Introducing the Inaugural Erie Dance Film Festival
Encouraging innovation and collaboration within Erie's dance community.
Erie Arts & Culture’s Board of Trustees would like to encourage innovation and collaboration within Erie’s dance community. To accomplish this, the agency’s Board approved allocating $12,500 from the agency’s reserves to fund the inaugural Erie Dance Film Festival.
The festival will be scheduled to tour throughout Erie County in 2021. Tauna Hunter, a member of Erie Arts & Culture’s Board of Trustees and a retired professor of dance at Mercyhurst University, is chairing a task force composed of members for Erie’s dance community. The task force will help design and launch the initiative. The film festival will highlight dance for camera, a film genre that merges performance and film aesthetics. In addition to bolstering dance in Erie County, this initiative also supports efforts to advance filmmaking in Northwestern Pennsylvania.
Presently, the task force is seeking Erie-based choreographers & filmmakers, 18 years and older, who are interested in collaborating to choreograph and film content to be included in the festival. The objective is to pair choreographers from different dance organizations with filmmakers based on their interest in suggested thematic subjects. The task force is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusivity within dance in Erie County.
Applicants do not need a formal education in the arts, but will be asked to demonstrate a commitment to both their artistic discipline and process. Applicants are also asked to demonstrate a commitment to the community and an interest in exploring the intersectionality between the arts and social, environmental, racial, and economic justice. Applicants and all project collaborators are required to be residents of Erie County. The application will be available at erieartsandculture.org and submissions are due by 5:00 PM EST on September 11, 2020. Launching in May 2021, the Erie Dance Film Festival will present a series of films that will include nationally and internationally renowned dance for camera choreography and films, as well as content that was choreographed and filmed in Erie County. The series will tour various Erie venues throughout the late spring and summer of 2021, including a presentation at the Erie Blues and Jazz Festival in August. The festival’s culminating event will be held in October at the Erie Festival of Dance, presented by the Erie Dance Consortium.
The applications open on August 11 below:
Photography provided by Mark Santillano. Mark is the co-director of SoMar Dance Works, and Assistant Professor of Dance at Mercyhurst University.
About the Dance Film Task Force:
Jennifer Dennehy
Jennifer Dennehy is the owner of Kinetic Creativity: Enabling Dance for All and teaching artist through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Internationally recognized performing artist, educator, and choreographer. Jennifer is the proud recipient of the 2015 Erie Arts & CultureArtist Bruce Morton Wright Artist of the Year Award and an Emerging Artist Fellowship in 2018.
Jacqueline George
Jacqueline George is an award-winning film producer. Some of her credits include The Cheetah Girls, Batman and Robin, Richie Rich, Demolition Man, Dick Tracy, Searching For David’s Heart (Humanitas Prize winner), and Out For Justice. Upon returning to Erie, she taught a film class at the Downtown Erie YMCA. She is Board President of Dafmark Dance Theater, and a Board Member at BEST.
Carla B. Hughes
Carla B. Hughes is a professional dancer, choreographer and actress, who currently teaches dance for the Erie School District. She holds a BA in Dance from Point Park University, and an MFA in Performance and Dance Education, from The Ohio State University. Carla is the Artistic Director of her solo performance company, SheWorks Dance Theatre and a rostered Teaching Artist for the PA Council of the Arts, Arts in Education Program.
Tauna Hunter (Chair)
Tauna Hunter (Chair) is a retired professional dancer, teacher and choreographer. She holds an MFA from University of Utah. She performed with Ballet West, Colorado Ballet and the Dallas Ballet. Ms. Hunter acted as Professor and Chair of Dance at Mercyhurst University and currently serves as a board member for Erie Arts & Culture.
Mark Santillano
Mark Santillano is co-director of SoMar Dance Works, and Assistant Professor of Dance at Mercyhurst University. As a dancer, choreographer, educator he is interested in interdisciplinary, multi-media works. Mark is the proud recipient of the Erie Arts & Culture Artist Fellowship; his work has been seen around the world.
