After a 5 year hiatus, underground performance party pioneer Dream Circus Theatre (DCT) returns to the limelight with I Am Vegetable at the Premiere Events Center (aka Lot 613) in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, October 8, 2011.  I Am Vegetable is a delectable interactive costume party that merges theater, story telling, music, performance art, and dancing with imaginative sets that integrate the audience with the action.  The event soundscape incorporates dubstep, electro/breaks, house, tech house, and ambient/downtempo with a tasty DJ line-up that features John Kelley, Shayn, Trevor + Travis Wyse, Petey, and more. The creative brains behind I Am Vegetable are musician and event director Teo Castro and costume designer Mikiko Nagao, who have collaborated on creative underground events since the 1990s.  I Am Vegetable runs from 9:00pm to 3:30am. Tickets range from $20 to $40. Premiere Events Center/Lot 613 (http://www.lot613.com) is located at 613 Imperial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021. 

Underground Performance Party Pioneer
Dream Circus Theatre Presents
I Am Vegetable
A Wildly Costumed Interactive Theatrical Dance Event
At Premiere Events Center (Lot 613) in Downtown LA
Saturday, October 8, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA – September 16, 2011 – After a 5 year hiatus, underground performance party pioneer Dream Circus Theatre (DCT) returns to the limelight with I Am Vegetable at the Premiere Events Center (aka Lot 613) in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, October 8, 2011.  I Am Vegetable is a delectable interactive costume party that merges theater, story telling, music, performance art, and dancing with imaginative sets that integrate the audience with the action.  The event soundscape incorporates dubstep, electro/breaks, house, tech house, and ambient/downtempo with a tasty DJ line-up that features John Kelley, Shayn, Trevor + Travis Wyse, Petey, and more. The creative brains behind I Am Vegetable are musician and event director Teo Castro and costume designer Mikiko Nagao, who have collaborated on creative underground events since the 1990s.  I Am Vegetable runs from 9:00pm to 3:30am. Tickets range from $20 to $40. Premiere Events Center/Lot 613 (http://www.lot613.com) is located at 613 Imperial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021. For more information, please visit http://www.dreamcircus.com or call 310-853-3075.

Attendees are encouraged to wear vegetable-themed costumes and bring their favorite organic vegetables for the communal soup that will be served all night long. The event will be streamed live at http://www.stickam.com. Guests must be 21 years of age or older to attend. A limited number of advance tickets can be purchased for $20-25 at http://fla.vor.us/1100057-I-AM-VEGETABLE-tickets/I-AM-VEGETABLE-Los-Angeles–.html. On the day of event, tickets are $30 with vegetable costume and organic vegetable for the communal soup, $40 “plain jane.” Street parking is free.  $10 secured valet parking will also be available. Please also see DCT’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/dreamcircus.theatre as well as the event page at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=247783768584432

I Am Vegetable welcomes Fud-gee Bear and Electric GrassHopper back from a Deep Hi Bear Nation. Climbing out from the underground city of Zion, rising like a phoenix from the ashes, they will bring magic, mystery and fantasy back into our world once again.  Event attendees will be transported into a world where they can mingle with roaming I Am Vegetable characters in elaborate costumes, get a scrub down in the make-believe “Vegetable Wash,” and wander down the interactive “Vegetable Brick Road” (a floor with interactive screens and projections) on their way to the “Veggie Voyeurism Museum” (a “green light” district of steamy vegetables).

In the “Market Membrane” front room, a farmer’s market-themed area, guests can enjoy dubstep/electro breaks DJ sets, VJs, theatrical performances, and a costume contest. The outside “Mushroom Garden,” is a place for attendees to sit, lounge, drink, and eat.  More DJs, VJs, an ambient room, and photo booth will be set as a soup bowl.  Out back, attendees will find the “Psycho-Ponics Ward,” a black-lit room with house/tech DJ sets, VJs and theatrical performances with a backdrop of vegetables hooked up to tubes. The upstairs area houses the chill zone known as “The Refrigerator” with VJs and ambient music.

Interactive characters will roam throughout the event space.  Examples include the “Mr. Snails” characters (like the Mr. Smiths from the Matrix movies) – Secret Service snails who try to capture veggie attendees – and “The Garlic Informant,” who saves the veggies from the Mr. Snails.

The event is a vehicle to launch nutritional vegetable awareness and support the organic health movement for sustainable living.  Organic local food companies will be participating.

Featured DJs by Event Area:

Market Membrane - a vegetable marketplace full of sinful, carnal delights features dubstep/electro breaks with:
- John Kelley (Ball of Wax / Moontribe) - site
- Shayn Almeida (Intetech / Deep LA) – site
- Bartek (Quade / Ball of Wax) – site
- SuneviL LovechiLd – site
- Petey (Technique) – site

Psycho-Ponics Ward – veggie crazed madness, with padded walls and black lights, is hosted by Fade Dra and features house/tech house with:
- HAWT DJs Mikey + Eddie B. (HAWT Music) - site
- Frank Fader (Dogtown DJs) – site
- Ben Annand (Moontribe / Tropical) – site
- DJ Xian Fayette (I Am)
- DJ M*Linss (Dogtown DJs)

The Mushroom Garden - outside chill area features ambient/downtempo with:
- Imagika – site
- Trevor + Travis Wyse (Green Sector) – site
- Maggie (Moontribe) – site
- Kevin Chills (See Thru Sound) – site

Click here to watch Dream Circus Theatre in action.

Teo Castro, Co-Founder Dream Circus Theatre / Producer / Writer
Party planner, performer and legend in the L.A. underground circuit, Teo Castro runs Dream Circus Theatre with his wife, Mikiko Nagao.  The collective organizes the legendary “I Am” series of themed events that merge theatrical performances and electronic music into party environments. Castro and Nagao also created a street music and clothing company called Stoner Generation. He worked with Bill Manspeaker (Green Jello), Lou Maglia (former president of Island Records), and Art Jaeger (former executive at Capitol Records) in executive and production capacities at QTOPIA Event Center in Hollywood, which later became the Vanguard. For Insomniac Events, he created Dream Circus Village at Electric Daisy Carnival.  Other organizations and artists he has worked with over the years include Red Bull, M-Audio, Native Instruments, Magic (Las Vegas), Jane’s Addiction, Snoop Dog, Lollapalooza LLC, Coachella Music Festival, Burning Man, Cirque du Soleil, Dance with Films, House of Blues, Charlie Armstrong (Paramount Pictures), and PF Chang’s.

Mikiko Nagao, Costume Designer / Event Creator –
Mikiko Nagao is an innovative costume designer who has worked on commercial, film, television, and theater projects for the past 10 years. With her husband Teo Castro, she runs Dream Circus Theatre.  She has created custom designs for over 100 productions including costumes for stilt walker clowns, medieval soldiers, angelic space gods, large monsters, Victorian characters, and more. Past large-scale productions include creating costumes for Dream Circus Theatre’s 2003 tour of 35 cities with Lollapalooza.  Nagao studied at Bantan Design Fashion Institute (Tokyo) and Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (San Francisco and Los Angeles).  http://MKOCostumes.com

Dream Circus Theatre –
Dream Circus Theatre (DCT) was initially involved in the local underground scene in the mid 1990s, the first in the Los Angeles area to merge theatrical performances such as fire dancers, aerialists, performance artists, and art installations in a DJ dance party environment.  DCT is known for their innovative series of event/parties called “I Am” – costume, themed parties, which fuse all the elements mentioned above. DCT has self-produced, created and written over 100 original events and shows.

Castro, Nagao and/or Dream Circus Theatre have been featured in news and entertainment media around the world including the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, KCRW, KPFK, KROQ, KLOS, MTV, CNN, FNN, CBS-TV, Bad Boys, MTV, Rolling Stone, and Time Magazine (Asia).

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For more information, images, or to request an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Dance Camera West

For Immediate Release:  February 3, 2011

Dance Camera West Announces
10th Anniversary Dance Media Film Festival & Conference
Dance Media: An Active Spectrum
Los Angeles – June 16 – 19, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA – Dance Camera West (DCW), recognized internationally for its annual presentation and celebration of dance on screen, announces its 10th Anniversary Dance Media Film Festival & Conference.  This year’s festival, entitled Dance Media: An Active Spectrum, which will also include a conference component, takes place at several venues around Los Angeles from Thursday, June 16 to Sunday, June 19, 2011. In addition to a full program of provocative screenings, this year’s special anniversary event will also include a unique series of educational events, guest speakers, and networking opportunities for the international dance media community.  DCW once again partners with the city’s most prominent venues to offer this year’s screenings, installations, and panel discussions with visiting international artists. Please visit DCW’s website for continuous updates at www.dancecamerawest.org.

