Dance Camera West Awarded $255,000 Grant By The KDA Creative Corps

The KDA Creative Corps (KDACC) recently announced that Dance Camera West (DCW) has been awarded a $255,000 grant to create the VISIBILITY: SELF REFLECTIONS dance film project, which will be funded through May 2024.

VISIBILITY: SELF REFLECTIONS is a dance film commission project that will feature four completed films each focussing on underrepresented artists from low Healthy Places Index (HPI) neighborhoods in Central California. Each film will address a different issue that affects the LBGTQ+, African American, homeless, and migrant domestic labor communities. The project will be divided into three phases: PREPARE; PRODUCE; and PRESENT.

“This grant will help DCW produce a series of short films that will highlight the resilience, strength, and perseverance of individuals who, despite facing significant obstacles, continue to strive for better outcomes for themselves and their families,” said Executive and Artistic Director of Dance Camera West Kelly Hargraves. “We will be working with local organizations and community leaders to activate participants who will receive one-on-one training in choreography, storytelling and dance film production.”



"We were thrilled to see the enthusiastic response from artists and organizations across the region for the KDA Creative Corps grant program," said KDACC Program Director Andrea Hansen. "After a thorough review process, we were excited to announce Dance Camera West as one of the recipients of this inaugural grant, and even more excited to see the impact this project will have on the community over the next year."

The goal of VISIBILITY: SELF REFLECTION is to capture the unique stories of individuals in low HPI quartiles and share the experiences of those who face challenging lifestyles. The HPI score rank is divided into four quartiles that allow users to compare health conditions across cities and counties statewide.

DCW has worked for more than 20 years to showcase international dance films and provide more local resources for artists by presenting self-produced, independent films from around the world. It works to expand equitable representation by promoting projects and providing assistance with artistic, production, administrative, and financial support. The nonprofit believes that using its distinguished reputation, expertise, and inherent privilege to advance diversity in the art form is imperative.

The DCW team is comprised of experienced filmmakers, choreographers, and community organizers who are committed to creating impactful and meaningful content by capturing original movement on camera. This project will empower and amplify voices often marginalized not only in the arts, but also when it comes to social issues.

The project's activity will take place in conjunction with social justice and community leaders and organizations such as the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and Kern County's Black and Latino organizations and collectives in the Central Valley.

VISIBILITY: SELF REFLECTIONS PROJECT DETAILS

The VISIBILITY: SELF REFLECTIONS project will roll out in three phases through May 2024.

Phase one—PREPARE—began in May and continues through July 2023.

PREPARE: The VISIBILITY: SELF REFLECTIONS project kicked off with meetings and creative sessions with project team members and guest artists, and includes production preparation such as location scouting, cast and crew calls, and administrative set up.

Phase two—PRODUCE—will kick-off in July and run through December 2023. 

PRODUCE: This phase will include the production phase such as choreography, script writing, rehearsals, set design, filming, and editing. The films will be shot on location in Kern County and will feature a combination of interviews, dance choreography, and footage of participants in their everyday lives. This includes casting, rehearsals, designing sets, filming, and editing.

The four film projects scheduled for production during this phase include:

Project #1 is an untitled film that will focus on an LGBTQ+ trans superhero and produced by Badly Licked Bear, an arts administrator, community leader, writer, curator, student, artist, and educator; Lane Michael Stanley, a director, playwright, filmmaker, and producer, as well as the co-founder of Secretly Famous Productions; and will feature the story of Eric “Earthworm” Pennella, a queer/scientist/costumer/performer who studied at UC Berkeley, and believes that humans are designed to dance.

Project #2, currently untitled, will deal with mental wellness through movement and will be directed by Irishia Hubbard, a choreographer, filmmaker, and educator from South Carolina, and will focus on Andrew ”Dance Fever 3D” Jones, a professional dancer, body builder, celebrity fitness trainer, and rehabilitative addiction specialist who has appeared on So You Think You Can Dance and is an internationally renowned motivational speaker and ordained minister who specializes in working with at risk youth. Jones describes himself as a "certified crack baby" from the "hood." Dance and fitness were Jones' escape as he battled anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts, while also trying to avoid physical abuse.

