FNB Dance Umbrella 2009: Montage Video Dance Festival — screening of local and international video dance :: March 7, 2009; 5:00 pm :: Dance Space, Newtown, Johannesburg, South Africa :: Screendance Workshop by Jeannette Ginslov: February 12; 6:00 – 9:00 pm + February 14; 9:00 am – 12:00 pm :: AFDA, 41 Frost Avenue, Auckland Park, Johannesburg.

The Montage Video Dance Festival, under the auspices of Walking Gusto Productions, funded by the National Arts Council and The French Institute of South Africa and in conjunction with the FNB Dance Umbrella 2009, is proud to announce the screening of local and international video dance works.

During the FNB Dance Umbrella there will be daily screenings at the Dance Space of a fringe programme and video dance works from 2007 and 2008. The main and fringe programmes will also be screened at the French Multimedia Library at Dibuka. They are generously undertaking the archiving of all the video dance works for educational purposes.

This year, works by Kathy Rose, Philippe Saire, Lutz Gregor and Federicapaola Capecchi, amongst others, will be shown at FNB Dance Umbrella 2009, JOMBA! and the National Arts Festival. These festivals provide Montage with the much needed platforms to promote this rapidly growing medium. Dance on camera, Screendance, or video dance can now travel internationally at the speed of DHL or the internet – this digital medium has made dance on video available to anyone capable of holding a camera.

Dance videos made in Africa by Africans, are now being screened internationally. Karohano, choreographed by the South African dance company Inzalo, and Madagascan dance company Vahinala, was directed, shot and edited by Ginslov and has been shown three times this year at the DFA’s Dance on Camera Festival, Lincoln Centre, New York City. Ginslov is also spearheading and curating the Manchester -based, moves09 Africa, to hopefully encourage dance practitioners from Africa to shoot dance videos from their own POV.

The Montage Video Dance Festival, in partnership with FNB Dance Umbrella was established and curated by Jeannette Ginslov’s Walking Gusto Productions in 2007. Works of renowned international dance video artists Gina Czarnecki, Katrina McPherson, Russell Maliphant and Nicole Seiler, together with one South African work (Ginslov) were shown at the City Varsity Campus.

In its second year Montage presented a Main and a Fringe programme at the FNB Dance Umbrella 2008 and also had a platform at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Gerard Bester was the co-curator. That year the number of entries grew to 59 and in total 17 dance videos were shown on the Main. Most entries were from internationally acclaimed dance video directors such as Claudia Cappenberg and Douglas Rosenberg. The fringe had also grown significantly and the number of South African entries increased to four.