Three Cheers for Dance at the Tribeca Film Festival

April 17, 2013

Dance and film are like peanut butter and jelly—two flavors that are unbeatable alone, but often more delicious together. So it’s not all that surprising that dance has claimed a few spots in this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, which opened last night, April 17, in downtown Manhattan.

 

Two featured documentaries:

 

1. Dancing in Jaffa, directed by Hilla Medalia, follows dance educator and ballroom extraordinaire Pierre Dulaine to the Middle East, where he instills his famous Dancing Classrooms curriculum to encourage Israeli and Palestinian children to come together—sort of an international sequel to the amazing 2005 documentary Mad Hot Ballroom. Watch the trailer here, and get hooked.

 

2. Flex is Kings, directed by Deidre Schoo and Michael Beach Nichols, showcases Brooklyn-based street dancers at their finest and rawest. It’s a glimpse into the unique world of Flexing—a style that’s equal parts dance battle, crazy contortion, and liquid footwork—and the artists who do it, support it, promote it, and evolve it. You can watch the trailer here. (An expletive is used, viewers advised.)

 

And one legendary choreographer:

 

Twyla Tharp is among 21 honorees who will receive a 2013 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award on April 26. (Other awardees include Morgan Spurlock, Forbes Magazine, and Psy.) Tharp, however, will take home the cake—she’s accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award. She’s no stranger to the silver screen either, having choreographed Oscar-winning films Amadeus and White Nights, as well as Hair and Ragtime.

 

For more: tribecafilm.com