A still from the short film “Isabele.” (Provided by The Physical Plant)
May 1, 2020 By Michael Dorgan
A series of mini-dance videos featuring local artists and performers will make their world premieres online next week.
“Dance Shorts” is a compilation of various short video clips that are being put together by The Physical Plant, a Long Island City-based nonprofit organization that also runs the annual Queensboro Dance Festival.
The 80-minute series will host 16 different dance-themed videos that vary in length from under two minutes to over 17 minutes and will be streamed for free via a Facebook Watch Party on May 4.
Organizers usually hold the annual event around Queens but had to make the transition to online streaming due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Queens residents are involved in three of the shorts with five of the movies produced by artists from outside the city.
The event aims to showcase Queens as a dance and film hub for artists, according to Karesia Batan, Executive Director of The Physical Plant.
“Singularity” (provided by the filmmakers)
“We want to build the value of doing your art in our borough and we want to be a platform to uplift Queens artists,” she said.
The majority of the short clips are choreographies that address the themes of connectivity, hope, and identity but will be a wide selection of topics covered.
“There will be all different types of dance movies, all with different genres and a lot of interesting takes on how to make a film using dance,” Batan said.
The longest video is a seventeen and a half minute documentary titled Dance, Dance, Evolution, that looks into how six trans-identified people explore their relationship through dance over time.
Dance Shorts will be available to watch for free and viewers are asked to register beforehand via The Physical Plant’s Facebook page.
A live meet-and-greet with filmmakers on Zoom will kick the evening off at 6 p.m. and registered viewers will receive a link to the session if they would like to participate.
The series will then be live-streamed from 6:30 p.m. via the Facebook Watch Party.
Organizers are also hosting a Zoom question and answer session with filmmakers afterward.
The full line up of movies and their directors are listed below:
- Singularity, by Erik Berg
- Today. Tomorrow. Until…, by Alia Kache
- Oculus, by Eleonora Fae
- Beyond This Moment, by Erika Edwards and Alyona Amato
- Dance, Dance, Evolution, by Jules Rosskam
- Isolation, by Sam Lobel
- Inverted, by Jeremy S. Cline
- Nameless, by Laura Natario and Justin Ayers – director
- Double Sight, by Casey Brown
- Entangled, by Christina Eltvedt
- Self Portrait, by Austin Warren Coats
- Only, by Olivia Palacios
- Unspoken Words, by Zoe A. Rappaport
- Isabele, by Isabele Rosso
- A Dancer’s World, by Frank Martinez
- Proactive Evolution, by Charly and Eriel Santagado
The Queensboro Dance Festival has a donation platform that can be found here. They are seeking financial donations to continue offering free programs to their dancers and to the public all year round.
Founded in 2014, QDF’s mission is to strengthen the dance community in Queens, and garner a greater appreciation for Queens dance.
