In Memoriam 2014
2014
In Memoriam 2014 is a dance film created in response to the centenary of WW1 by a cast from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Directed by Valerie Preston-Dunlop and film-maker Roswitha Chesher, this film captures the essence of a movement choir created by 100 dancers and musicians aged nine to eighty, performing in the sculptured amphitheatre at Trinity Laban's Faculty of Dance in London.
Recreating Laban's Solos and Duos 1924
2013
These short, pithy pieces inspire laughter, awe, shock, delight, curiosity and more. Seven are presented here: Mondäne, Krystall, Marotte, Orchidée, Ekstatische,
Rosetten and Bizarre.
Valerie Preston-Dunlop, has researched and recreated these unique works, with Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance alumni, assisted by Alison Curtis-Jones and musician Robert Coleridge. Valerie introduces each dance, describing their content and the process of their recreation.
Recreating Laban's Der Schwingende Tempel
2012
Der Schwingende Tempel (1922) sets out to present a radical form of dance theatre that prioritises the creativity of the performers in a time when ballet was the norm. A deeply spiritual work made at a time of post WW1, it presents a struggle for the individual temperament in a time of dehumanisation. Influenced by Laban's Rosicrucian belief and Expressionism, this hopeful work contrasts with his satires critiquing the decadence of the culture of the Weimar interwar years seen in Nacht (1927) and Die Grünen Clowns (1928).
Living Architecture
Rudolf Laban and the Geometry of Dance
2008
Living Architecture presents, for the first time, Laban's space harmony dance material, its geometric basis and the spiritual philosophy that is embedded in it.
Researched and presented by dance practitioners Anna Carlisle and Valerie Preston-Dunlop, and directed by Becky Edmunds, it includes dance material and discussion with excerpts from interviews with sacred geometry specialist Professor Keith Critchlow and Rosicrucian author Christopher McIntosh.
Recreating Laban's Die Grünen Clowns
2008
A recreation, performed by Trinity Laban Conservatoire dancers, of the Laban's Die Grünen Clowns, (Green Clowns), a response to the dehumanising aspects of modernity following WW1. The performance of the short work is followed by a fifty minute documentary, directed by Lesley-Anne Sayers, discussing the piece and its recreation by Alison Curtis-Jones, based on resources researched by Valerie Preston-Dunlop. The methodology and cultural context are presented through discussions with Ramsay Burt and footage of the dancers' rehearsals.
Recreating Laban's Nacht
2008
Nacht (1927) comments on 'the love of dollars, deceit and depravity' of city life in the depressed post WWI years of the Weimar Republic.
The performance (19 minutes), by dancers from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, focuses on Alison Curtis-Jones's recreation of the dance, based on research by Valerie Preston-Dunlop.
In the documentary section of the DVD (29 minutes) historian Dr. Martin Hargreaves interviews Dr. Preston-Dunlop and Alison Curtis-Jones with illustrations from Weimar artists and footage of class, rehearsal and performance to provide insights into Rudolf Laban's experimental theatre work, the culture that surrounded him, and the nature of recreation as a dynamic engagement with the dance heritage.
The American Invasion
1962-1972
2005
This fascinating DVD, presented and narrated by Valerie Preston-Dunlop, follows the confrontation between the pioneers of American and British modern dance in the UK, through interviews with the participants and archive film clips, and documents the difficulties and opportunities they faced. Among those taking part are Rosemary Butcher, Robert Cohan, Gordon Curl, William Elmhirst, Janet Goodridge, David Henshaw, Jennifer Holbrook, Stuart Hopps, June Layson, Sue MacLennan, Dorothy Madden, Marion North, Lorn Primrose, Kenneth Rinker, Janet Smith, Sam Thornton, and Lorna Wilson.
Rudolf Laban's Dance Works
1990
Where did the revitalisation of 20th century creative dance begin? In Europe it began with Laban.
This short documentary shows the first attempts to re-find some of Rudolf Laban's early dance works, by faculty and dancers from the Laban Centre in London. The works excerpted include Krystall, Orchdée, Dithyrambus, Marotte, Mondane, Oben und Unten, Ekstatische Zweimannertanz and Die Grünen Clowns.