Video screens may be more common than not at indie dance concerts as of late, but choreographer Lorn MacDougal and filmmaker and composer Alain Le Razer have been making dance films – and dances and films – since the 1980s. Their new show, All Things Animate, opening Oct. 21, will include an animated film; a “motion documentary” shot in Amsterdam, where they used to live; a song in French; several pieces of new choreography; and a new film, Armadillo Jam, shot at the Circus Tent Theatre. In a conversation with the Chronicle, the duo got into a debate about the definition of “choreography” and answered these questions.
Austin Chronicle: You two have been working with dance and film for such a long time. What does film bring to the dance concert?
Lorn MacDougal: I’d like to steer the direction a little bit away from the dance concert. Because what we consider that we do is dance and film theatre. In this particular production, we’re presenting, minutes-wise, more minutes of film than dance.
Alain Le Razer: But in the films, there is a lot of dance. And you know, the perception of dance onstage versus the perception of dance on film is a whole different thing.
MacDougal: Many people think that their choreography should look the same on film, and, of course, it’s not possible. You really need to consider film as another medium. We don’t usually take any choreography that has been made for stage and try to put it on film. We just make films to begin with. But they always have to do with movement. For instance, the Amsterdam film has no dancers in it, but it’s a movement film. And what is the movement of? It’s of all different shapes and sizes of boats that appear in the port of Amsterdam, from funny little bathtub-sized boats to cruise liners and beautiful old sailing vessels with masts.
Le Razer: Dancers would say, “It’s a dance for boats and weather.” And other people would say, “It’s a documentary about the port of Amsterdam.”
MacDougal: We call it a motion documentary.
Le Razer: And that’s what it is. In other words, the motion and the temporal, the cutting of the film is such that it gets you in. Like a dance concert gets you in. Because you’re stimulated by the motion, by the way it’s sometimes unpredictable and sometimes it’s just plain beautiful. Same laws, same basis.
AC: How is making choreography for film different than making choreography for stage?
Le Razer: When you look at a dance concert onstage, you have three-dimensional perception to start with. You are part of it. You almost are on the stage, because in a way you perceive the dancers in existential terms. Film is a whole different thing. It’s a two-dimensional medium to start with, so us filmmakers have always to contend with that. And for dance, three dimensions are extremely important. So when we are transposing any piece of dance, any choreography, to film, we have to look for a way to create a new third dimension, one that is intrinsic to the film. So that perception is quite different. We feel differently about seeing a film than we feel looking at a piece of theatre on stage.
All Things Animate runs Oct. 21-24, Thursday-Saturday, 8pm; Sunday, 3pm, at the Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs Rd. For more information, visit www.allthingsanimate.com.
This article appears in October 22 • 2010.
