2021
2 Minutes, 38 Seconds
Process experiment with Portland dance filmmaker Kailee McMurran exploring nonsense as a theme.
2021
4 Minutes, 16 Seconds
For 440 days, choreographer Margaret Wiss returned to the same piece of land behind her home in Eastern Massachusetts. That daily research practice informed several unique expressions of still and moving image, and a close collaboration with composer Mike Brun. From footage collected on just one of those many days, as her research was drawing to a close, in situ, offers a reflection on that period of deep investigation.
2021
2 Minutes, 19 Seconds
Featuring original choreography from Faith Morrison and music from Michael Wall, Seers is a screendance exploring the feeling of a desert ecosystem and the frantic stillness of its inhabitants.
2021
2 Minutes, 57 Seconds
This commission was produced and edited in an eight hour period for the annual 2021 Dance Y event at Lewis & Clark college in Portland, Oregon.
2021
3 Minutes, 42 Seconds
This commission was produced and edited in an eight hour period for the annual 2021 Dance Y event at Lewis & Clark college in Portland, Oregon.
2020
7 Minutes, 27 Seconds
This commission was produced and edited in an eight hour period for the annual 2020 Dance X event at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
2020
6 Minutes, 11 Seconds
This commission was produced and edited in an eight hour period for the annual 2020 Dance X event at Lewis & Clark college in Portland, Oregon.
2020
6 Minutes, 12 Seconds
This commission was produced and edited in an eight hour period for the annual 2020 Dance X event at Lewis & Clark college in Portland, Oregon.
2020
80 Minutes, 5 Seconds
Created in collaboration with Portland dance company BodyVox, "BloodyVox: Lockdown" is multi-part dance film celebrating BodyVox's favorite time of year. The production features some of the company's audience favorites, reimagined for a drive-in style, filmic presentation.
2019
13 Minutes, 27 Seconds
Ensō | mountain divide conveys a “kinesthetic experience of place” in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness.
In 2013, choreographer Faith Morrison developed a process using the languages of dance and film to create and convey a kinesthetic experience of place. In her process, dancers are led through site-specific, sensory explorations, listening and responding to the movement of the elements in the environment. The dancers are then given time to reflect on their experiences and identify the most prominent feeling states of the place. Finally, the choreographer and the filmmaker work together to convey those experiences through the medium of film.
The initial result of this research was the award-winning screendance, “Ensō,” created in collaboration with filmmaker Robert Uehlin, set in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Ensō | mountain divide builds on this research to convey an embodied experience of a diverse, mountain ecosystem.
2019
10 Minutes, 1 Seconds
The Woman is the result of an intimate collaboration between three friends and first-time dance filmmakers Lisa Whitridge, Monika Field, and Celine Bouly.
2019
6 Minutes, 56 Seconds
Waltz of the Canoe is a playful look into the imagination of Amanda Lewis who directed, choreographed, and performed in the piece during her 2019 residency with Springboard for the Arts in Fergus Falls, MN.
2019
12 Minutes, 13 Seconds
Helen is a short screendance featuring choreographer and dancer Berit Ahlgren and the debut performance of dancer Anna Leopold. The film was made as a part of the 2019 DanceBARN Festival in Battle Lake, Minnesota. Shot in an historic, lake-side cabin, the film investigates the inscrutable inner life of the previous generation. What was life like in role-bound isolation? How did you navigate your own mind? Did you also look to the past and wonder?
2019
1 Minute, 35 Seconds
A brief hello, and portrait, of choreographer Katie Scherman near the Steel Bridge in Portland, Oregon.
2019
3 Minutes, 5 Seconds, Loop
Grain Silo is a site-specific loop created in collaboration with performer and choreographer, Ayumi Schafer during a 2019 residency with DanceBARN Festival in Battle Lake, MN.
2019
1 Minute, 43 Seconds, Loop
Hatchery Row is a site-specific loop created in collaboration with performer and choreographer, Ayumi Schafer during a 2019 residency with DanceBARN Festival in Battle Lake, MN.
2019
6 Minutes, 33 Seconds
Ellery is a site-specific screendance created in collaboration with performer and choreographer, Molly Johnston during a 2019 residency with DanceBARN Festival in Battle Lake, MN.
2019
2 Minutes, 23 Seconds, Loop
Lake is a site-specific loop created in collaboration with performer and choreographer, Molly Johnston during a 2019 residency with DanceBARN Festival in Battle Lake, MN.
2018
9 Minutes and 12 Seconds
House of Joy was produced as a part of the first annual Oregon Dance Film Commission in which the Portland Dance Film Festival connected two previously un-aquainted collaborators for the purpose of producing a new work of screendance. The film was shot entirely on Kodak super 8mm film and features movement and choreography by Raven Jones and music by Michael Wall of soundformovement.com.
2018
7 Minutes, 47 Seconds
Documentation of site-specific research created during the 2018 DanceBARN Dance Festival.
2018
6 Minutes, 10 Seconds
Site-specific research created during the 2018 DanceBARN Dance Festival.
2018
5 Minutes, 43 Seconds
This short compilation documents the creative process of choreographer Katie Scherman as she assembles a new work, To Have it All. The work premiered in Portland, Oregon in April 2018.
2018
13 Minutes, 20 Seconds
In 2018, artist Ann Hamilton installed her work, habitus, in Portland, OR as a part of Converge 45, a city-wide art event on the 45th Parallel. The work featured 12 suspended curtains, a small-scale model of Portland, and dozens of literary excerpts related to shelter. Inspired by the work BodyVox Dance Company joined with members of the public to respond to the work through dance.
