based on exceptional pedagogical innovation and has earned distinction in interactive learning and the application of information technology to education. Faculty are engaged in cutting-edge research in fields ranging from microelectronics to computational modeling and simulation, mathematical finance, advanced materials, environmental studies, lighting, and electronic arts. Fostering technological entrepreneurship, Rensselaer operates three business incubators, with a technology park that is home to some fifty companies. For more information on Rensselaer, the public may visit the university's web site at www.rpi.edu. For more information on EMPAC, the public may visit www.empac.rpi.edu