Guest blogger Danielle Marie Georgiou is a dance lecturer at the University of Texas Arlington. She also serves as assistant director of UT Arlington’s Dance Ensemble.

On Friday, September 24, the Dallas Video Fest will be screening two dance films that give an insight into the dance world that not many people get to see.

Eight Women

More along the lines of narrative films, both explore the behind-the-scenes life of a dancer. First, Laura Bouza’s Eight Women documents the lives of eight female dancers, who are now in their eighties, as they reflect on their lives as members of a 1960s modern dance group as well as homemakers. It is a rendering of the intersections of motherhood, marriage, and movement. Something that all female dancers can related to, and something I am particularly interested in, as a dancer/choreographer in her mid-twenties who is confronted with ever-looming question of marriage and family versus a career.

Running at 29 minutes, Eight Women will be screened on Friday, September 24 at 7:00pm in the Video Cafe at the Angelika Mockingbird Station.

Keep Dancing

Immediately following Eight Women, Greg Vander Veer’s Keep Dancing explores the lives of legendary dancers Marge Champion and Donald Saddler and the friendship they cultivated. After celebrated careers, Champion and Saddler became friends while performing together in the 2001 Broadway production of Follies. When the show closed, they decided to rent a private studio together, where they have been choreographing and rehearsing original dances ever since.

At age 90, they continue to pursue their passion for life through their love and mastery of dance. Keep Dancing seamlessly blends nine decades of archival film and photographs with present-day footage to tell a story through dance of the passing of time and the process of aging.

Roam

Running at 20 minutes, Keep Dancing will also be screened on Friday, September 24 at 7:30pm in the Video Cafe.

And just a side note: My dance for camera film, Roam, will be shown as part of the Theatrical Musings screening on Saturday, September 25 at 5:30pm in the Video Cafe.

Roam casts a couple in a surrealist world as they try to distinguish the reality of their relationship compared to the fantasy life they wish to lead, through dance. Set to music by the bands Phoenix and Baguette Quartette (with permission by both artists), Roam explores how movement can translate song into storytelling.