#Download dance video series#

Perched on one foot and leaning down into two hands, she passes the dance with one leg extended back and toward the sun.Дetroit, MI: A black womyn dressed for cool weather in a knit hat and all black, with вЂњMichiganвЂќ in yellow lettering on the front of her sweatshirt, moves in contemporary, modern dance across the length of a small cement stoop at a tan stone house. вЂњA dream within a dreamвЂќ is written on a muralled wall. Miami, FL: A multiracial femme woman in shorts and a tank top, hair in a high bun, moves in contemporary, modern dance on a stone patio with potted plants. Balanced on the ball of one foot, the other raised and kicked back behind him, one arm long, head tilted back, he passes the dance, back arched. One hand is held still by his chest as he dances modern style, undulating and swooping. Harlem, NY: A black man with kinky high top hair and a mustache wearing a black sweat outfit and shoes with a tuft of blue shirt peeking out, continues the spin against a low, thick stone wall and trees with new spring growth behind. With one arm up and one behind, one foot crosses in front of the other to propel him he passes the dance mid-spin. Arms flex and fold in and out from his body. Thick clouds above mirror the texture of the painted surface behind him. Personal descriptions are worded to reflect how each dancer identifies.Д«rooklyn, NY: An African American man on a white-painted city rooftop wears a striped t-shirt, black cap, jeans and high-top sneakers, dancing in a street dance style called flexing. Dancers appear in the following order as ChinakaвЂ™s voice recites the words. Each dancer begins in the last pose of the dancer before, passing movements across time and space. Each 10вЂ“20 second shot centers one to two dancers dancing in a park, on a front stoop, on the sidewalk, by a lake, on a basketball court, or on a rooftop. Spoken word by Chinaka Hodge.вЂќ In videos all made outdoors, each dancer has placed a camera low to the ground to capture a moment of dance in 16 different cities. and Donnetta Jackson, ChicagoДЄ four-minute dance chain letter.

вЂ“ Text by Gabe MelineДЇeatured Dancers and Cities: Drew Dollaz, Brooklyn, New York Jerron Herman, Harlem, New York Marissa Alma Nick, Miami Erika Stowall, Detroit Anne Pesata, Albuquerque Alex вЂњPrince AliвЂќ Flores, San Jose Antoine Hunter, Oakland Samsoche Sampson and Lumhe Sampson, Minneapolis Angel вЂњ'MoonyekaвЂќ Alviar-Langley, Seattle Jalaiah Harmon, Atlanta Jocquese вЂњSir JoqвЂќ Whitfield, San Francisco Alice Sheppard, Silicon Valley Mar Cruz, San Juan Terrance 'G-Nerd' Smith, Memphis John 'Crazy Legs' Pearson, Washington, D.C. Whether you're a dancer yourself, or a singer, writer, actor, painter-we hope Dear Dancer inspires you to tap into your pure feeling as well, and offers a reminder of our shared existence. вЂњThat practice is super helpful when your brain wants to be tied up in a pandemic.вЂќ вЂњThereвЂ™s no space for logic, thought, itвЂ™s pure feeling,вЂќ Pesata said. For many, it meant the first time returning to their art in weeks-and for those like Albuquerque dancer Anne Pesata, that reunion with creativity became freeing. We asked dancers to film themselves on their rooftops, patios, stoops, front yards, sidewalks and parks of their city.

#Download dance video series#

In envisioning a dance chain letter of these times, we already had a readymade cast for the film: dancers from our series вЂњIf Cities Could Dance.вЂќ Sixteen dancers from across the country participated in a video chain letter started by the producers of 'If Cities Could Dance.' вЂњDear DancerвЂќ is inspired by Mitchell RoseвЂ™s Exquisite Corps, which experimented with capturing dance choreography over time and space long before COVID-19. As Antoine Hunter, an Oakland dancer featured in вЂњDear Dancer,вЂќ says, вЂњWe need to find a way to move together-not try to selfishly move within ourselves as individuals, but together as a country.вЂќ That realization is important at a time when inequities and polarization have only gotten stronger. Suddenly, the sacrifices you've been making seem smaller. In the moving poetry of Chinaka Hodge that narrates the seamless expression of dancers from all corners of the United States, suddenly, you're not so alone. In it, you'll find the dancers moving as if a single being, with each dancer's actions flowing naturally into the next. That's the theme of вЂњDear Dancer,вЂќ a short film by KQED, which draws on crowd-sourced video clips from 16 dancers across the country. Never before has a single thread run through so many sequestered people, all over the country. We still improvise, and adapt, and laugh the same. And yet as we stay distanced, we still worry the same. Sheltering in place, removed from our communities, we can't help but feel isolated. There's no doubt that this is the era with the least amount of human connection in modern history.