ABSTRACT
Many dance artists are suspicious of the camera. They expect a polite and restrained instrument that won’t interfere with the “real” audience. But the camera is a great audience! It pays closer attention than anyone in a theater seat. It questions, it seeks, and it doesn’t blink. Its position and movement shape and warp the universe that will be perceived on the screen. Like a choreographer, the camera defines a space, places subjects in the space, and moves them through that space. The angle of the camera emphasizes some people, movements, and expressions more than others. There are conventions of good camera work, but the results are best when the operator goes beyond skill and feels what is happening. Dance is often about the artist’s expression; film and video are entirely about audience empathy, mediated by the filmmaker.
