Black Dance Film Improvisations: A Day-Long Creation Workshop for Black dancers and/or filmmakers

Workshop with Ella Cooper
Saturday, October 19th, 2019—12:15pm

Inviting dancers and filmmakers (all levels) of the Black African Diaspora to participate in the creation of short improvised dance filmworks in this unique day-long workshop led by multidisciplinary artist and dance filmmaker Ella Cooper.

In this workshop, participants will dance together and build improvised choreographies for the camera. Ella will share her ‘Dance Film in a Day’ technique that led to a five-episode dance film series on Bell Media and short dance film works that have made official selection at international dance film festivals and the Canada Council Art Bank Gallery.

In this intensive workshop, Ella will also teach filmmaking techniques using DSLR, Go Pro, mobile and mirrorless cameras, and lead the group through the basics of dance film cinematography and editing as a form of choreography. The goal is that at the end of this workshop, each two- or three-person team will have created one short 30-60 second site-specific dance piece.

Materials: While equipment will be supplied, it is ideal if all participants could bring laptops with Adobe Premiere (the trial version is fine) installed. Also personal cameras, cell phones, tripods, or sound recorders are all welcome as well.

Space is limited and registration is required. Please email school@gallerytpw.ca to sign up for this workshop.

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Biography

Ella Cooper is an award winning filmmaker, interdisciplinary artist, photographer, impact producer, and facilitator based in Toronto. Cooper’s creative practice explores themes of racialized identity, Canadian diaspora, reclamation, embodied landscapes, ecstatic nudes, contemporary dance, and representations of the Black female body in Western visual culture. Her work has been presented in galleries, public spaces, festivals, and for broadcast across Canada, the US, and Europe. This includes the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Canada Council’s Art Bank gallery, Cinedans, and Bell Media with recent dance film screenings and exhibitions in Berlin, Amsterdam, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Cooper receives continued support from the Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council, as well as being a recipient of a City of Vancouver award, a 2017 Toronto Arts Council Cultural Leader and a recent artist in residence for at the Banff Centre for the Arts. As the founder of Black Women Film! Canada she is passionate about creating and facilitating transformational leadership and arts equity programs for diverse communities in Canada, US, Jamaica, and South Africa. She is one of the top featured artists on CBC Arts ‘The Exhibitionists’ and enjoys being a featured speaker and guest facilitator for national and international conferences.