54: Don’t worry; I know where day 56 and 57 went. We made great progress on the edit, restructuring a number of sequences; opened our Fringe Show “The Three Bonnies” ; and saw a lot of really creative theater.

I read back over my recent blogs and it sounds like I’m doing this film by myself. Well surprise, I’m a collective, and I’d like to introduce my collaborators. I’ve already mentioned Mary Ellen Childs. This whole thing was her idea, and she has been immensely helpful with recruiting people to be in the film and arranging all kinds of details. She’s our Executive Producer and her critical judgment is invaluable. She is also scoring the film. Caitlin Hammel is our co-writer/ editor/associate producer. Michele Blanchard is the producer/co-writer and without the aid of her production company - Perimeter Productions - the film would not have happened. They call me the director for lack of a better word. Film is the most collaborative of art forms and despite the French and their disciple Andrew Sarris promoting the Auteur Theory for the greater good of and increased salaries for directors, making a film is a team of people working to make the best product. The isolated artist is not a good model to follow in today’s world.

“Solo: 1X2” – The Saga Continues: From January 2007 to July of 2007. I (WE) focused on Tamara, Colette, and Mifa. I poked my camera into their lives, doing interviews, shooting rehearsals for upcoming performances, and shooting the performances themselves. We have no shortage of interesting B Roll – the one big advantage of shooting a film on dance.

The big discussion among the dancers, during this period, was who to pick as a choreographer. Well, at least for Mifa. Both Bharatanatyam and Flamenco, as dance forms, have traditions that go back much farther then Classical Ballet. In these forms an artist studies with a Teacher; they become disciples of these teachers and work with them for life. So Tamara is a disciple of Ranee & Aparna Ramaswamy, Artistic Directors of Ragamala Dance Theater in Minneapolis and Colette is a disciple of Manual Reyes of Madrid Spain, so for them it was a done deal. For Mifa however, it was going to be a much more complicated process.

Mifa Ko In Performance

Trailer @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpAnwbkEINI

Purchase your tickets for the premier of the film HERE.

This post was written by Robert Hammel, Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Diversionary Tactics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.