“In celebration of our decade milestone, we have added a full day conference of presenters and panels to our four day festival schedule,” says DCW Executive Director Lynette Kessler, “In addition to educating, inspiring, and empowering artists, our goal this year is to serve as a catalyst for dance media distribution opportunities while, at the same time, create greater access for new audiences.”

Dance Media: An Active Spectrum -
Dance media, or any media for that matter, has evolved beyond the traditional theater-based cinematic experience which requires today’s media makers to create work with a multitude of platforms in mind.  The “active spectrum” of opportunity today includes multi-screen installations, mobile applications, websites, online social networks, and more.  DCW’s special anniversary panel discussion program will, among other things, take a look at transmedia storytelling that offers creators an opportunity to reach fragmented audiences by adapting productions to new modes of presentation.

Poised at the intersection of dance media’s artistic, academic, and commercial pursuits, Dance Camera West is uniquely positioned to facilitate a robust discussion on the blending of art, technology, and commerce.  The anniversary project will provide a necessary forum for facilitating real-time discussions and international networking opportunities for leading artists, local audiences, and emerging practitioners through panel discussions, talkbacks featuring prominent directors and choreographers, multiple programs of experimental international short dance films, installations and documentaries with special guests.

“Dance media is a technological medium,” adds Kessler,  “Whatever hardware is used for viewing  — computer screens, handheld devices, home projectors, etc. — audiences are now in the position to demand when they want to see work, where they want to see it, and what format they want it in.  All those technological options, along with great content, need to be delivered by dance media makers.”

Dance Media -
Dance on screen, or “screendance,” is a unique cinematic experience that focuses on the intersection of cinematography and choreography. The festival includes this as well as all forms of dance media. The hybrid screendance medium is diverse, encompassing a broad range of cinematography styles, exhibition formats, and subject matter traversing global perspectives.  The festival includes everything from experimental shorts to documentaries – ranging from surreal visual abstractions to strict narratives.

Dance Camera West’s Tenth Anniversary Highlights-
Dance Media: An Active Spectrum, Dance Camera West’s Tenth Annual Dance Media Film Festival & Conference, opens at The Getty Center with a screening and special guests on Thursday, June 16, 2011. The next day, Friday, June 17, DCW will bring together artists, dancers, educators, and film/television industry professionals for a full day of panel discussions followed by an outdoor screening at a venue TBA. Panels cover the state of the art, distribution, funding, art and commerce, as well as the future of dance media.  DCW will then present two days of screenings and a director’s roundtable at the Hammer Museum’s Billy Wilder Theater on Saturday, June 18 and Sunday, June 19.

“Dance Camera West seeks to ensure that Los Angeles remains an international hub for dance media, inspiring and supporting artists and audiences from all corners of the globe,” says Kessler, “We are bringing together the best in today’s dance media to help commemorate our tenth anniversary.”

Lynette Kessler -
Dance Camera West founder and executive/artistic director Lynette Kessler is an accomplished dancer, choreographer, and media artist with an MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan and a BFA in Dance from York University in Toronto. Known for her innovative collaborations and dance work for the screen that have been shown in film festivals worldwide, Kessler has received numerous awards including a Lester Horton Dance Award, Alden B. Dow Creativity Fellowship, and an artist residency at Headlands Center for the Arts. She recently made panel presentations at IMZ Dancescreen/Cinedans in Amsterdam and at the Latin American Video Danse Forum in Brazil. She is a founding member of the international Media & Dance Network (MAD), has served on selection committees for EMPAC Commission (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center), American Choreography Awards, Dance on Camera Festival in New York, Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film in Toronto, CHIME (Choreographers in Mentorship Exchange), and is a guest lecturer at UCLA, UC Irvine, and Cal Arts. Kessler sits on the board of directors for the Buckminster Fuller Institute and the California Ear Unit. She is an active member of the advocacy groups: Arts for LA, California Arts Advocates, and Americans for the Arts. And she’s also on the Media Arts Advisory Committee to guide the new Media Arts initiative creating a fifth arts discipline for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

Dance Camera West -
Dance Camera West is a nonprofit organization committed to fostering and promoting the vibrant art of dance media from around the world. DCW connects diverse cultures and environments through its exploration of dance on screen, bringing thousands of challenging and provocative films to Los Angeles from around the globe, effectively bridging the gap between the uniquely influential Los Angeles film community and the significant local dance populace. The organization is unique in its artistic purpose, as no other organization in Los Angeles offers audience exposure to such a diverse range of work by international dance companies.  DCW also strives to create a broader and more engaged audience for dance and dance media by merging both performance and cinematic aesthetics. DCW is one of only a handful of organizations in the world that present the thought-provoking adventure of dance media and the only one of its kind on the West Coast.  Known as one of the world’s premiere presenters of dance media, Dance Camera West aspires to awaken and infuse the public mainstream with critical creative programming.  DCW has expanded the audience for dance in Southern California with the presentation of more than 2,000 dance films from 47 countries since its inception in 2002.

Annual DCW dance media events have been extremely well received by local and national media. The Los Angeles Times has twice named the festival “Best of LA.” LA Magazine selected the festival as its “Pick of the Month,” and Angeleno included the festival in its “Top Ten List” in 2010. DCW was also voted one of the “Top 25 Dance Organizations to Watch” by Dance Magazine in 2005 and 2006.  FOX News has aired three-minute features on the festival for the past three years, and Moving Pictures Magazine ran a full-page feature article with photos.  Publicity also flows from influential online outlets such as The Huffington Post, which ran a full review of the festival in June 2010, and flavorpill, which selected the festival as its “Hot Tip” of the Week for several years. Additional press coverage is available at: dancecamerawest.org/press_archives.htm

This year’s 2011 Dance Camera West anniversary event is supported in part by Mortimer Levitt Foundation, Metabolic Studio of the Annenberg Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

“Dance Camera West has had a tremendous impact during its first ten years, building audiences not only for dance media but for all dance.  Our ongoing support for artists, both locally and globally, inspires new work to be created, as artists know that Dance Camera West supplies a critically important platform for disseminating this very special art form,” says Kessler summing up the festival’s relevancy.

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For more information, press passes, photos, or to interview DCW’s founder Lynette Kessler, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Banner credits moving from left to right:

Image One
Film Title: For Water
Director: Natalie Metzger
Photographer: Robert Allaire
Choreographer: Natalie Metzger
Dancers: Lisa Long, Anne Moore, Dewi Nurnaeny, Cherise Richards, Helda Yossiana

Image Two
Film Title: Aqua-Booty
Director: Marta Renzi
Dancers: Alethea Pace, Jen Queliz, Jenny Tortorello, Tina Vasquez

Image Three
Film Title: Ecstasy Forbidden
Director: Jonny Silver
Photographer: Marlena von Kazmier
Dancers: Lucy Rupert and Danny Wild
Choreographer: Claudia Moore

Image Four
Film Title: Body of War
Director/Photographer: Isabel Rocamora,
Dancers:  James Hobson and Krysztof Szczenpanski

Bootleg Theater is excited to announce the brand new Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad – once again bringing together the award-winning creative team of Roht, John Ballinger and Ann Closs-Farley for an outrageous holiday production. Previous 99¢ Only shows have been critically acclaimed as a “bedazzlement of theater action and peanut gallery voyeurism” (LA Times) and “mix of heady surrealism, marvelously inventive choreography, unabashed camp, and delightful whimsy” (Backstage West).  Costumes, sets and moving sculptures in this progressive multimedia music event will once again incorporate traditional 99¢ Only Store fare, with the addition of recycled and sustainable materials this year. The interdisciplinary extravaganza, with a cast of 18 diverse performers, runs from December 4 to 19, 2010 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8:00pm nightly with Sunday matinees only at 3:00pm.  Performances have been extended, now running January 6 to 30, 2011 on the same schedule.

Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad
(photo credit: Ashley West Leonard)

For Immediate Release:   November 5, 2010 [updated: 12/15/10]

Bootleg Theater Presents
A Brand New Music Theater Extravaganza
Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad
Saturday, December 4 – Sunday, December 19, 2010

** NOW EXTENDED:  Thursday, January 6 – Sunday, January 30, 2011 **

LOS ANGELES, CA – Bootleg Theater is excited to announce the brand new Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad – once again bringing together the award-winning creative team of Roht, John Ballinger and Ann Closs-Farley for an outrageous holiday production. Previous 99¢ Only shows have been critically acclaimed as a “bedazzlement of theater action and peanut gallery voyeurism” (LA Times) and “mix of heady surrealism, marvelously inventive choreography, unabashed camp, and delightful whimsy” (Backstage West).  Costumes, sets and moving sculptures in this progressive multimedia music event will once again incorporate traditional 99¢ Only Store fare, with the addition of recycled and sustainable materials this year. The interdisciplinary extravaganza, with a cast of 18 diverse performers, runs from December 4 to 19, 2010 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8:00pm nightly with Sunday matinees only at 3:00pm.  Performances have been extended, now  running January 6 to 30, 2011 on the same schedule.  Doors open one hour before each show – audiences are welcome to arrive early for pre-show socializing over a beverage in Bootleg’s beer and wine bar.  General admission tickets are $25; students/seniors $18. Bootleg neighbors living in the 90057 zip code can purchase a ticket for 99¢ with proof of address (driver’s license, utility bill, etc.)  Bootleg Theater is located at 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057.  For more information please call 213-389-3856 or visit www.bootlegtheater.com.

Despite the name, Same-O is not the same-o same-o.  While this year’s whimsical spectacle still has the same type of wildly imaginative score, costumes and choreography as in years past, key differences include an overall tone that takes more chances conceptually by exploring the issue of graceful co-existence and costumes made from paper products.  “For years, the 99¢ Only shows have blithely glorified plastic and I thought we needed to do our part to promote ethical consumerism,” says Roht.

The 2010 production takes the audience on a hero’s journey with two very different young men, Eddie and Fred, who end up getting married.  While narrative elements such as this exist in the production, the work functions more as abstract art in the Surrealist tradition, or even as progressive dance theater, than traditional linear theater.  “Logic is not of paramount importance or even necessarily appreciated,” says Roht.

99¢ Only Show Timeline –
Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad is the seventh in a series of unique 99¢ Only shows that have been entertaining Los Angeles audiences since 2002.  Each show in the series has been an original story of peace, love, struggle, and acceptance wrapped up in a singing and dancing 99¢ holiday bow.
2002 – Wonderama – Roht took his 99¢ Only Store obsession public for the first time with music, puppets, and spoken-word excerpts from corporate reports in celebration of the joy and excess of American consumerism
2003 – Splendor – the story of a Golden Boy who is abducted from the Frenchies, an enigmatic tribe of warrior-clowns, by the misunderstood misfits, the Crusties
2004 – Peace Squad Goes 99 – Peace Squad, the boy band, and their mothers save the 99¢ Only Village from the misguided Hollow Mirror Man and his molls
2005 – Route 99: Orange Star Dinner Show – set in a Wyoming dinner theater, Orange Star serves up hospitality, delicious home cookin’ and western glamour made from pool toys and plastic tablecloths
2006 – Pageant of the 4 Seasons, a 99¢ Only Modern Something – “a demented blend of low-budget Ziegfeld Follies, an earth-bound Cirque du Soleil, and the kind of performance neighborhood kids put on in somebody’s garage” (LA Weekly)
2008 – Ken Roht’s 99¢ Only Calendar Girl Competition – a meditation of sorts on beauty pageants, where the audience picks the winner

The 99¢ Only Stores deep discount retail chain has generously supported each show in the series with not only product donations but also gracious cooperation and enthusiasm since the beginning of the project.

Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad
(photo credit: Ashley West Leonard)

Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad Credits –
Producers: Alicia Adams, Corbett Barklie, and Jessica Hanna for Bootleg Theater
Writer/Director: Ken Roht
Choreographer: Ken Roht
Co-Composers: John Ballinger and Ken Roht
Music, Dance, and Vocal Arrangements: John Ballinger
Music Direction: John Ballinger
Costume Designer: Ann Closs-Farley
Asst. Costume Designer: Anne Hothem
Set Designer: David Offner
Technical Director: Jon Stoner
Lighting Designer: Brandon Baruch
Stage Manager: Alyssa Escalante
Video Designer: John Flynn
Visual Artists: Doron Gazit, Clare Graham, Wen Wen Hsu, Kiff Scholl, and Penny Young
Sound Designer:  Chet Leonard

Cast: Erin Anderson, Michael Bonnabel, Sissy Boyd, Tucker Bryan, Max Faugno, Stephen Heath, Spencer Kelly, Tracey A. Leigh, Julie Marie Lewis, Daniele Manzin, Lucie McGrane, John Charles Meyer, Lori Scarlett, Lake Sharp, Raul Staggs, Daniele Watts, Jonathan CK Williams, and Silvie Zamora

Ken Roht’s Same-O, A 99¢ Only Electric Ballad
(photo credit: Christy Borgman)

Ken Roht is a Los Angeles based music, theater and video artist.  In 2010, Roht directed and choreographed The Good Soldier Schweik for Long Beach Opera, choreographed American Night featuring Culture Clash at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; fulfilled a commission by Center Theater Group to create a new holiday show using Tschaikowsky’s score to The Nutcracker; directed his first musical feature film starring Kevin Richardson, of the Backstreet Boys; choreographed for Cornerstone Theater Company, as part of a community project in Pacoima; and he wrote a one-act opera in response to Prop 8, performed at Grand Performances, with a grant from Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. He was recently awarded a Good Works Foundation grant for an upcoming musical project and will be choreographing for New York City Opera, at Lincoln Center, in the Spring 2011.  orpheancircus.com

John Ballinger, musician and award-winning sound designer/composer, has placed songs and scores in television, on film, in theater, and on CDs. Notable collaborations include Echo’s Hammer (Theatre at Boston Court) and the 99¢ Only Store holiday shows with Ken Roht, The Woman Who Forgot Her Sweater and Celebration of the Lizard with O-Lan Jones, The Joan Rivers Show (Geffen Playhouse), and playing the guitar with Christy (Chris Wells) and the NoNos. Ballinger has toured and/or recorded for Rufus Wainwright, Tracy Bonham, Pato Banton, Moira Smiley & Voco, and the national tour of Dancing with the Stars.

Ann Closs-Farley is the 2010 winner of the “Sherwood Award” presented by Center Theater Group of Los Angeles.  She teaches costume design for The Heart Project in conjunction with The LA Opera and spent the Fall in New York with the Pee Wee Herman “Live” at the Stephen Sondheim Theater on Broadway.  Her recent credits include: Disney’s Toy Story: The Musical, An Evening Without Monty Python, The Receptionist, Land of the Tigers, James and the Giant Peach, The Projectionist, Around The World in 80 Days, The Rendezvous, The Rover, Norman’s Ark, Winter Wonderettes, Evel Knievel: The Rock Opera, and Hamlet, Prince of Puddles. She earned a 2009 Ovation Award for Ken Roht’s Calendar Girl Competition, and LA Weekly and Garland awards for her work on: Batboy: The Musical, When Tigers Smoked Long Pipes, Echo’s Hammer, The Seagull, Exonerated, Mephisto, Euphoria, Plastica Fantastica, Broadway, XXX Love Act, Cinderella – Medea – Macbeth, and Ugly’s 1st World. She has also won an LADCC Award (Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle) for her work on Sneaux! and Gorey Stories: The Musical as well as a Local Hero Award from Backstage West.  She is a long-time member of the Actor’s Gang and Evidence Room theater companies.  She enjoys teaching recycled-fashion at local elementary and high schools, arts organizations, festivals and museums.  www.annclossfarley.com

Bootleg Theater is a space for art: a place where Los Angeles artists can come together and create new, exciting theatrical events.  Bootleg is dedicated to producing and presenting theater, music, dance, and film in the venue’s 10,000-square foot 1930s warehouse, located in the Rampart District just west of Downtown LA. The facility, comprised of two performance spaces and a lounge, plays an integral role in the development and advancement of Bootleg’s goals: to provide a community convening place; produce brave, boundary-pushing, artistically outstanding, and highly collaborative new work — work that is exciting to people of all ages and ethnicities; and serve as a reflection of the City we all call home.  Bootleg Theater offers special group rates for parties of 8 or more.

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For more information, photos, or to arrange an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 and lynn@greengalactic.com.

