Partners in art

More than a naked snow man: Dance with Camera blurs the line between artist andlens

robbinschilds + A.L. Steiner, "C.L.U.E. Part I," 2007, is part of Dance withCamera.
Joachim Koester, "Tarantism," is one of the exhibits that might make you rethinkhow dance and camera interact.
Bruce Conner, "BREAKAWAY," a 1966, black-and-white film
Kelly Nipper, "interval," 2000, four framed chromogenic process color prints,Museum of Contemporary Art and gift of the Disaronno Originale PhotographyCollection

A naked man dances in the snow, while the late modern dance legend Merce Cunningham sits motionless at the opposite end of the room. A tarantella ritual explodes with a brutal raw energy, while Trisha Brown slows down time in a tucked away corner.

All of this made me stop in my tracks for Dance with Camera at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston running now through Oct. 17.

"With" is the operative word in this show.

"I describe the exhibit like a pas de deux, where the camera is partnering with dance," says Jenelle Porter, curator of the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at the University of Pennsylvania and Dance with Camera curator.

"These are the works of visual artists. They only exist for the camera. None are records of a dance."

Porter makes us wonder, how a camera is like a dancer, in that it too moves, has a quality of motion, and is able to show us new and unconsidered angles for viewing. The camera is the dancer we never see, unless Charles Atlas, Cunningham's longtime video collaborator, happens to be involved. The exhibit includes two remarkable films by Atlas, one that turns the tables on the filmmaker.

A room full of dancers mid-motion packs a wallop whether it's live or on camera, so Porter isn't remotely surprised by my reaction.

"I did work with Toby Kamps on the floor plan for CAMH, but it's so different," Porter says. "At ICA, the show was more on a path, so the pacing was very planned. In the CAM installation, there are so many works in your view immediately. You can see almost everything from the midpoint of the space. That moment of seeing all those bodies moving in space came just slightly later in my version, so there was at first this kind of moment of quiet and stillness.

"For me, it was important to have bodies at all different scales, both time scales and size scales. Some pieces are so slow, even still, and some are exuberant and frenetic. My experience of the show is quite the same as yours, dazzled, as it was for many viewers in Philadelphia."

Not everything is in motion. Kelly Nipper's sequence of photographs, interval (2000), asks us to connect the dots ourselves, stringing together what happens between these images. "Opening with the Nipper photographs immediately throws off your expectation of the dance and the camera, and puts you in a position to be open to all these different types of relationships between the dancer and the camera," Porter says.

Dance with Camera is filled with abundant treasures, so pace yourself, visit often. Here are some of the dances that caught my eye.

Bruce Nauman's Dance or Exercise on the Perimeter of a Square (1967-68) might take a little explanation. Nauman is a conceptual artist, not a dancer, yet he lived and worked around the renegade energy of the Judson Dance Theatre, coming into contact with such icons of an era as Yvonne Rainer. The written instructions for Nauman's piece begin with the words, "Hire a dancer."

He didn't, and the result has become a signature performance archive. The constant clicking of the metronome becomes the unattended soundtrack for the show.

Equally curious is the zany fake ballerina, Eleanor Antin in Caught in the Act (1973). Antin learned ballet from a book and well, it shows, making a very witty comment on pretense. Antin reveals what usually remains hidden, bringing the usual ethereal nature of ballet crashing down to earth with a thud and a snicker.

Another group of non-dancers grabbed my attention in Ann Carlson and Mary Ellen Strom's film of lawyers acting out the gestures from their lives in Sloss, Kerr, Rosenberg & Moore (2007). Carlson is famous for using real people in her dances, and here the authenticity is particularly powerful.

Bruce Conner's Breakaway (1966) busts entertainer Tony Basil into a million cuts, laying the groundwork of what would become music video decades later. Basil, recently seen on FOX reality show, So You Think You Can Dance as a guest judge, also performs the song. It's mesmerizing and considerably more interesting than what you would find on MTV any day.

Porter includes a little history corner. Plan to park there for at least 30 minutes or make several short visits. Here you can watch Brown dancing in real time and then again in slow motion in Babette Mangolte's Water Motor (1978).

