Dear friends and collegues,

There has been so much going on in this part of the world. First of all, Melik Karapetyan from the National Gallery of Armenia and myself established the very first dance film festival in Yerevan, Armenia - KINO-PAR that took place September 28 - October 1, 2006. I hope that the festival will continue there and will bring dance film to the Caucasian Mountains region.

Second, I am happy to let you know that this year KINODANCE Festival (Russia) (kinodance.com/russia) is celebrating its 5th year and has been taking place  in

* Ekaterinburg (Center for Contemporary Art, House of Actor) – October 17 – October 19, 2006
* Moscow (Dance Agency TSEKH and Aktovy Zal) - October 20– October 22, 2006
* St. Petersburg (House of Cinema, Pro Arte Institute, British Council) – November 8 – November 17, 2006

The festival is made possible with support from Trust for Mutual Understanding, British Council, Kannon Dance Center, ProArte Institute, DOM KINO, City of St. Petersburg, Dance Films Association, American Masters, TTV Festival (Italy) Central Partnership, American Consulate in St. Petersburg, Action Now!, Afisha, Moscow Dance Agency TSEKH and Aktovy Zal, Center for Contemporary Art in Ekaterinburg .

Every time I curate a new KINODANCE program, I redefine and rediscover cine-dance, looking for its traces in both different film genres and at the crossroads of the art of motion pictures (whether cinema, video art or even gallery installations) and other art forms. Curating a festival is similar to making a film, only in the KINODANCE case the subject matter stays always the same – it is about magnificent aspects of choreography on screen – choreography as an art of orchestrating action in space and time. So here are the “episodes” of KINODANCE 2006 in St. Petersburg:

• Dance Film Collaboration
(Films, performance, installation by Liz Aggiss and Billy Cowie (UK) - both in person in St. Petersburg)

• Dance Film History
(Gene Kelly (American Hollywood Cinema) and Ed Emshwiller (American Avante-Garde Cinema))

• Dance Film Artist in Focus
(David Hinton (UK) and Charles Atlas (USA) - both in person in St. Petersburg)

• Beyond the Stage
(David LaChapelle’s “RIZE” with krumping from the streets of Los Angeles)

• From the Festivals Around the World (some of the best dance films from recent festivals – including Wim Wandekeybus’ “Blush” and William Forsythe/Thierry De Mey collaboration “One Flat Thing Reproduced”)

• Performance Art in Motion
(Marina Abramovic and Meredith Monk)

• Film as a Plastic Art: Canvas in Motion
(a collage of mesmerizing visual dances from animation to video art)

• Choreography: Music Video (a collection of 19 spectacularly choreographed music videos from 9 countries)

• All Time Favorites (dance film classics of the popular audience’s demand including Peter Greenaway’s “Rosa”, DV8’s “Cost of Living" and others)

This year’s KINODANCE is composed of 15 programs of over 60 films by artists from 23 countries (UK, USA, New Zealand, Belgium, France, Nigeria, Slovenia, Australia, Canada, Poland, Italy, Japan, Uruguay, Denmark, Mexico as well as Romania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Georgia, Armenia, Estonia and Hungary). For the second time, KINODANCE will hold a Dance Film Competition for works created by artists from Eastern Europe, Baltic States and the CIS. The winner will be announced at the closing ceremony on November 17, 2006, in St. Petersburg.

For detailed information about the program,  KINODANCE competition, workshop with David Hinton, workshop with Charles Atlas, installation with Billy Cowie and Liz Aggiss, please visit our website at http://kinodance.com/russia/

Please e-mail all your questions to Alla Kovgan, akovgan@kinodance.com

I wish you could all be here...

warmly and best,
Alla Kovgan,
International Director and Curator