DANCE SCENES

May 11

Guest Editor: Eva Alt

DANCE SCENES

Eva Alt is a dance artist based in New York City whose work spans various disciplines across practice, choreography, teaching, writing, new media, and performance—and presents ballet as a vital social practice and tool for living a beautiful life.

Dancer in the Dark, 2000, Lars Von Trier

I've referenced this scene so many times for various projects. Selma, played by Bjork, is a factory worker who is losing her sight, and trying to provide for her son. She loves music and dance and daydreams during the day while she is at work. In this scene the sounds and people around her transform into a full on musical number. To me it represents how we see art and beauty in the everyday, even in dark times.

The Red Shoes, 1948, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

This is the definitive dance film, the one that inspires all of the others, as well as plenty of non-dance films. Most dancers see it when they are very young, and it's quite disturbing actually. The 15 minute long dance sequence is one of the most iconic and daring scenes, and it continues to be unprecedented to have a dance number run this long in a movie.

White Nights, 1985, Taylor Hackford

Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines, what's not to love?

Let the Sunshine In, 2017, Claire Denis

I saw this film recently, as I am a huge fan of Juliette Binoche. I haven't been able to stop thinking about the scene in the bar where she starts dancing alone to Etta James' "At Last" and a perfect stranger comes up to her and they dance together for the entire song. There's no words, no introduction, yet it's incredibly intimate and sensual. It reminds me of something the late, great, dancer Jacques D'Amboise said: "when you dance together, you fall in love".