- Citmoves Dance
Screen.dance go into Partnership with Citymoves for this year's on screen Festival of Dance.

Video still from Attention Span (2020) by Mitchell Rose. Screen.dance Festival 2021 International Awards Finalist
Screen.Dance: Scotland’s Festival of Dance on Screen teams up with
Citymoves in Aberdeen
Screen.dance - Scotland’s Festival of Dance on Screen, is set to move to the vibrant
arts space of Citymoves in Aberdeen, bringing together artists, dancers, filmmakers
and musicians, for a festival of cultural events and screenings in March.
This increasingly high profile dance film festival supported by funding from Screen
Scotland, will be a blended event of online screenings and live online presentations
from Thursday 11 - Saturday 13 March; showcasing work from Scotland and beyond,
and connecting local, national and international artists and audiences to the
screendance genre.
Screendance combines choreography and moving image, intersecting movement
and cinema, to create a hybrid form. Dance has been a subject of film since the birth
of cinema, but this hybrid form is now becoming more accepted as a genre in its own
right. Particularly in these days of live performing arts restrictions artists are more
and more exploring dance on screen.
The festival, which is unique to Scotland, will present a curated programme of
around 60 short dance films from across the world selected from 285 submissions
and grouped by UK and international works, with a special selection of Quebec
works, alongside presentations from artists, Q&A sessions, discussions and
masterclasses. For the first time, the festival will also offer a screen-dance critical
writing masterclasses. With the support of Film Hub Scotland, Screen.dance will be
streaming the programmes from a dedicated screening room page on their website.
The festival launch on the evening of March 11th will open with a free-access for all to
the UK screening, including the world premiere of Deer Oh! by Glasgow-based
dance artist Natali McLeary – a Screen.dance festival commissioned one-minute
dance film funded by Creative Scotland. The launch will be followed by two days
packed with three programmes of international screenings, artist presentations and
post-screening live chats and Q&A sessions.
The finale of the festival on the evening of March 13 th will see a specially curated
programme of Quebec artists’ works from the last five years in collaboration with
Screen.dance partner Festival Quartiers Danses situated on the unceded territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka people. Tiohtià:ke, also known as Montreal – recognised for its
mission of democratising contemporary dance in all its forms and hybridities in
traditional and unusual venues.
For the first time, all Scottish and international students will be eligible for a free
screen.dance festival pass building on our previous initiatives to provide support to
students through juried awards and festival commissions.
Screen.Dance Festival Artistic Director Simon Fildes said:
“It’s been so exciting to be able to work with the team at Citymoves and push the
genre of screendance in to new audiences out with our previous festival outposts in
Edinburgh and Perth. We are incredibly honoured to bring together work from
Scotland and the UK, alongside work from countries such as China, Russia, India,
France, Argentina and the USA; connecting award-winning artists and audiences to
dance on screen.
Alongside films, presentations and discussions, we are delighted to have been able
to commission work under the new one minute screendance commissioning scheme,
produced by the company GO/AT, showcasing our commitment to supporting
Scottish artists to make high quality work that can be exhibited in a competitive
international platform showcase.”
Screen.Dance Associate Curator Iliyana Nedkova said:
“We are so excited to be continuing to curate and programme work across the
screen-dance genre - bringing together incredible artists, choreographers, dancers,
film-makers and musicians. We are proud of the fact that the programme sees 50:50
gender representation, as we continue to push to bring a mix of artists from across
fields into the spotlight.
Our exclusive selection of works and discussions with Quebecois filmmakers and
choreographers is also a must. Another first is the opportunity for anyone interested
in critical writing to join our screen-dance masterclasses led by Cara Hagan and
Roisin O’Brien”
For more information about Screen.dance, and to find out the full programme visit:
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