Alex Face graffiti image from Bomb It 2 (photo credit: Jon Reiss)

Jon Reiss, the director of Bomb It, the global graffiti documentary, and his team, have a lot to announce and celebrate this month.  Starting as early as today – November 1, 2010 – Bomb It can be seen in tens of millions of cable, satellite, and telco Video On Demand (VOD) homes.  In mid-November the Bomb It team will be releasing a free geo-location graffiti and street art application (app) for both iPhone and Android operating systems (tentative release date: 11/22/10).  And Bomb It 2, commissioned as a web series exclusively for the digital broadcast network Babelgum, is rolling out new weekly episodes at http://www.babelgum.com/bombit2.

For Immediate Release:
November 1, 2010

Bomb It
The Global Graffiti Documentary
Set To Introduce New iPhone and Android App
In November 2010
+ Bomb It VOD Launch This Month
+ Bomb It 2 Web Series Continues on Babelgum this Month

LOS ANGELES, CA – Jon Reiss, the director of Bomb It, the global graffiti documentary, and his team, have a lot to announce and celebrate this month.  Starting as early as today – November 1, 2010 – Bomb It can be seen in tens of millions of cable, satellite, and telco Video On Demand (VOD) homes.  In mid-November the Bomb It team will be releasing a free geo-location graffiti and street art application (app) for both iPhone and Android operating systems (tentative release date: 11/22/10).  And Bomb It 2, commissioned as a web series exclusively for the digital broadcast network Babelgum, is rolling out new weekly episodes at http://www.babelgum.com/bombit2.  Learn about these and more at http://www.bombit-themovie.com.

Bomb It’s VOD premiere goes out over 75 cable, satellite and telco operators including the following:
- Armstrong
- AT&T
- Atlantic Broadband
- Blue Ridge
- Bresnan
- Charter
- DIRECTV VOD
- DISH Network IPVOD
- Insight
- Mediacom
- RCN
- Service Electric
- Suddenlink
- Verizon
- Wave

Click on Alex Face graffiti image (above) to see Bomb It 2‘s Bangkok episode
on Babelgum (photo credit: Jon Reiss)

The FREE Bomb It geo-location graffiti and street art app will work on both iPhone and Android operating systems when it’s released later this month (11/22/10 tentative but visit the Bomb It site for updates).  This app will allow users to take photos of graffiti and street art in any city in the world and upload images to Google maps.  Simultaneously – anyone in any city will be able to press a button to see on Google maps where others have posted exciting street art. Award-winning director Jon Reiss, named one of Daily Variety’s “10 Digital Directors to Watch,” views this as a natural extension of the Bomb It project – “We are connected with artists and fans throughout the world – how wonderful would it be to have a tool in which they could share a love for this art form with each other.”  The app will also come loaded with Bomb It episodes.

In addition to the VOD launch and upcoming iPhone/Android app, Bomb It 2 launched on Babelgum in October 2010.  Bomb It 2 was commissioned as a web series exclusively for the digital broadcast network Babelgum and expands the global reach of Jon Reiss’ exploration of graffiti and street art into new and unexplored areas of Asia and South East Asia, the Middle East as well as Europe, the United States and Australia.  Reiss traveled by himself to Bangkok, Jakarta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, Palestinian refugee camps on the West Bank, Perth, Melbourne, Copenhagen, Chicago and Austin.  Artists featured include Klone, KnowHope, GreatBates, Zero, Darbotz, Killer Gerbil, Bon, Alex Face, Sloke, Husk Mit Navn, Ash, Phibs, Stormie Mills, Beejoir and many more.

“I was inspired to explore how and where graffiti and street art had penetrated the globe into some of the most unlikely places – such as Singapore.    I am especially fascinated in how each culture (and each person) takes this art form and makes it their own – and how the local culture affects the development of graffiti in each place that I visited. Tel Aviv and the refugee camps of Bethlehem couldn’t be more different.  The former is on the verge of a street art explosion similar to Barcelona in the early 90s.  In the West Bank, graffiti is much more about a political statement and “art” is often viewed as reconciliation.  At the same time it was interesting to see how some of the constants of graffiti exist nearly everywhere – from Perth to Copenhagen: the need to express oneself in public – and the addictive nature of getting up!”

Read more about the making of the Bomb It 2 web series here: http://blog.bombit-themovie.com/2010/10/loving-the-webseries-form

About Babelgum:
Founded in 2005, Babelgum is a free, revolutionary Internet and Mobile TV platform supported by advertising.  Babelgum combines the full-screen video quality of traditional television with the interactive capabilities of the Internet and offers professionally produced programming on-demand to a global audience.  Babelgum’s goal is to act as an international ‘glue,’ bringing a huge range of professional and semi-professional content to a global audience – like a modern-day Tower of Babel.  Bomb It 2 is the latest evidence of Babelgum’s growing involvement with street art culture, both in terms of its extensive collection of street art feature films and videos and its involvement with events such as the international Meeting of Styles and the recently launched Moniker Art Fair.

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For more information, images or to request interviews please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

BACKGROUNDER

Synopsis:
Award-winning film Bouncing Cats is the inspiring documentary of one man’s attempt to create a better life for the children of Uganda through the unlikely tools of hip hop and breakdance. Narrated by Common and featuring interviews with Will.I.Am, and K’Naan, the story follows the legendary Crazy Legs of the Rock Steady Crew and b-boy Abramz, the founder of Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU), on a journey to unify, empower and inspire youth in the war torn country that has been called one of the worst places on earth to be a child.*  Poverty, disease, and a brutal, mindless war in the region have divided families, displaced millions and led to the abduction and mutilation of tens of thousands of children resulting in the deterioration of identity and culture.

In response to these tragic circumstances, Abraham “Abramz” Tekya, a Ugandan b-boy and AIDS orphan, started Breakdance Project Uganda to create much needed positive social change in the region. His dream was to establish a free workshop that would empower, rehabilitate, and heal the community by teaching youth about b-boy culture. Crazy Legs, one of the founding members of the world famous Rock Steady Crew, visited Uganda after receiving an invitation from Abramz to teach b-boy classes. What he discovered upon his arrival was both heartbreaking and inspiring. Traveling throughout Uganda, from the southern slums to the war-torn north, Crazy Legs encountered a passion for hip hop and desire to learn amongst youth living in the most squalid conditions.

After only a few short months on the festival circuit, the film by director Nabil Elderkin has already won “Best Documentary Feature Film” at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York; “Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking” at the Newport Beach Film Festival; and “Audience Favorite Award” at DocUtah – Southern Utah International Documentary Film Festival.

*Source:  Former UNICEF head Carol Bellamy has called northern Uganda “pretty much the worst place on earth to be a child.” Over 20,000 children – some as young as six years old – have been abducted by the rebel-led Lords Resistance Army (LRA), forced to serve as child soldiers, sex slaves, and laborers. http://www.warchild.org/projects/WC_Canada/Uganda/uganda.html

Breakdance Project Uganda:
Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU) started in February 2006 by Abramz out of his belief that hip hop can be used as a tool to engage and empower disadvantaged youth. Its mission is to involve young people in hip hop culture in order to build leadership skills and promote social responsibility for positive change. The Project has attracted people from every walk of life and acts as a catalyst for building mutually beneficial relationships between people of different social strata across Uganda and the rest of the world. From the initial three students who turned up at the first session, the Project has grown through word of mouth, regular showcase performances, and exposure on the World Wide Web to become a thriving organization with over 1,000 members nationally in Uganda and many more supporters around the world.

Abramz organizes breakdancing sessions each week for hundreds of youth in different parts of the country. The Project has been built around free breakdancing classes which are currently offered at the Sharing Youth Centre, Kampala, Gulu Youth Centre and TAKS Art Centre in Gulu. The classes are sustained by members freely passing on their skills to new members, following the BPU ideology that everyone is a student and everyone is a teacher with something positive to give. Members have also made outreach visits to towns in other parts of Eastern and Northern Uganda to share their skills and engage more youth across Uganda. Many of the participating children are extremely vulnerable with members who are orphans, victims of war and poverty, unable to afford proper schooling.  Despite the hardships, children walk from miles away to attend the BPU classes each week. As Abramz says, “This is where many people’s pride is. It’s a skill that no one can take away from us.”

BPU supports formal and non-formal education opportunities by advocating the importance of education and partnering with organizations to increase members’ access to educational services such as life skills workshops, media and skills training, voluntary counseling and testing, and advocacy training. Through the sale of BPU t-shirts, the Project also sponsors schools fees for vulnerable members.