Project #3, also currently untitled, will delve into the stories of the homeless community and will be co-directed by Madison Olandt and Joy Isabella Brown. Olandt, a Los Angeles-based movement artist, choreographer, and director, has worked with Pilobolus, Whim W'him Seattle Contemporary Dance, Dallas Black Dance Theater, DIAVOLO | Architecture in Motion, Jacob Jonas The Company, UCSB Dance Company, and Peridance Contemporary Dance Company. Beyond the stage, her choreographic work has landed in a variety of different creative spaces - such as on the Coachella Main Stage and World of Dance on NBC. Brown is a seasoned filmmaker who brings “tricking” to the forefront of movement culture. Filling in the gaps between dance, gymnastics, and martial arts, her movement style focuses on the merging of acrobatics within contemporary dance. Brown's background as a dancer, acrobat, and content creator with Jacob Jonas The Company has given her a unique perspective on how to capture movement on film.

Project #4, Convivencia (Working Title) is a dance film documenting the histories and lives of female essential laborers in the U.S./Mexico borderlands. This project is to be co-directed by John Jota Leaños, an award-winning Mestizo (Xicano/Italian/Chumash) new media artist whose animation work has been shown internationally at festivals and museums including Sundance Film Festival; Cannes Short Film Corner; the Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico; San Francisco International Festival Animation; the KOS Convention 07, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. Leaños has also exhibited at the Whitney Biennial in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a Guggenheim Fellow in Film; Creative Capital Foundation Grantee; a United States Artist Fellow; and has been an artist in residence at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the Center for Chicano Studies; Carnegie Mellon University in the Center for Arts in Society; and the Headlands Center for the Arts. Leaños is currently a Professor of Film & Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Vanessa Sanchez, the film's choreographer, is a Chicana-Native dancer, choreographer and educator who emphasizes the voices and experiences of Latina, Chicana and Indigenous women and youth through contemporary performance, community arts and traditional dance forms. Her dance and choreographic expression explores movement and rhythm to tell stories of historical oppression and collective resistance. She independently produces the community grant outreach program, "Connecting Communities to Funders," a free, 3-part series that connects BIPOC, culturally-based dancers and artists with grant organizations.

Finally, phase three—PRESENT—will take place in May 2024.

PRESENT: This phase will see world premiere screenings at local venues, such as the Historic Fox theater in Bakersfield, as well as alternative spaces, and will also include a day-long outdoor event featuring a film parade that will bring the films to the communities highlighted in the project.

The event will culminate with artists and DCW's social justice community partners interacting with audiences in a festival-like setting. The goal of all the activities during this phase is to foster relationships between participants and audiences.

During this last phase, an online platform will be created with DCW's media partners to help reach a wider audience and make the films accessible to those who are unable to attend the in-person screenings.

Dance Camera West (DCW) aims to foster ground-breaking creation of dance film by supporting production, presentation and distribution of films. DCW presents an annual international festival held at renowned arts venues throughout Los Angeles, and informative and educational events throughout the year, to bring dance off the stage and to wider audiences through the language of film.

Established venues range from performing arts centers like The Getty Center, REDCAT/Walt Disney Concert Hall, Hammer Museum, Skirball Center, John Anson Ford Amphitheater, The Autry Museum, Theater Raymond Kabbaz, and Track 16 / Bergamot Station. Cinemas such as American Cinematheque's Egyptian and Aero Theaters, and the Laemmle Theaters have all presented Dance Camera West.

Through innovative programs in public spaces, DCW offers a wide variety of patrons a way to experience dance that transcends barriers. DCW audiences are a wide range of ages, income and education. DCW keeps ticket prices affordable by always offering free events. For more information, visit www.dancecamerawest.org.

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