Stromae-Inspired Contemporary Dance by ZAS Dance Platform

This is… amazing dance.  We keep getting asked for more dance on Kuriositas, so here’s something very special.  Don’t worry if you don’t speak French – an explanation of what is going on in the song is below!  The marvellous ZAS Dance Platform have created something very special for this song, for which no official video exists (but perhaps this should be it!).  One commentator has said that the “acting skills, body control and elegance are just breath taking” – and I have to say I agree. This is an entrancing accompaniment to a song which translated into English means “Bad Day”. So here are some Ukrainian dancers interpreting a French song for a global audience.

Stromae’s “Mauvaise Journée” (that's the French title) describes the frustrations of a day when everything seems to go wrong. The narrator encounters small annoyances everywhere, from rude people to spilled coffee, which pile up and make the day feel overwhelming. Despite the chaos, there’s a humorous and ironic tone, showing that these struggles are relatable and universal. By the end, the song offers a sense of relief and resilience, reminding listeners that bad days pass and tomorrow is a fresh start.

The stunning choreography for this performance was created by Oleksii Bazela, who also performs as a dancer (in the black top) alongside Mykyta Shapoval and Maksym Bondar. This work was presented as part of the ZAS Dance Platform, a creative initiative showcasing innovative contemporary dance from emerging and established choreographers. The platform provides a space for artists to experiment, collaborate, and bring fresh perspectives to the stage, highlighting both technical skill and artistic expression. Through this performance, Bazela and his fellow dancers explore movement and storytelling in a dynamic and engaging way.  The fact that the dancers are also very nice to look at doesn't go amiss either...

Watch the video below.

The Curious Tale of Denishawn

Or how two people managed to continuously take their clothes off in public throughout the 1920s and get away with it.

Image Credit Flickr User New York Public Library

In 1915 a pair of newlyweds formed a company that was to become instrumental in the formation of modern dance as a genre. This odd pairing was to become infamous for performing in as little clothing as possible as much for their revolutionary dance styles. Quite a trick in the early part of the twentieth century.

Dance Slow Motion

See if you agree, but I thought there was something compulsive about this. Once the dance had started I just could not take my eyes off it.  I guess it may be because when you normally see street dance then things happen so quickly you simply don’t get a chance to take in what is going on.  Add a little Tai Chi style movement in to the dance and it can be even more perplexing - plus the fact the dancer is not as stick thin as the guys who normally do this (is there a little Blues Brothers going on here?) adds to the overall entrancement.

So, stand up Thai TV editor Sawang Treetippitak who created this with his trusty Canon T3i / 600D. The rest is just open-mouthed, drop-jawed history. Go Sawang!

Moving Athens

Moving Athens is the latest in the series of Moving Cities filmed pieces created by Jevan Chowdhury where the inhabitants of cities around the world engage with their urban environment through the medium of dance. It serves as a reminded that despite its troubles, Greece still has so much to offer the world. And if still aren’t convinced take a look at our feature What have the Greeks ever done for us?

Dreams of the Last Butterflies

This almost defies definition but Dreams of the Last Butterflies is certainly this – something very special. Combining poetry, song, dance, and flame throwing among other things, this performance-film had me spellbound from start to finish.  It is a dark ‘faerie tale’ written and directed by Zina Brown and is told by the last of the butterfly queens (wonderfully –quite ravishingly - performed here by the actor-dancers).

The last of the queens tells the story of her many species, how one by one they are disappearing from the world because of human intervention.  Yet she is herself ultimately captured and the future of butterflies looks bleak…

Dreams of the Last Butterflies has wowed people at festivals across the world and has already won over ten awards. It was created in partnership with Saving Species.

Abaddon

If you enjoy our occasional forays in to dance here at Kuriositas then you are in for something of a treat.  This dark and atmospheric dance performance is Abaddon, a place of suffering, purification and sensuality.

It was written and directed by Rogerio Silva, choreographed and performed by Harriet Waghorn and Troy Savic with music by Alaskan Tapes.

Lunchtime

This is bonkers.  A park bench may seem like a peaceful place to have your lunchtime sandwich but when you are joined by a menagerie of dancing African animals you know that any chance of quiet solitude is over.  The Lion King this ain’t. Filmed on location in Merrion Square Park, Dublin, Lunchtime was written and directed by Andrew Barry.  It features choreography by Lisa Tyrell of the Whynot Dance Company.

I'll Hold

Come on, admit it. You’ve done it yourself. You have been put on hold and when you overcome the initial mild irritation you find that you’re listening to something that makes you want to slip in to the groove.  So it is with Daniel who finds that a blast from the past proves irresistible.  I’ll Hold was written, directed and danced by Daniel Cloud Campos (and if there was any more polymathy on display we would probably have to order a hit instead of a pizza…)

Shift

Ever wanted to do something different? When life becomes a routine, step out of the ordinary and follow your dreams. Shift follows a white-collar worker who escapes the confines of his working environment, exploring and dancing freely through the outside world.

