Dancer

Dara Friedman is a one of a kind contemporary filmographer, video and performance artist and she lives right here in Miami with her equally talented pop artist husband, Mark Handforth. Dara creates film and video installations using an interesting structuralist film making technique that feels like a modern day Alfred Hitchcock movie.  She has an uncanny ability to find the right dancer for each stage of her musical story board.  Watching her in action is a sight to behold.  She is like the orchestral conductor directing her dancers to reverse, loop, twirl and sometimes juggle fire.  Dara heightens the emotional sensory impact by altering familiar sounds and sights and thereby drawing attention to the distinct acts of hearing and seeing.  You will be mesmerized and captivated by the changing camera speed that seems to slow down time.

Early last year Dara filmed one of her segments for Dancer on location at the Miami Art Museum.  She had flamenco, ballet, modern, break, ballroom dancing and yes, fire dancers robustly dancing across the Miami-Dade County Cultural Plaza.  The film production took about a month to complete and there were about 60 performers and 40 segments in total.  The dancers performed improvisational dance pieces during the day or at night, in downtown Miami, in parks and the top floor of the Cultural parking garage.  The parking garage segment had to be filmed from a van driving down north on I-95.

During Art Basel Miami Beach 2011, Dancer was presented on the video wall of the New World Center as well as at the MAM Gala.  Hopefully, Ms. Friedman’s wonderful tribute to the human body will be displayed on the exterior video wall of the future New Miami Art Museum slated to be completed in 2013. It’s worth the wait!

By Tina Cornely