BPU aims to:
• Bridge the gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged while uniting people of different religious, tribal and social backgrounds
• Promote positive social responsibility
• Build leadership skills and self-esteem
• Increase access to formal and informal education
• Generate employment opportunities through private teaching and performances
• Connect local and international artists

Over the past four years, BPU has partnered with local and international organizations including: Oxfam, MS Uganda, In Movement, People Concern Children’s Project, Danish Centre for Cultural Development, H.E.A.L.S. (Gulu), Global Youth Partnership for Africa, the Embassy of France in Uganda, Uganda FDNC, and USAID/NUTI, Straight Talk Foundation (STF), and has carried out activities in orphanages, juvenile prisons, local and international schools, and youth and community centers.

Call to Action:
For those interested in supporting the work of BPU, donations can be made through the organization’s fiscal sponsor The Voice Project via the Bouncing Cats site at http://www.bouncingcats.com/donate. Donations are 100% tax deductible.  Proceeds go directly to Breakdance Project Uganda to continue its mission to empower and positively inspire youth through hip hop. Abramz also hopes to one day build a permanent center for BPU.

With a donation of $15 or more to BPU, contributors receive a limited edition Bouncing Cats t-shirt while supplies last. The t-shirts are made by Edun, the non-profit fashion brand founded by Ali Hewson and Bono, using 100% African cotton grown by farmers of the Conservation Cotton Initiative (CCI) in Northern Uganda. The CCI was created by Edun, the Wildlife Conservation Society and Invisible Children to build sustainable farming communities and provide a fair trade market for their cotton. The CCI Uganda Program is based in the Gulu District, an area recovering from the civil war. The CCI Initiative assists farmers who are returning to their land by providing funding, tools, and training to grow a sustainable cotton business.

Uganda:
According to the World Bank, more than 30% of the population in Uganda lives below the poverty line. Uganda is a rapidly growing nation with a very young population (Source: UNGASS). An estimated 49% of people in Uganda are under the age of 14 (Source: Population Reference Bureau). After the introduction of Universal Primary Education in Uganda in 1997, primary school enrollment increased to 82% but less than 20% of young people go on to complete further education (Source: Population Reference Bureau). Development in Uganda has been greatly hampered by more than two decades of conflict between the government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the North and, as a result, the opportunities available to young people are extremely limited. Unemployment levels for young people between the ages of 14 and 24 are estimated to be at 83% (Source: ADI Report 2008/2009).

However, there is hope for young people in Uganda as the country gets closer to reaching its Millennium Development Goals. Since 1992, the number of people living in poverty has substantially decreased by more than 25% according to the 2007 UNDP Uganda Progress Report. Gender equality has been steadily improving with more than 2 million additional girls enrolling in primary school each year. Indicators show that HIV/AIDS prevalence has stabilized at 6.4%. Overall, there is growing optimism across Uganda that things will continue to improve and peace will remain.

Bouncing Cats Cast:
Abraham “Abramz” Tekya:
Abraham Tekya, commonly known as “Abramz,” is the director and founder of Breakdance Project Uganda, an organization launched in February 2006 that uses breakdance and other elements of hip hop culture to promote positive change and social responsibility. A native of Mengo, Kampala, Uganda, Abramz grew up quickly, as most children in Uganda are forced to. At the age of seven, he lost both of his parents to AIDS and was orphaned, shuffled between distant relatives and different homes. Despite these circumstances, Abramz used his life experience and love of hip hop to educate, inspire and unite youth in Uganda and beyond.

Richard “Crazy Legs” Colòn:
To call Richard “Crazy Legs” Colòn a pioneer is an understatement. It is nearly impossible to have a conversation about b-boying without giving mention to the legendary Crazy Legs. Not only is he a veteran of hip hop as a culture, boasting more than 3 decades as the driving force behind the hip hop dance movement, but he’s also an outstanding citizen and role model. He has lent his time, experience, and influence to aiding and encouraging the positive advancement of hip hop culture. Among his many achievements, he is credited with the creation of the classic b-boy move called the continuous backspin or “windmill.”

Jolly Grace Okot:
Jolly Grace Okot, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, was among the first wave of children abducted and forced to be a child soldier in the beginning of Uganda’s civil war.  She is the Uganda Country director for Invisible Children (IC) and has been involved with the organization since the beginning. Her guidance enabled Bouncing Cats‘ filmmakers to see and understand the plight of children in Northern Uganda, and her leadership and direction helped create IC’s initiatives on the ground. Okot also runs H.E.A.L.S., a program that provides play therapy for war-affected children.

Kibuka Mukisa Oscar:
Kibuka Mukisa Oscar, who joined BPU in 2006 and regularly attends weekly Sharing Youth Centre sessions, recently finished secondary school. He dreams of working in the visual arts.

Shadia Aghamu:
Aghamu Shadia was born into a family of 13 children. She dreams of going to a good business school, earning enough money to support her family, and hopes to buy a bus for BPU one day.

Alfred Otim:
Alfred Otim, currently studying at Gulu College, hopes to go to University to become an engineer. He intends to earn money for University by teaching and performing.

Claire Lewis:
Claire Lewis, a 20-year Oxfam veteran, has been based in Africa for the past four years. During a fateful trip to Los Angeles, she met director Elderkin and the two discussed hip hop, which included Lewis mentioning Abramz’ inspirational work in Uganda. After the meeting, Lewis casually suggested Elderkin drop by to see Kampala one day…

Ynot:
Ynot started dancing at the age of 17 and was mainly influenced by James Brown. He is a member of the legendary Rock Steady Crew. He enjoys traveling and teaching workshops across the US and the world.

Ervin Arana:
DJ, photographer and respected b-boy Ervin Arana is a member of the Rock Steady Crew. He has appeared in numerous music videos and shares his knowledge of dance through lectures and workshops.

Additional details on cast members are available at http://www.bouncingcats.com/cast/

Additional Credits & Film Details:
Bouncing Cats was produced by Red Bull Media House and directed by Nabil Elderkin. All proceeds from the film are going to Breakdance Project Uganda.

Nabil Elderkin, Director:
Bouncing Cats Director Nabil Elderkin, originally a native of Australia, began his photography career when he picked up a camera to shoot portraits of fellow surfers. What started as a hobby, rapidly developed into a working career. From surf portraits, Elderkin began shooting musicians and anyone that inspired him. He later moved to the United States to continue to expand his career. Today, Elderkin lives and works in Los Angeles at his studio downtown. He shoots musicians, sports, fashion, and portraiture. Elderkin has recently published a book titled Glow in the Dark with Kanye West through Rizzoli and has directed several music videos and documentaries from here to Africa. Traveling is his passion. He created the film in order to bring attention to the situation in Uganda as well as support the inspiring work Abramz is doing through BPU.

Executive Producers: Amy Taylor, Scott Bradfield, Karma Gardner, Charlie Rosene

Producers: Nyla Hassell, George Mays, Claude Merkel, Charles Spano

Film Editing: Isaac Hagy

Sound Editor: Andrew Le Guier

Genre: Documentary / Music

Runtime: 75 minutes

Country: USA

Language: English

Color: Color

Filming Locations: Uganda, USA

Festival Tour & Special Engagements:
Bouncing Cats is screening on the festival circuit and at special engagements across the US. Key screenings include:

- Apr. 17 – Newport Beach Film Festival – Newport Beach, CA
- Aug. 21 – DocuFest Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival – Atlanta, GA
- Sep. 17, 18 – Urbanworld Film Festival – New York, NY
- Sep. 17-19 – DocUtah – Southern Utah Int’l Documentary Film Festival – St. George, UT
- Sep. 22 – Manifesto Film Fest – Toronto, ON
- Sep. 23 – Montreal International Black Film Festival – Montreal, QC
- Oct. 8-10 – BendFilm – Bend, OR
- Oct. 16, 17, 19, 22 – Heartland Truly Moving Pictures – Indianapolis, IN
- Oct. 18, 24 – Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival – Hot Springs National Park, AR
- Oct. 30 – MoogFest – Asheville, NC
- Nov. 3 – USC Albert & Dana Broccoli Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
- Nov. 4, 7 – American Film Market (AFM) – Santa Monica, CA
- Nov. 7 – Hartford International Film Festival – Hartford, CT
- Nov. 9 – National Geographic LIVE! – Washington DC
- Nov. 11 – Rice University – Houston, TX
- Nov. 16 – Downtown Independent – Los Angeles, CA
- Nov. 19 – Arizona State University – Tempe, AZ
- Nov. 20 – Decatur High School Performing Arts Center – Atlanta, GA
- Dec. 4 – Northwestern University McCormick Tribune Theater - Evanston, IL
- Dec. 5 – Bahamas International Film Festival - Nassau, Bahamas
- Dec. 16 – NYU – New York, NY

Please visit the Bouncing Cats site for additional screening announcements at http://www.bouncingcats.com/screenings/.

