Making dances for TV. . - Presstime News - television program review

Dance Magazine, May, 2002 by Claudia Tatinge Nascimento

This month, Wisconsin public television watchers will view never-seen-before versions of dances right in their living rooms. "Three Dances for Television," directed by Douglas Rosenberg and produced by Wisconsin Public Television, includes works by internationally renowned choreographers Sean Curran and Amy Sue Rosen, both New York based, and local artist Li Chiao-Ping (named by Dance Magazine as one of the nation's "25 to Watch" in January 2001, page 57). The thirty-minute program is designed to introduce Wisconsin audiences to innovative choreographers, visiting artists to Madison's lively dance scene, and to create collaborations that might increase the number of U.S. works seen at international dance film festivals.

Rosenberg is no stranger to dance. He and Li have been working together since they met in graduate school, and Rosenberg now teaches for Interarts and Technology (IATECH), a wing of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's dance program. The works by Li and Curran in "Three Dances for Television" grew out of earlier collaborations between Rosenberg and the artists. But the director says what TV viewers see will be new. "The pieces weren't just adapted for the shootings; what makes this project unique is that each choreography underwent a full transformation," he said.

Rosen's piece, Abandoning Hope, the one brand-new collaboration, is about transformation in a time of crisis. It features dancer Sally Bomer dancing in a pool of projected water and an actual rain curtain. "It's a very sparse and moving work," said Rosenberg.

The two other pieces are Curran's Real Boy, first staged four years ago, and Li's Venous Flow, which premiered in 2001 at Madison's Civic Center. Based on Collodi's Pinocchio, Real Boy begins with Pinocchio (Curran) and Geppetto (Phil Strowman) in a forest, and moves to a circuslike set designed by Shirwil Lukes, set designer for Madison's PBS station WHA, where the dances were filmed. Part of Venous Flow was shot on Madison's frozen Lake Monona, and the final editing will add both spoken and projected text.

The possibilities offered by film seem infinite: "It allows me to depart from the rigors of `real time' and use super-slow motion or sped-up time; likewise, I can also transition from one image to another instantaneously regardless of what is truly, physically possible," explained Li. Plus, "the work can be viewed by larger audiences."

"America has a rich archive of recorded dances, but very little dance for the camera," said Curran. "As the first audiences to see this broadcast, Madison viewers will be experiencing a completely different way of looking at dance. The collaboration between the director and the choreographer goes beyond the recording of dance to create a new hybrid art form."

"Three Dances for Television" is scheduled to be broadcast throughout the state of Wisconsin in May. Check local listings for details.