CHARLES ATLAS & DOUGLAS DUNN IN ATTENDANCE WITH Q & A FOLLOWING SCREENING
THE MYTH OF THE MODERN DANCE
dir. Charles Atlas, 1990.
USA, 26 min.
Collaborating with choreographer Douglas Dunn, Atlas uses anthropological text, satirical movement, and vividly colored chroma-keyed backgrounds in an episodic, often humorous look at the evolution of modern dance.
SECRET OF THE WATERFALL
dir. Charles Atlas, 1983.
USA, 29 min.
The confluence of words and movement propels this multi-layered collaboration by Atlas, choreographer Douglas Dunn, and poets Anne Waldman and Reed Bye. Dunn’s athletic choreography is performed to the rhythms, cadences, and associative meanings of the poets’ “cascade of words,” which function as music. Atlas introduces narrative references, ironically staging the dance in unexpected locations, including domestic interiors and vehicles. In a self-referential deconstruction that punctures the theatrical illusion, the poets are seen reading their texts and interacting as self-conscious performers within the dance. Atlas and his collaborators intersect the language of words with the language of the body.
Text courtesy of Electronic Arts Intermix.
CHARLES ATLAS is one of the premier interpreters of dance, theater and performance on video. Working in film, video, installation, theater and performance for four decades, he has created works for screen, stage, gallery, and television. A pioneer in the development of media-dance, he transforms this genre into a provocative and ironic collusion of narrative and fictional modes with performance documentary. He has collaborated with international performers and choreographers, including Merce Cunningham, Michael Clark, Leigh Bowery, John Kelly, Karole Armitage and Bill Irwin.
DOUGLAS DUNN is an American postmodernist dancer and choreographer. He is considered a highly eclectic and minimalist postmodern choreographer, who uses humor, props, and text in his dances. In New York, Dunn began working with Yvonne Rainer and was a dancer with her company from 1968-1970. After completion of his studies with the Merce Cunningham studio, he was accepted into their professional company as a dancer from 1969-1973. In 1970 he became a member of the avant-garde improvisational group the The Grand Union until 1976. Dunn premiered his professional company, Douglas Dunn and Dancers, in 1976, where he served as artistic director. He was commissioned by various companies to choreograph works including the Paris Opera Ballet, Groupe de Recherche Choréographique de l’Opéra de Paris, Grande Ballet de Bordeaux, New Dance Ensemble of Minneapolis, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Repertory Dance Theater (Salt Lake City), Ballet Théâtre Francais de Nancy, Institute for Contemporary Art (Boston), Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (Australia), and Portland State University (Oregon).