Awards:
Newport Film Festival “Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking”
Urbanworld Film Festival “Best Documentary Feature Film”
DocUtah – Southern Utah International Documentary Film Festival “Audience Favorite Award”
Bahamas International Film Festival Audience Award for “Best Feature Documentary”

Distribution:
Bouncing Cats distribution is open to negotiations.  For distribution related inquiries, please contact Nyla Hassell at nyla.hassell@us.redbull.com.

Bouncing Cats Links:
- Official Web Site: http://www.bouncingcats.com
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bouncingcats
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/bouncingcats
- Video Trailer: http://vimeo.com/12234800

Publicity Contact:
For more information, or to request screeners, images, and interviews, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Click to watch the Bouncing Cats trailer.

(Updated 12/02/10)

image from "North Horizon" by Thomas Freundlich and Valterri Raekallio

Dance Camera West (DCW), recognized internationally for its month-long presentation and celebration of dance on screen, announces the programming for its ninth annual Dance Media Film Festival screening at venues throughout Southern California in June 2010.  Dance on screen, or “screendance,” is a unique cinematic experience that focuses on the intersection of cinematography and choreography.  The festival includes this as well as all forms of dance media.  “The hybrid screendance medium is diverse, encompassing a broad range of cinematic styles, exhibition formats, and subject matters traversing global perspectives,” says Dance Camera West founder and director, Lynette Kessler… For Immediate Release:  April 26, 2010 [revised 05/26/10]

Dance Camera West
Announces Program Schedule For
Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival
Throughout Los Angeles – June 2010
–
REDCAT, Downtown Art Walk, Hammer Museum, Screen Actors Guild,
Cheviot Hills Recreation Center, Timothy Yarger Fine Art, Grand Performances

LOS ANGELES, CA – Dance Camera West (DCW), recognized internationally for its month-long presentation and celebration of dance on screen, announces the programming for its ninth annual Dance Media Film Festival screening at venues throughout Southern California in June 2010.  Dance on screen, or “screendance,” is a unique cinematic experience that focuses on the intersection of cinematography and choreography.  The festival includes this as well as all forms of dance media.  “The hybrid screendance medium is diverse, encompassing a broad range of cinematic styles, exhibition formats, and subject matters traversing global perspectives,” says Dance Camera West founder and director, Lynette Kessler, “The festival includes everything from experimental shorts to documentaries – ranging from surreal visual abstractions to strict narratives.”  Once again DCW partners with the city’s most prominent venues in offering a host of screenings, installations, and panel discussions with visiting international artists. Please visit DCW’s website for continuous updates at www.dancecamerawest.org.

Dance Camera West’s ninth annual Dance Media Film Festival opens at REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) in downtown LA, with its celebrated opening night party on Friday, June 4, 2010.  The opening weekend, entitled “Dance Media Screen Innovations,” will captivate audiences on Friday and Saturday night with three separate programs of screendance short films from around the world.  On Thursday, June 10th look for a DCW media installation as part of the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.  The following weekend DCW will present two days of programming at the Hammer Museum’s Billy Wilder Theatre – “Weekend at the Hammer” – which will feature iconic Pina Bausch films on Saturday, June 12^th (three West Coast films premieres in two programs: Pina Bausch [2006], and A Breath with Pina Bausch [2004] at 4:30pm and then at 7:00pm Dancing Dreams [2010]), and on Sunday, June 13th experience “SurREEL Moves: Weird & Wonderful Experimental Dance Shorts.”  Join industry insiders at the 4th installment of the Choreography Media Honors on Wednesday June 16th at the Screen Actors Guild for “Choreographers In Media: A Panel Discussion.”  On the evening of June 19th, DCW showcases work from Los Angeles-based creators in its “Local Makers” program with an entertaining outdoor, community event at the Cheviot Hills Recreation Center.  The final weekend wraps up with “Movement Media Installations” on Saturday June 26th, a closing reception in Beverly Hills at Timothy Yarger Fine Arts.  Then on Sunday evening DCW presents Dzi Croquettes, a lively Brazilian documentary at Grand Performances.

Known as one of the world’s premiere presenters of dance media, Dance Camera West aspires to awaken and infuse the public mainstream with critical creative programming.  DCW has expanded the audience for dance in Southern California with the presentation of more than 1,000 dance films from 45 countries since its inception in 2002.  The West African country Burkina Faso was added this year.

“Dance media is pushing art in a new direction as choreographers and directors continue to fuel innovation and impact the way we perceive art and life,” says Kessler.

Dance Camera West founder and executive/artistic director Lynette Kessler is an accomplished dancer, choreographer, and media artist with an MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan and a BFA in Dance from York University in Toronto.  Known for her innovative collaborations and dance work for the screen that have been shown in film festivals worldwide, Kessler has received numerous awards including a Lester Horton Dance Award, Alden B. Dow Creativity Fellowship, and an artist residency at Headlands Center for the Arts. She is a founding member of Media & Dance Network (MAD), has served on dance film review committees for EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center) Commission, American Choreography Awards, Dance on Camera Festival in New York, Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film in Toronto, and is a guest lecturer at UCLA, UC Irvine, and Cal Arts.  Kessler sits on the board of directors for the following organizations: Buckminster Fuller Institute, Dance Channel TV, and the California Ear Unit.  She is an active member of the advocacy groups: Arts for LA, California Arts Advocates, and Americans for the Arts. And she’s also on the Media Arts Advisory Committee to guide the new Media Arts initiative creating a fifth arts discipline for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

Dance Camera West is a nonprofit organization committed to fostering and promoting the vibrant art of dance media from around the world.  DCW aims to bridge the unique mix of film and dance communities in Los Angeles through the exploration of this hybrid genre.  DCW also strives to create a broader and more engaged audience for dance and dance media by merging both performance and cinematic aesthetics.  DCW is one of only a handful of organizations in the world that present dance media and the only one of its kind on the West Coast.  The 2008 and 2009 festivals were featured in FOX News segments, Los Angeles Magazine selected Dance Camera West as its “Pick of the Month” for the June 2008 issue, the Los Angeles Times selected the Dance Camera West Media Film Festival as one of the “Ten Best” dance events in Los Angeles for 2006 and 2007, and DCW was voted one of the “Top 25 Dance Organizations to Watch” by Dance Magazine in 2005 and 2006.

In addition to the planning of the upcoming June 2010 festival, Dance Camera West is also preparing a special 10-year anniversary event for 2011.  In celebration of this milestone, the organization will host an international Dance Media Symposium in downtown Los Angeles next year, bringing together artists, dancers, educators, and film/television industry professionals.  With a working title of Dance Media: The Active Spectrum, 2011 conference participants from the dance and media worlds will come together for a conversation on the exciting opportunities for expansive growth, creative expression, and innovation offered by new media. In addition to a full program of evening screenings, the 2011 anniversary event will also include a unique series of daytime panel presentations, guest speakers, and networking opportunities. A steering committee for the conference is being formed with notable artists and leaders from the international dance media community.

This year’s 2010 Dance Camera West festival is supported in part by Mortimer Levitt Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, Chora, a project of the Metabolic Studio, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

See below for DCW’s June 2010 Festival Schedule:

➢    Fri. June 4 [8:00pm] and Sat. June 5 [6:00pm & 8:00pm] at REDCAT [downtown LA]
“Dance Media Screen Innovations” (contains adult content)

Opening night screening and party on Friday followed by two different screening programs on Saturday. In three unique experimental shorts screening programs, held during the first two days of the festival, this collection of innovative dance films represents a survey of what’s happening in the current state of screen dance from around the world, which explores the intersection between movement and cinema.  The “Dance Media Screen Innovations” program includes 24 films – three of which are world premieres, the other 21 are all West Coast premieres and most are U.S. premieres – from 14 different countries including France, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, China, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Belgium, USA, Canada, Ireland and Brazil.  Audiences should be warned that some films contain adult content.
- Fri. June 4 – 8:00pm – Screening followed by Opening Night Reception
- Sat. June 5 – 6:00pm – Screening
- Sat. June 5 – 8:00pm – Screening (all three screenings different)

REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) in Walt Disney Concert Hall complex
631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213 237-2800; www.redcat.org)
- Tickets $15 opening night, $10 for other screenings
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➢    Thu. June 10 [5:00 – 9:00pm] [downtown LA]
DCW Installation at Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk

DCW will take part in the increasingly popular Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk. DCW presents the media installation “Body/Traces,” a commission from EMPAC (Jaffe Foundation Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center), in the basement of the Los Angeles Theater Center (LATC).  The LATC is an historical building, formerly Security National Bank dating from 1916, whose marble walls enclose the Center’s Grand Lobby.  The installation will be in the former vault!

