Sarah Dahnke is a Brooklyn-based choreographer, multimedia artist, and arts educator. She has earned a bachelors in dance performance from Oklahoma City University and a masters in new media and performance from New York University. As a dancer she has toured the U.S. and Europe, performing everywhere from the south of France to Lollapalooza with dance companies and bands such as Chicago Tap Theater, Undertoe Dance Project, Suite 132 Dance Company, Jigsaw Soul and The Polyphonic Spree. Under the name Round Tuit Dance Project, Dahnke’s choreography for stage and video has been showcased nationwide at venues such as Dance Theater Workshop, The Kitchen, CPR-Center for Performance Research, 319 Scholes, DUO Multicultural Arts Center, Milkbar, Hyde Park Arts Center, Ruth Page Center for the Arts, Gowanus Ballroom, and Grace Exhibition Space. Sarah teaches dance and video throughout New York City through Spoke the Hub and The Tribeca Film Institute. She is a 2013 awardee of a grant from The Puffin Foundation.

+info: www.sarahdahnke.com

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In December 2014 Sarah Dahnke produced ‘A Song in the Wind’, an experimental film based performance piece, assisted by Ivan Zaldarriaga in Olango island.

* The preview of this project was screened at an event co-organized by QFS ART 003 in Cebu city at the end of the artist’s residency. Sarah Dahnke gave an artist talk and some of her previous videos were also be screened.

https://www.facebook.com/events/684912794941317/

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´A Song in the Wind´ [December 2014]

A storm. An army of children. A fiesta in the distance. A changing landscape. An unending strength and beauty. “A Song in the Wind” attempts to capture the ephemeral experience of daily life on Olango Island through movement and sound. Starring local citizens of the island as performers, this film is a dedication to and a celebration of community.

Direction/Choreography/Camera: Sarah Dahnke
Production: Ivan Zaldarriaga
Performers: Lucia Juezan , Robert B. Taneo, Jhon Freddie Igot, Rodelo T. Masobay, Eleazar A. Juezan, Dheyland I. Manuod, Jhon Riel Arong, Richard I. Capias, Stephen Sagarino, and the children of Olango.

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*CLICK on the pictures to see them FULL SIZE

+info: www.theunifiedfield.org/archives/4165

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“As an artist I use movement and film to tell stories. Dance allows for a physical, embodied storytelling, while film creates a rich visual that can be accompanied with oral storytelling. When I choreograph, it’s not just about creating dance steps. I’m more interested in the natural choreographies that exist within all people and the organic movements that are created from people who aren’t trained to dance. I believe that dance is everywhere, in the way that humans negotiate space, perform work, play games, and engage in routines, and I use the camera to frame and highlight these daily dances that may otherwise be overlooked.

During the residency I will be creating an experimental film based performance piece that explores what it means to be “from” a place. I will interview residents of the island on camera, asking them to talk about what it means to be from the Philippines and more specifically to be from Olango island. I am interested in autobiographical stories, oral histories, myths, parables, and any other ways the residents of this island speak about their culture. I will use these stories to weave together more experimental, movement based film sequences. I’m interested in using residents as performers, drawing from movements that are familiar to them: cultural dances, routine work, games, etc.”.

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Dirty, a dance film on Super-8 (2013).

Dancer: Elisabeth Asher
Trombone: Alex Asher
Direction and Camera by Sarah Dahnke

Dirty from Sarah Dahnke on Vimeo.