2017
8 Minutes, 7 Seconds
Within Limit explores internal and external constraint and our struggle for freedom from both. We learn to work, play, love, and behave along a surprisingly rigid set of approved behaviors. Over time, these rules disappear and become normal. But in movement we can see them for what they are — perhaps seeing ourselves in new light as well.
2016
30 Minute Loop, Vertical
The annual Night Lights video projection festival provides an opportunity every year for local artists to present their work collectively. This is an excerpt of a looping, site-specific work created in collaboration with Faith Morrison. The work was made and presented on the same wall, just hours apart.
2017
6 Minutes, 12 Seconds
Complicated Women is the screendance iteration of a larger project of the same name by choreographer and dancer, Katie Scherman. It features movement by Faith Morrison and Jessica Zoller and composition by Michael Wall.
2017
3 Minutes, 58 Seconds
The people of Battle Lake, Minnesota star in this short community screendance. Participants rolled dice to find their movement quality, level, and direction. The participant that followed began their movement with the movement of the last person. The result is a seemingly continuous dance in Battle Lake's Artstream Alley. Produced as part of the annual DanceBARN dance festival. Soundtrack by Hamilton Beach.
2017
2 minutes, 6 seconds
This film, "it's about time," is a dance film in which contemporary choreography was translated into the language of film. Earlier this year, choreographer Katie Scherman reset part of her contemporary ballet "it's about time," for the Pro 8mm One Roll Challenge. The version presented here remains true to that initial concept, but includes the score used during the original stage presentation. Production took place at dawn in Portland's Forest Park using a Sankyo XL-420 and Kodak 500T.
2017
2 minutes, 35 seconds
This film aims to convey through dance and film what it feels like to be at 16th and Raleigh, where a forgotten little patch of grass hides under a busy interstate. Using a choreographic technique developed by Faith Morrison, all the senses are used as inspiration for dance and camera improvisation. In post-production, the sound design and editing amplify those same initial sensations. The result is an interpretation of the space through dance and film. Research and production took place on location using a Sankyo XL-420 and Kodak 50D.
2017
60 Seconds
Untitled is a one-minute screendance made in collaboration with choreographer and dancer Faith Morrison. Untitled was the winner of the 60 Second Cellphone Screendance Challenge at the 2017 Northwest Screendance Exposition.
2016
2 Minutes, 49 Seconds
Top Lake is a fleeting exploration of an alpine lake ecosystem near the base of Mt. Jefferson in Western Oregon. Experimenting with a technique developed for site-specific screendance generation, choreographer Faith Morrison and cinematographer Robert Uehlin improvise together to convey their kinesthetic experiences of this high mountain lake.
2016
30 Seconds, MOS
This short piece is the result of an unsuccessful film test of a refurbished Canon 814 Super 8 camera. However, the brief moments of improvisation we caught on Super 8 were enough to inspire continued collaboration with the format.
2017
6 Minutes and 31 Seconds
Set in Portland's Laurelhurst Park, Bloom reflects on the life cycle of the spring flower. Choreography by Faith Morrison was re-interpreted for film as part of an ongoing investigation into the screendance making process.
2015
21 Minutes, 36 Seconds, Single Channel Installation
This iteration of SeeThrough is a single-channel video installation exploring the relationships between space, movement, and memory. The primary subject of the installation is the former Fergus Falls Mental Hospital which received its first patient in 1890 and closed in 2009. Found footage from inside the hospital, home video from families in the surrounding area, and newly captured media are woven together to provide a total experience of the storied building.
SeeThrough is a collaboration with sound artist Kevin Springer whose work provides the majority of the soundscape for the installation. The 23-minute excerpt used in SeeThrough was originally performed by Springer inside the East Wing of the former Mental Hospital. The work uses natural sounds, oral histories, and the shape of the space itself to generate a masterful, aural rendition of the space.
2015
9 Minutes, 25 Seconds
During the first half of their time as Hinge Arts Residents, Robert and Rosie used improvisational, site-specific screendance choreography to create this sketch of their kinesthetic experiences with an enormous, storied town landmark - the Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center, aka "the Kirkbride." This would serve as their template for the final dance film, featured above.
2015
9 Minutes
The culmination of the Hinge Arts Residency was, SeeThrough | a Dance Film at the Kirkbride. As residents, Robert Uehlin and Rosie Yerke used improvisational, site-specific screendance choreography to create this screendance on Super 8mm film of their kinesthetic experiences within an enormous, storied town landmark - the Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center, aka "the Kirkbride."
2015
10 Minutes
Ensō is the second iteration of site-specific research performed by Faith Morrison for the consideration of her M.F.A. thesis committee at the University of Oregon's School of Music and Dance. The piece was filmed over six days in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation area. Through collaboration with filmmaker Robert Uehlin and Dancers, Robin Ewing, Cecily Wechter, and Rosie Yerke, Morrison strove to create and convey a kinesthetic experience of place.
2013
6 Minutes, 34 Seconds
Two channel video of choreography born between Brad Garner and Mary Fitzgerald. Nearby Far explores the challenges of modern, distant relationships. The video was captured in 2013 near Florence, Oregon. Post-production was concluded later in 2014.
2012
12 Minutes, 8 Seconds
Choreographed for three sightless dancers, "Dark" is an exploration of movement generated with and for the camera. In this narrative screendance, the viewer follows one woman's encounter with devotion, doubt, and the occult.