“Body/Traces” by Lisa Parra and Sophie Kahn
“Body/Traces” is a fascinating media installation that examines the body by reducing it to lines through the interaction of three-dimensional media, movement, sound and the environment.  The tranquil piece about perception presents an interesting juxtaposition as it exerts itself within the context of the legendary art walk masses.

The Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk is a free, self-guided tour of the many art exhibition venues in Downtown LA.  It takes place on the 2nd Thursday of every month.  It began in September 2004 and has grown enormously since, with many thousands of people attending every month (50,000 in March 2010).  More than 40 galleries and museums participate throughout the central downtown area, within the walkable districts between the Grand Avenue/Disney Hall/MOCA area, Little Tokyo, and the Financial District, centered around Gallery Row on Main and Spring Streets in the Historic Core.

Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk – www.downtownartwalk.org
Los Angeles Theatre Center
514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013 (213-489-0994; http://thelatc.org)
- FREE admission, no reservations required

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➢    Sat. June 12 [7:00pm] and Sun. June 13 [2:00pm & 6:00pm] at the Hammer Museum [Westwood]
“Weekend at the Hammer” – three programs over two days at the Hammer

- Saturday – “Pina Bausch Celebration”
Pina Bausch, a master of transformative theater, surreal stagings and an incomparable brand of neo-expressionist dance, was one of the greatest dance artists of the last 40 years. Join us for a celebration with three West Coast film premieres taking an in-depth look at the work and life of Pina Bausch.  Co-presented by the Goethe Institute.
- Sunday – “SurREEL Moves: Weird & Wonderful Experimental Dance Shorts”

Saturday – 4:30pm -
Pina Bausch (Germany, 2006, 45 min.)
From confused and irritated audiences to standing ovations worldwide, Pina Bausch shares stories of her journey in this documentary starting with forming her company Tanztheather Wuppertal in the early 1970’s to creating over 30 astonishing works. Directed by Anne Linsel.  Co-presented by the Goethe Institute.

A Breath with Pina Bausch (Turkey, 2004, 45 min.)
Award-winning director Huseyin Karabey‘s high-caliber documentary provides unprecedented access into the creative process of one of modern dance’s most compelling minds. A Breath with Pina Bausch was inspired by the city of Istanbul, the cosmopolitan center that the Byzantine, Roman and the Ottoman Empires all called home.

Saturday – 7:00pm -
Dancing Dreams (Germany, 2010, 89 min.)
The documentary centers around a group of high school students rehearsing for a performance of one of Pina Bausch’s signature pieces, “Kontakthof” (Comfort Zone), a stylized presentation of the entanglements of the sexes. Directed by Anne Linsel.  Co-presented by the Goethe Institute.

Sunday – 7:00pm -
“SurREEL Moves: Weird & Wonderful Experimental Dance Shorts” (85 min.)
From poetic to peculiar, this collection of recent award-winning international dance shorts presents both kinetic and immobile bodies in space, defying traditional notions of dance. Sushi, reindeer, and a bright pink wig triumph in this program of smart, cool and LOL dance media.

Hammer Museum – Billy Wilder Theater
10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024 (310-443-7000; www.hammer.ucla.edu)
- FREE admission, no reservations required; seating is first come first served
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➢    Wed. June 16 [7:00pm - 9:00pm] at Screen Actors Guild [Mid-Wilshire]
Choreographers In Media: A Panel Discussion
Presented by Dance Camera West and held in association with Screen Actors Guild and Career Transitions for Dancers

This years Choreography Media Honors will be presented as a panel discussion featuring today’s working choreographers. Dance makers continue to create iconic moments that shape film history for audiences all over the world.  The panel will discuss how they create work for the camera and the role they play at the intersection of dance on screen.

Panelist’s include:
Chuck Maldonado is an award-winning choreographer and performer whose credits include Stomp The Yard (1 & 2), You Got Served, Dancing With the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew, an Apple iPod commercial, and the 1996 Olympic Opening Ceremonies.   He has worked with many top artists including P. Diddy, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo, Fergie, Missy Elliott, Kanye West, Usher, and Pink.

Kim Blank appeared in seminal ’80s music videos such as Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” Lionel Richie’s “Dancin On The Ceiling,” and Steve Winwood’s “Roll With It.” As a choreographer, she earned an Emmy nomination for her work on Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, starring Halle Berry, and she created dances for Madonna, Keri Russell, Walter Matthau, and Raven Simone.  Credits include Frankie & Alice, Ray, Evita, The Mambo Kings, and That’s So Raven.

Award-winning choreographer Lula Washington is the founder and artistic director of the Lula Washington Dance Theater, a modern dance company founded in 1980 in South Central Los Angeles. Her work on the 2009 blockbuster Avatar with filmmaker James Cameron brought acrobatic life to the avatars on screen.  She also coined the wildly popular Avator line: “eye see you.”  Washington’s dancers have performed at both the Lincoln and Kennedy Centers and she has received the prestigious Minerva Award for Women’s Achievement in California.

This is the fourth installment of the Choreography Media Honors.  All are welcome – dancers, choreographers, industry leaders, and dance aficionados – to celebrate and strengthen LA’s dance community.
-  Moderated by Larry Billman
-  The panel will be followed by a reception.

Screen Actors Guild – James Cagney Room
5757 Wilshire Blvd., 7th Fl, Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323-954-1600, www.sag.org)
- FREE admission, no reservations required
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➢    Sat. June 19 [8:00 – 10:00pm] at Cheviot Hills Recreation Center [West LA]
“Local Makers – LA Choreographers and Directors” – Outdoor Screening

DCW will host over 25 local makers of media and dance in an outdoor screening event in the park behind the Cheviot Hills Recreation Center.  The landscape will be transformed into a cinematic cross-cultural display with five different screening areas.  Each screening area will run the gamut of local talent from established artists such as Mitchell Rose, Morleigh Steinberg, Roberta Shaw, and Cari Ann ShimSham to emerging artists and students from LAUSD middle and high schools.  For this family-friendly evening please bring a flashlight and a blanket, and join in the fun under the stars.

Cheviot Hills Recreation Center
2551 Motor Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90064 (310-837-4233)
- FREE admission, no reservations required
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➢    Sat. June 26 [7:30pm-9:00pm] at Timothy Yarger Fine Art [Beverly Hills]
Movement Media Installations

Timothy Yarger Fine Art of Beverly Hills will host DCW’s closing weekend reception. Join DCW for a collection of select media installations with an emphasis of body and movement.

An internationally recognized art gallery exhibiting modern and contemporary art, Timothy Yarger Fine Art is grounded in the historic artwork of the Modern Masters and pop icons of the 20th Century, alongside established contemporary painters, printmakers, photographers, and new-media artists.

Timothy Yarger Fine Art
354 N Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 (310-278-4400; www.yargerfineart.com)
-  6:00pm – open to VIP and DCW members
-  7:30pm – 9:00pm – open to the public
-  FREE admission, reservations ARE required
-  Please RSVP: 310-278-4400 or info@yargerfineart.com
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➢    Sun. June 27 [8:00pm] at Grand Performances in California Plaza [downtown LA]
Dzi Croquettes (adult content)

Dzi Croquettes is a revealing Brazilian documentary that explores the legacy of the daringly original, all-male dance and theater group by the same name resembling a late-20th-century version of the Ziegfeld Follies.  The cabaret group – Dzi Croquettes – used an empowering sexuality to counter Brazil’s military dictatorship and revolutionize the gay movement worldwide during the 1970’s.  The documentary is Tatiana Issa and Raphael Alvarez‘s pleasure-packed exploration of the group’s impact, using a multitude of talking heads and period footage to chronicle the troupe’s seminal influence on their time and today’s culture.
-  Best Documentary Jury Award and Audience Award Rio de Janeiro Film Festival
-  Portuguese with English subtitles
-  Brazil 2009, 95 minutes
-  Co-director Raphael Alvarez will be in town to introduce the film

Grand Performances at California Plaza
300 – 350 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90013 (213-687-2190; www.grandperformances.org)
- FREE admission, no reservations required
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Please visit DCW’s website for continuous updates regarding Dance Camera West’s ninth annual Dance Media Film Festival – www.dancecamerawest.org.

