DANCE MOViES Commission 2008: Open Call For Proposals
For Immediate Release TROY, N.Y. —In 2007, its inaugural year, EMPAC’s DANCE MOViES Commission received more than 150 applications from dance-filmmakers in North and South America. As the first major US-based commissioning program available to dance-film artists in the Americas, the DANCE MOViES Commission represents an important opportunity for those working at the intersection of the moving body and the moving image. Selected artists receive awards ranging up to $50,000. EMPAC (the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) is now accepting proposals for its 2008 commissions. The deadline for the proposals is March 01, 2008. This year, with the opening of the EMPAC building in the fall of 2008, artists may apply to create their DANCE MOViES works in conjunction with the Artist-in-Residence program. Works commissioned may take advantage of EMPAC’s spaces and technology, using infrastructure such as computer-controlled rigging or large-scale immersive studio environments. Backed by the Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts, the DANCE MOViES Commission supports works for the screen including film, video, installation and other audio-visual formats. The works may be narrative in nature or abstract; they may range in length (up to 20 minutes); they will certainly vary in style, technique and expressive intent. The four commissioned projects in 2007 included a poetic film based on the autobiographical account of an U.S.-based African choreographer returning to dance in Zimbabwe; a work featuring American veterans of war; an Argentinean video interlacing pure movement, form and architecture; and a piece in which a contemporary Russian dancer is viewed in the aesthetic context of a post-Soviet surveillance society. The DANCE MOViES Commissions may present movement of the body in direct or in allusive ways. They may take advantage of a variety of tools, such as computer processing, motion capture, simulation, animation, image processing and post-production technologies. Some may not portray “dance,” per se, at all. All will, however, reflect or refer to the power of movement unfurling in time. The DANCE MOViES Commission is intended to support experimental works in which the onscreen images are crafted by, or in collaboration with, a choreographer or movement-based artist. The commission was not created to support documentaries, feature-length films or commercial films that feature dance.
DANCE MOViES COMMISSION application process:
The DANCE MOViES Commission is a competitive open proposal process, in which eligible artists submit a project proposal. The initial proposals are reviewed and a small number of artists are invited to submit a detailed proposal to an international panel. The panel assesses the quality and feasibility of the proposed project and submits its recommendations to EMPAC. The commissions are awarded by EMPAC after review. Upon awarding of the commission, the artist or collaborative team has one year to complete the project, at which point the work is premiered at EMPAC, shown at dance film festivals around the world, and credited as an EMPAC DANCE MOViES Commission. The deadline for the proposals is March 01, 2008.
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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. Contact(s): Hélène Lesterlin, Dance Curator, EMPAC (518.276.3918 / lesteh@rpi.edu) John Rodat, Senior Communications Specialist, EMPAC (518.276.4378 / rodatj2@rpi.edu ) General inquiries: 518.276.3921 / dancemovies@rpi.edu