Dance Tampa Bay seeks dancers for film project

Dance Tampa Bay has a call out for dancers who would like to submit a performance clip for the second part of their four-part film project “Dance Rising Tampa Bay.”

January 6th is the deadline to register to be part of the project. An instructional webinar at 10 a.m. on January 10th will cover film techniques and tips for producing video choreography/content. The deadline for submissions is February 7th. 

Dance Rising Tampa Bay is four separate short films that feature a compilation of local dancers performing. Each film in the series has a distinct theme. The first part, “Tampa Iconic,” features dancers performing at landmark locations around Tampa, including Tampa International Airport, the University of Tampa, Ballast Point Park, Ben T. Davis Beach, Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park, the USF Botanical Gardens and Centennial Park in Ybor. The full version is available to watch on YouTube and a 10-second version is playing on Tampa all the Downtown Partnership kiosks and at USF and Blake High School kiosks. 

Dance Tampa Bay Executive Director Shana Corrada says the nonprofit group also expects to show the film as a preshow at the Tampa Theater and at the Gasparilla Film Festival. 

The films are a compilation of short video clips of several dancers produced by Mad Bear Productions, with music by local artists, Sean Bucheck and Nick Ewing. The series is funded by an Arts Council of Hillsborough County Community Arts Impact Grant.

The theme for the upcoming second part in the series is “The Power of Water.” Dancers’ performances should be in a natural setting that features water. The next short film will also feature vocalist/activist Fred Johnson, the artist-in-residence at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts.

Dance Rising Tampa Bay is inspired by Dance Rising NYC, which launched when dance companies and performances were shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic as a grassroots advocacy, performance, and video project. Corrada used her industry connections to bring the project to Tampa Bay.

“This an opportunity for local artists to present their dance films in a grassroots project,” a Dance Tampa Bay press release says. “Four dance film compilations will be created from videos collected from four open calls to Hillsborough County artists. The purpose of this project is to increase awareness and appreciation of the dance arts, encourage the creation of dance films, expand the visibility of dance in our county, and feature local artists. Dance Rising will provide greater access to dance for our area by including free and open calls to artists sent to our eclectic dance community.”

For more information and to register, go to Dance Rising Tampa Bay The Power of Water

For prior coverage, go to New nonprofit Dance Tampa Bay on mission to cultivate vibrant dance community in Bay Area