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For more information, press passes, photos, or to interview DCW’s founder Lynette Kessler, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Hasty at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

"Eyes Nose Mouth" - photo credit: Noemie Lafrance

Dance Camera West (DCW), recognized internationally for its month-long presentation and celebration of dance on screen, announces its Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival screening at venues throughout Southern California in June 2010. Dance on screen, or screendance, is a unique cinematic experience that focuses on the intersection of cinematography and choreography. The festival includes screendance as well as all forms of dance media. “The hybrid screendance medium is diverse, encompassing a broad range of cinematography styles, exhibition formats, and subject matter traversing global perspectives,” says Dance Camera West founder and director, Lynette Kessler… For Immediate Release: January 27, 2010

Dance Camera West
Announces Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival
Throughout Los Angeles – June 2010

LOS ANGELES, CA – Dance Camera West (DCW), recognized internationally for its month-long presentation and celebration of dance on screen, announces its Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival screening at venues throughout Southern California in June 2010. Dance on screen, or screendance, is a unique cinematic experience that focuses on the intersection of cinematography and choreography. The festival includes screendance as well as all forms of dance media. “The hybrid screendance medium is diverse, encompassing a broad range of cinematography styles, exhibition formats, and subject matter traversing global perspectives,” says Dance Camera West founder and director, Lynette Kessler, “The festival includes everything from experimental shorts to documentaries – ranging from surreal visual abstractions to strict narratives.” Once again DCW partners with the city’s most prominent venues in offering a host of screenings, installations, and panel discussions with visiting international artists. Please visit DCW’s website for continuous updates at www.dancecamerawest.org. See below for a preliminary schedule of events.

Dance Camera West’s Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival opens at the REDCAT Theater in downtown LA, with its celebrated opening night party on Friday, June 4, 2010. The opening weekend program, “ScreenDance: A New Visual Language,” will captivate audiences on Friday and Saturday night with three separate presentations of short films from around the world. The following weekend, DCW will present two days of programming at the Hammer Museum’s Billy Wilder Theatre on Saturday, June 12 and Sunday, June 13 (program TBD). On the evening of June 19th, DCW showcases work from Los Angeles-based creators in its “Local Makers” program with an entertaining outdoor, community event at the Cheviot Hills Recreation Center. For the first time, DCW’s “Local Makers” program will include student work. Look also for events in collaboration with the Goethe Institute, Los Angeles Film Festival, and American Cinematheque.

Known as one of the world’s premiere presenters of dance media, Dance Camera West aspires to awaken and infuse the public mainstream with critical creative programming. DCW has expanded the audience for dance in Southern California with the presentation of more than 1,000 dance films from 43 countries since its inception in 2002.

“Dance media is pushing art in a new direction,” says Kessler, “as choreographers and directors continue to stretch our imagination and change the way we think about dance.”

Dance Camera West founder and executive/artistic director Lynette Kessler is an accomplished dancer, choreographer, and media artist with an MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan and a BFA in Dance from York University in Toronto. Known for her innovative collaborations and dance work for the screen that have been shown in film festivals worldwide, Kessler has received numerous awards including a Lester Horton Dance Award, Alden B. Dow Creativity Fellowship, and an artist residency at Headlands Center for the Arts. She is a founding member of Media & Dance Network (MAD), has served on dance film review committees for EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center), American Choreography Awards, Dance on Camera Festival in New York, Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film in Toronto, and is a guest lecturer at UCLA, UC Irvine, and Cal Arts. Kessler sits on the board of directors for the following organizations: Buckminster Fuller Institute, Dance Channel TV, and the California Ear Unit. She is an active member of the advocacy groups: Arts for LA, California Arts Advocates, and Americans for the Arts. And she’s also on the Media Arts Advisory Committee to guide the new Media Arts initiative creating a fifth arts discipline for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

Dance Camera West is a nonprofit organization committed to fostering and promoting the vibrant art of dance media from around the world. DCW aims to bridge the unique mix of film and dance communities in Los Angeles through the exploration of this hybrid genre. DCW also strives to create a broader and more engaged audience for dance and dance media by merging both performance and cinematic aesthetics. DCW is one of only a handful of organizations in the world that present dance media and the only one of its kind on the West Coast. The 2008 and 2009 festivals were featured in FOX News segments, Los Angeles Magazine selected Dance Camera West as its “Pick of the Month” for the June 2008 issue, the Los Angeles Times selected the Dance Camera West Dance Media Film Festival as one of the “Ten Best” dance events in Los Angeles for 2006 and 2007, and DCW was voted one of the “Top 25 Dance Organizations to Watch” by Dance Magazine in 2005 and 2006.

In addition to the planning of the upcoming June 2010 festival, Dance Camera West is also preparing a special 10-year anniversary event for 2011. In celebration of this milestone, the organization will host an international Dance Media Symposium in downtown Los Angeles, bringing together artists, dancers, educators, and film/television industry professionals. With a working title of Dance Media: The Active Spectrum, conference participants from the dance and media worlds will come together for a conversation on the exciting opportunities for expansive growth, creative expression, and innovation offered by new media. In addition to a full program of evening screenings, the 2011 anniversary event will also include a unique series of daytime panel presentations, guest speakers, and networking opportunities. A steering committee for the conference is being formed with notable artists and leaders from the international dance media community.

This year’s 2010 Dance Camera West festival is supported in part by Mortimer Levitt Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

See below for DCW’s June 2010 Festival Schedule as of 1/27/10:

➢ Fri. June 4 [8:00pm] and Sat. June 5 [6:00pm & 8:00pm] at REDCAT [downtown LA]
“Screendance: A New Visual Language” (contains adult content) – Opening Night Friday!
Opening night screening and party on Friday followed by two different screening programs on Saturday. In three unique screenings over two days, this collection of innovative dance films from around the world explores the intersection between movement and cinema.
- Fri. June 4 – 8:00pm – Screening and Opening Night Reception
- Sat. June 5 – 6:00pm screening & 8:00pm screening (all three screenings different)

REDCAT, Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex)
631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213 237-2800; http://redcat.org)
- Tickets $15 opening night ($10 for CalArts or DCW members), $10 for other screenings ($7 for CalArts or DCW members)

➢ Sat. June 12 [7:00pm] and Sun. June 13 [2:00pm & 6:00pm] at the Hammer Museum [Westwood]
Programs TBD – Three Programs over Two Days at the Hammer

Hammer Museum – Billy Wilder Theater
10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024 (310-443-7000; www.hammer.ucla.edu)
- FREE admission, no reservations required; seating is first come first served

➢ Sat. June 19 [8:00 – 10:00pm] at Cheviot Hills Recreation Center [West LA]
“Local Makers – LA Choreographers and Directors” – Outdoor Screening
Dance Camera West presents an outdoor screening event whereby the park will be transformed into a cinematic cross-cultural display with four different screening areas. Student work will be included for the first time. K – 12 students from LAUSD have been invited to submit work (the Call for Entries ends April 15, 2010).
Even though all the films have one thing in common – they were all created by Los Angeles- based choreographers and directors – they’re as diverse as the Southern California landscape itself. The program presents everything under the sun (or moon in this case) during this family-friendly evening. Bring a flashlight, something to sit on, and join in the fun under the stars.

Cheviot Hills Recreation Center
2551 Motor Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90064 (310-837-4233)
- FREE admission, no reservations required

➢ Wed. June 30 [time TBA] at Goethe-Institute [mid-Wilshire]
A new documentary by Anne Linsel will screen as part of a special Pina Bausch Celebration at Goethe-Institute, the German cultural institution (more info TBA).

Goethe-Institute
5750 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323-525-3388; www.goethe.de/enindex.htm)
- price TBD

More June dates, venues and programs TBA for Dance Camera West’s Ninth Annual Dance Media Film Festival. Please visit DCW’s website for continuous updates – www.dancecamerawest.org.

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For more information, press passes, photos, or to interview DCW’s founder Lynette Kessler, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Hasty at 213-840-1201 or lynn [at] greengalactic.com.