It's like getting a little closer to Brown's uncanny sense of flow. There's a rare chance to watch William Forsythe dance in Solo (1997), directed by Thomas Lovell Balogh. Rainer's Hand Movie (1966) reveals the camera as a way to direct our attention to the protean dexterity of the human hand. But it may be Hilary Harris' Nine Variations on a Dance Film (1966) that kept me most transfixed.

The amazing Bettie de Jong repeats the same phrase over and over while the camera chooses a different way of showing us the movement. It's a chance to see exactly how a camera can deconstruct choreography.

The exhibit is loaded with community events, film showings and performances. Houston choreographer and filmmaker Lydia Hance of FrameDance collaborates with Rosie Trump for Points and Coordinates on Sept. 16. Anthony Brandt of Musiqa plans a Loft Concert with video by Be Johnny on Sept. 23. The Judson icon Deborah Hay presents Lecture on the Performance of Beauty on Oct. 2, while the exhibit wraps up with Navigating the Hallway, including dances by Leslie Scates, KDNY, Becky Valls, Teresa Chapman and Core Performance Company.

Oh, about that naked guy in the snow.

The Luis Jacob film is called A Dance for Those of Us Whose Hearts Have Turned to Ice, based on the Choreography of Francoise Sullivan and the Sculpture of Barbara Hepworth (2007). Keith Cole, a well-known performance artist, actually makes several references to Sullivan's dances during his snow dance. He is most definitely performing just for the camera, and for you, too, should you happen to wander into Dance with Camera.

Hilary Harris shows us every angle in Nine Variations on a Dance Theme (1966):

Movie Review

An all-star cast delivers clever laughs in new comedy The Invite

Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton in The Invite

Photo courtesy of A24

Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton in The Invite.

Once upon a time, well before scandal embroiled him, Woody Allen made great comedies aimed at adults. That type of film — which is different from the raunchy, R-rated comedies of the 21st century — has fallen out of favor in Hollywood, but as the new film The Invite proves, when done well it can be as funny as anything else out there.

Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela (Olivia Wilde) are an unhappily married couple living in San Francisco. As we meet them, Joe has arrived home to Angela preparing for a visit from their upstairs neighbors, Hawk (Edward Norton) and Piña (Penélope Cruz), who have moved in relatively recently. Their impending arrival starts a new round of arguing between Joe and Angela, something they can barely contain once the other couple comes to their door.

What proceeds is a getting-to-know-you process that is mostly awkward as Joe and Angela continue sniping at each other while Hawk and Piña put in their two cents in a much calmer manner. A sticking point between the two couples — the loud sex Hawk and Piña have on an almost nightly basis — turns the film on its head with an unexpected invitation.

Directed by Wilde and written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, the film is a fast-paced chamber piece that takes place almost entirely in Joe and Angela’s apartment. Wilde, the writers, and the actors speed the story along not with action but through almost non-stop dialogue that often has the characters overlapping each other’s lines. The rapidity of the speech fuels the humor of the situation and establishes the differing personalities of each person.

Sex is very much top of mind for each of the characters for most of the film, but the filmmakers approach the topic in such a way that it never feels salacious. Each of the characters is a rational adult who can talk about sex in a mature manner while also acknowledging their unique feelings on the matter. And it’s the discoveries each of them makes along the way that brings about the most comedy.

But, like any comedy for adults, the film also has a dramatic tilt to it, and Wilde edges the story back-and-forth between the two tones extremely well. Joe and Angela fighting is played for laughs at times, but the sadness of their relationship comes through loud and clear. Hawk and Piña are much more intimate with each other, but the funniness of their openness is juxtaposed with a depth that arises through their conversations.

In the 2020s, Rogen has managed to make the transition from goofy stoner to stoner with real acting chops. In a stacked cast, he is the one who sells every moment the best. That’s not to say that Wilde, Norton, and Cruz don’t measure up, though; each of them inhabits their respective roles magnificently. The four actors play off each other as if they had been working together for years.

While The Invite will likely play better to those who have experience with long term relationships, its insights — and occasional bawdiness — make it a comedy that can be appreciated universally. With four actors at the top of their games and a razor-sharp script made even better by some well-done improv, it proves that you don’t need to go low to get great laughs.

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The Invite is now playing in theaters.

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