EMPAC - The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY- announces the 2008 guidelines for the DANCE MOViES Commission. This is an open call for artists, choreographers, dancers, filmmakers based in the Americas working in the genre of dance for the screen.

The EMPAC DANCE MOViES Commission will support the creation of experimental works for the screen which may vary widely in content and form, yet are united by the fact that the image on the screen was crafted by, or in collaboration with, a choreographer or movement-based artist. Up to 3 commissions will be awarded in the range of $7,000 - $50,000.

This year, with the opening of the EMPAC building in the fall of 2008, artists may apply to create their DANCE MOViES works in conjunction with the Artist-in-Residence program. Works commissioned may take advantage of EMPAC’s spaces and technology, using infrastructure such as computer-controlled rigging or large-scale immersive studio environments.

Backed by the Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts, the DANCE MOViES Commission supports works for the screen including film, video, installation and other audio-visual formats. The works may be narrative in nature or abstract; they may range in length (up to 20 minutes).

In 2007, its inaugural year, EMPAC’s DANCE MOViES Commission received more than 150 applications from dance-filmmakers in North and South America. As the first major US-based commissioning program available to dance-film artists in the Americas, the DANCE MOViES Commission represents an important opportunity for those working at the intersection of the moving body and the moving image.

The four commissioned projects in 2007 included a poetic film based on the autobiographical account of an U.S.-based African choreographer returning to dance in Zimbabwe; a work featuring American veterans of war; an Argentinean video interlacing pure movement, form and architecture; and a piece in which a contemporary Russian dancer is viewed in the aesthetic context of a post-Soviet surveillance society. They will premier at the opening of EMPAC in October 2008.

The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), founded by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is dedicated to work which explores the integration of technology, media and the performing arts. Through the DANCE MOViES Commission, EMPAC aims to support and encourage the development of the genre of dance film and video in the Americas.

More information, guidelines and application instructions accessible at www.empac.rpi.edu.

The application deadline is February 15, 2008

Contact: Helene Lesterlin, EMPAC Dance Curator at 518.276.3918 or dancemovies@rpi.edu.