Act Without Words, choreographed by Anna Sokolow. Archived and uploaded by Kristoffe Brodeur. When it was uploaded, this is one of the only pieces he ever voluntarily showed me, without asking. Calling me into his office to check it out, me being a little confused.
Misc. collage of aikido and other footage, edited and archived by Kristoffe Brodeur
One song from a Bollywood film that was never made. I remember traveling with the group in Kenya where they were shooting at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, for some reason.
Short teaser from a film project I've never seen fully - Cerberus, which I also recall my dad calling "Cerberus, the Clown Warrior" and chuckling, trying to explain it to me. Created with video artist Skip Sweeney, music by Teiji Ito.
I found a brief review of the piece in an archive document of Video Free America compiled in 1978 by Joanne Kelly, written by Norma McClain Stoop.
Henry Smith, received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to make a video adaptation of his performance piece "Cerberus" . He came to San Francisco to make it . He created it at Video Free America, utilizing to a great extent the possibilities of Video Free America's "Video Lab" a custom built processor by Bill Hearn . The tape was presented in the August showing series with Henry Smith and the video crew of Skip Sweeney, Walt Louie, Joanne Kelly, and Amy Gissen answering questions from the audience on how it was made . Following is a review of the tape:
Henry Smith, director of Solaris Dance Theatre, has produced "Cerberus Video" shot on locations in San Francisco in May and August 1978, and given its European premiere at the American Cultural Center in Paris, France on October 11 . With Smith as artistic director and choreographer, Skip Sweeney, director of Video Free America, as video director, this stunning half hour of experimental video dance theatre emerges as a surrealistic work of art .
Though the striking music by Teiji Ito and the effective Orientally based costumes by Bosha Johnson and Kris Varjan impart a Far Eastern ritualistic ambience to Cerberus and though martial arts sequences are used in it, the work is also fascinatingly reminiscent of American Indian ritual dance. Henry Smith's portrayal of Cerberus, a warrior-clown, making his pilgrim's progress through time while constantly reminded, through Nietzche's words, that he'll have to live his life "again and again, times without number" shows a strong vulnerable, absurd figure universal in conception, lovable in execution .
The piece is subtitled, "A Journey to the Power of Self" and consists of segments with titles such as "Pursuit", "Routines", "Offerings", "The Need for Power", "Initiation", "The Test", "Death", "Judgment" . It's questionable whether these titles aid the progression of, or the viewers understanding of, this innovative work. In a mysterious place such as this, Mystery (rather than explanation) is the name of the game. To me it's a work about relationships : man's relationship to his enemies, to himself and to his gods, and is successful in depicting these varients of existence. The final monologue keened by Smith asking whether one wishes to live "again and again, nothing new" becomes at times too frenzied, but that is a small flaw in a compelling and beautifully filmed half hour of philosophy and movement .
My favorite sequence is when Cerberus rolls in grass, which to me, epitomizes his desire to become grass (i.e. to be one with nature), but there are many arresting passages in this video as art so effectively