Location, Location, Location: Dance Film and Site-Specific Dance

Abstract

Dance film and site-specific dance are two dance genres that are seemingly at odds. Dance film communicates through a two-dimensional display; site-specific dance pursues tangible, real world connections to three-dimensional sites. Dance film brings audiences up close to both dancing bodies and places without the audience having to move a muscle; site-specific dance expects audiences to physically integrate with the totality of a place. Yet, these 'divergent' genres have much more in common than may at first be apparent. Examining the history of these genres as well as looking at each genre's techniques, processes, and current productions, this essay argues that a feature that helped define both forms—a turning away from the proscenium arch and a turning towards alternative contexts—continues to connect them.