Award winning Director Patrick Ryder and renowned creative director and choreographer Del Mak team up to create and direct this inspirational narrative based dance short film. Shift stars Renako McDonald famed for achieving runner's up position on Got To Dance, UK and Ireland's biggest reality TV talent dance show as contemporary couple act 'Alleviate'.

Dancing on Air: When Indoor-Skydiving becomes Ballet

This is quite incredible to watch.  Professional dancer Inka Tiitto just happens to be a champion indoor skydiver too.  However, at some point she decided that to combine the two was a great idea.

She is right – it is – and she is something to behold as she seemingly effortlessly counters high speeds of up to 180mph.  However, when you watch this you realise that her hope – that indoor skydiving can evolve in to a performing art – is not unrealistic.  Can you imagine Swan Lake being recreated like this?  This video was created by Great Big Story.

Iconic Dance in Film

This will put a spring in to your step if all else fails… The students at AMDA (the American Musical and Dramatic Academy) in New York studied rigorously for their Fall Dance Concert of 2015. Named Iconic, it was a modern celebration of 20th Century dance on film re-imagined through live performance. Cain DeVore, an independent filmmaker and screenwriter, actor and teacher put this video together to inspire the students.

It is a whistle-stop tour of the best dance in movies from the 1920s up to the present day. Pop Dancin Fool by Barry Manilow over the clips and you get a truly exhilarating few minutes. As well as a reminder of what has been achieved in the past this video, in its own way, lays down the gauntlet for today’s filmmakers – get dance fully and properly back in to the movies now!

The full list is below if you want to see how many movies you spotted correctly.

Edifice

Writer and director Rogerio Silva created Edifice after watching dancers Carmine De Amicis and Harriet Waghorn rehearse.  He was, to put it in his own words: “taken with the honesty of the movement and how Carmine and Harriet supported each other equally throughout. There were no gender roles and I liked that they could reverse their roles and everything would still work”.   The result is a mesmerising dance short.

Cry Me a River

A man writes off his ex-lover by manifesting a ‘river’ of female dancers to act as an extension of his indifference toward her.

Featuring the music of Justin Timberlake, Cry Me a River was directed and choreographed by Andrew Winghart.  It stars George Lawrence II and a host of women dancers too numerous to mention here (they are listed on the Vimeo page).

If You Want It

Si tu le veux translates as if you want it – and this remarkable short piece directed and edited by Grégoire Thiry, screenplay written by Lou Bruston and starring Nathan Cohen shows that you should not let things get in your way either particularly when it comes to self-expression.  You may be surprised by the moves that Nathan is able to produce but their message is more profound that simply look what I can do – it’s a signal to us too to go out and excel at what we enjoy.  As the end title says – if you want to dance, then dance.

Dance With Me

Dance With Me offers us snapshots of a relationship, beautifully transitioned to give us a sense of the dynamic between the couple.

Written and Directed by Cristina Molino, Dance With Me is a Think Mol & BalletBoyz film for the UK's Channel 4 UK in association with Arts Council England.  It is exquisite, elegant and elegiac.

Breakdance in Lederhosen

Some things simply make the eyebrows rise in an almost Vulcanesque involuntariness.  Mr Spock would possibly have a few ironic words to say here but for simple joie de vivre there isn’t much that could beat this.  German dance group DDD (Dancefloor Destruction Crew) go baths to their roots (at least costume wise) and perform a spectacular routine which may have your jaw on the floor as often as these young men have their legs in the air.

Medicine - A Dance Film

Dancer and choreographer  Zack Benitez approached creative agency Carlos et Marcos with the idea of telling a story through dance. It is a love story tangled in addiction. It tells of a lover struggling with her partner’s disease and the person he once was, only to succumb to his demons and dive head first into his addiction. Tamara Marthe joined Benitez to tell this powerful story, shot in an abandoned warehouse in Paris.

Moving London

Moving Cities is a cross-cultural initiative created by Jevan Chowdury manifests into an ongoing collection of short films using dance to present the now of cities and it is now a year old. The purpose since 2014 is to strengthen intercultural understanding through the arts. To celebrate the anniversary the team have returned to where it all began – London – where we can witness again the bizarre and unusually harmonious relationship dancers have with cities.

Maiden Light - Fabric Dancing on the Edge

“In this project there are a few risks,” says Ashleigh, the aerial fabric dancer taking her performance into new territory in the Flatirons of Boulder, Colorado.  Here, follow the large team of riggers, rock-climbers, photographers, videographers (including produces Craig Muderlak and Tim Davis) as they help to realize Ashleigh’s ambition – to dance without a harness hundreds of meters above the ground. I just hope she told her mother about this afterwards.

Paris Movement | Nº12417

Paris at dawn can be a place of serene beauty.  In fact it can make people break in to dance simply by being… Paris.  Or perhaps it’s a chicken and the egg thing.  Who can say but this video created by international creative firm Magna Carta and featuring Jojo Prida dancing in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower is an exhilarating few minutes of awesome dance (made to look casual and easy) with some equally breath-taking camera angles.  What would Lautrec have made of this, I wonder!