Screen.Dance – Scotland’s Festival of Dance

Originally set to take place in Edinburgh’s magnificently vibrant arts space Summerhall, Screen.Dance, Scotland’s Festival of Dance on Screen, will shift to an online format – presenting a digital programme from Friday 19th – Saturday 20th June. Drawing together dancers, choreographers, artists, film producers and musicians, the event will showcase work across the nation and beyond, forging unity from the local to national and international artists.

Seeking to create a hybrid of enriched cinema, intersecting movement with image, this festival (unique to Scotland) presents a programme of forty-two short films which from across the globe, with a focus on movement & dance. More than a simple series of curated pieces of choreography, films will hone on the discussions, debates, and conversations on the relationships between filmmaking, dance, activism, and social justice with a programme traversing gender, race, disability and social, economic and political issues.

Hosted by The Works Room Glasgow and the European maPs project from Paris, Screen.Dance will be streaming programmes located in a specific area of their website, with presentations and films beginning from 11 am, Friday 19th June. With support from Film Hub Scotland, the festival will include two world premieres; Navigation by Marlene Millar and Floor Falls by Abby Warrilow, and Jennifer Patterson; a newly commissioned one-minute dance film supported by Creative Scotland.

On the subject of the festival, Screen.Dance Festival Artistic Director Simon Fildes said:

“It’s been so exciting to be able to work with the team at Summerhall, and move the apt genre of Screen.Dance, online. We are incredibly honoured to bring together work from Scotland and the UK, alongside work from countries such as Canada, China, India, and the USA; connecting award-winning artists and audiences to dance and digital...

Alongside films, presentations and discussions, we are delighted to have been able to commission work under the new one minute Screen.Dance commissioning scheme, produced by the company GO/AT, showcasing our commitment to supporting Scottish artists to make high quality work that can be exhibited in a competitive international platform showcase.”

Additionally, Screen.Dance Associate Curator Iliyana Nedkova discussed the programmes representation and variety in genre:

“We are so excited to be continuing to curate and programme work across the Screen.Dance genre – bringing together incredible artists, choreographers, dancers, film-makers and musicians...

We are proud that the two world premieres this year make up the fact that the programme sees 50:50 gender representation, as we continue to push to bring a mix of artists from across fields into the spotlight.”