Larissa Rojas in The Heart of a Child a 2024 Ohio State Department of Dance Film Student Showcase film. Credit: Courtesy of the Wexner Center for the Arts
Final film showcases are often associated with the moving-image production major, but Ohio State dance students are helping reshape that expectation.
With help from the Wexner Center for the Arts, the Department of Dance Film Student Showcase will be held at the center’s Film/Video Theater Monday at 6 p.m. According to the center’s website, the showcase will feature 16 student-produced short films from the past academic year, created in courses such as Dance Film I and Film/Video II: Experimental Strategies, as well as select MFA thesis projects.
Dave Filipi, head of film and video at the center, said though dance films have been screened at the center before, this year’s program is the first to be held at the end of the academic year, serving as a culmination of work from multiple classes.
“For quite a few years now, we’ve done something called ‘Dance at 30 Frames Per Second’ with the dance department,” Filipi said. “That’s been a night of curated dance films that the faculty and students in the dance department put together, but this is the first time we’ve done this.”
Filipi said for several years, the center has held a similar showcase for the moving-image production students, but thought it would be beneficial to host something similar for dance students.
“I was just talking with Kym [McDaniel], and I said, ‘We could do something similar with your dance students,’” Filipi said. “This first year, it won’t be only graduating seniors; it’ll be students from throughout the department, but we’ll see where it goes.”
McDaniel, assistant professor of dance, film and digital technologies, said she was immediately on board when Filipi approached her with the idea. She said working in film offers a valuable outlet for creative expression, particularly for students outside of film-related majors, as it lets them explore and share their ideas in a new way.
“For me, there’s a couple functions of working on film,” McDaniel said. “It gives students and artists an opportunity to deepen and expand their practice, and a new understanding of choreography. Through editing techniques, sound design and the framing and composition of the camera, they get to deepen their creative inquiry and their choreographic voice in a new art medium.”
McDaniel said film can also serve as an alternative medium for dancers whose physical ability may be limited.
“Often, dancers’ careers are cut short due to injury, or illness or other things that happen to the body since it’s such a heavy physical practice; so for me, film actually provides an access tool,” McDaniel said. “It gives folks who might be dealing with an injury or illness a way to continue their practice that doesn’t necessarily rely on being physically 100%.”
McDaniel said though the showcase is limited to students enrolled in dance classes, not all participants are dance majors — something she believes creates a rare opportunity for students from different fields to share their perspectives.
“I was teaching in a cinema department before I got this position,” McDaniel said. “I really love having that mixture in the room between film students and dance students, because I feel like they have really different perspectives on art making, and I feel like it really informs class critiques to have such a variety of perspectives in the room.”
Admission for the showcase is free, though registration is preferred. Tickets can be reserved online via the Wexner Center’s website.
