'Dance/Screen: Innovative International Dance Films'
Tues/25, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

ISN'T IT IRONIC that our society – which prides itself on being so technologically savvy – is still severely lacking in some areas? Take the case of dance on camera: wouldn't you imagine that this art form would thrive in a country that more or less invented movies? Yet even in California, dance on-screen, instead of onstage, has a hard time finding its place. Moviemakers don't seem to be all that interested, and neither are dancers, with a few exceptions, like Los Angeles's Viktoria Marks and locals Rebecca Salzer and Cynthia Pepper. Charlotte Shoemaker's program of "Innovative International Dance Films" (sponsored by San Francisco Performances) emphasizes just how huge and diversified this art form has become in the past decade. For most of the year, her "Dance/Screen" series focuses on artists who also have live performances scheduled in San Francisco. This time she collects the cream of the crop from around the world. Among the nine films – primarily from the U.K. and Scandinavia, and some quite short – is "Black Spring," choreographed by Heddy Maalem, a vital African dance artist helping make that continent a hotbed for contemporary dance. 7 p.m., 701 Mission, S.F. $4-$7. (415) 978-ARTS, www.performances.org. (Rita Felciano)