The adaptation of Professionalism

Artists have collaborated with others to further enhance their own work consistently. With particular attention in response to my own practise, Screen Dance has too been apart of this collaboration. Screen Dance involves a very multidisciplinary approach to film. It employs music, dance, film and art to allow a deep engagement to the overall art piece. Its foundations lay with Maya Deren, influenced by some of the major cinematographers and directors of her time such as that of Hitchcock, Welles, Chaplin, Bergman etc. However her primary influences do not come from film but rather her experiences with Dance and Literature. As a professional writer and English major Deren brings together all of the primary elements and takes upon approaches like that of Merce Cunningham where the performance becomes more expressive and contributes to this with her own artistic input allowing both the camera and the environment to become entities of the art work. This continued with Hilary Harris in the 50s' and 60s' when he employs professionalism to his work with professional dancers as he and indeed Deren, jointly agreed that the strength a professional performer will bring to piece enhances the visual experience for the voyeur allowing further interpretation and a greater enriching concept.

Maya Deren A Study in Choreography for Camera 1945

Hilary Harris Nine Variations of a Dance Theme 1966