The middle-class American convention often includes enrolling young girls at a nearby dance studio and taking their boundless energy, squirreliness and exuberant vocalizing into a centuries-old refined art form labeled ballet. Fortunately, toward the beginning of the 20th century, women rebels like Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis opened the door to a less codified activity and an opportunity for personal expression.
Boys were not usually invited into this realm, but a few made their way through that door.
Dancer, choreographer and SoCal resident Keith Glassman, following his own existential question of why he’s committed his life to this metier, toured the country to ask other cisgender male-identifying dancers why they’ve chosen this undertaking. The result is the award-winning documentary film, “Lives Beyond Motion.” For only one screening on Sunday, Aug. 16, at 2 p.m. at the West Hollywood City Council Chambers, their answers will be revealed.
Interspersed with footage of the artists performing on stages across the globe, the racially diverse and intergenerational cast discuss their challenges as youngsters and as adults, the support they did or didn’t get to pursue this passion and why they do it. The artists include Kennedy Center Honoree Bill T. Jones, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Associate Artistic Director Matthew Rushing, Guggenheim Fellows Lar Lubovitch, Sean Curran and UCLA Professor Emeritus David Rousseve, and MacArthur Genius and Glorya Kaufman School of Dance faculty member Kyle Abraham.
Appropriate for a mature audience, the movie will be matched with a robust Q&A involving the director, a few cast members and David Gere. This UCLA professor is the author of How To Make Dances in an Epidemic (2004), which discusses the impact of AIDS in the contemporary dance world.
Though this is the filmmaker’s first feature-length film, his choreography has been presented at various conventional and unconventional locations throughout LA County and in New York. One of his past projects, Mavericks (2001), involved community surfers with his dance company. This toured five beach towns, including Santa Monica, Newport Beach, Carlsbad and San Diego. This film screening is supported, in part, by an arts grant from the City of West Hollywood. “Lives Beyond Motion” will soon be available on broadcast platforms, including PBS.
—Benn Widdey, Culture Spot LA
LOCATION:
West Hollywood City Council Chambers, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., LA 90069
TICKETS:
Free
RSVP suggested: livesbeyondmotion@gmail.com
INFO:
weho.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/32123/15
whymendance.wixsite.com/lbmscroll
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/1005271661
Poster by thedesignerlab.com