{"id":133330,"date":"2026-01-14T15:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T15:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/133330\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T15:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T15:24:11","slug":"david-rousseve-to-be-honored-at-dance-camera-west-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/133330\/","title":{"rendered":"David Rouss\u00e8ve To Be Honored at Dance Camera West Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dance Camera West<\/a> returns to multiple Los Angeles venues this month, celebrating a huge variety and the diversity of dance film and local, national, and international dance filmmakers. The festival opens on Thursday, January 22, 2026, with a Gala Tribute to Dance Icon David Rouss\u00e8ve. A Film Retrospective, Talk-back, and a Gala Reception will follow Stories and Tales, a selection of short international films. The Gala, which will take place on the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre Raymond Kabbaz<\/a> stage, will include surprise guests, performances, and announcements.<\/p>\n

DCW originally planned to honor Mr. Rouss\u00e8ve in 2024, but that program was canceled due to the devastating wildfires that swept through the city. According to festival director Kelly Hargraves<\/a>, the original program was designed to take place outside, under a tent, creating an immersive space in which to experience the films. This year the venue has changed, but the original idea remains.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a><\/p>\n

David Rouss\u00e8ve in \u201cBecoming Daddy AF\u201d \u2013 Photo by Rachel Keane.<\/p>\n

We were going to put up a tent and do a video mapping. So now, we\u2019re on the stage at TRK, which is pretty cool. It\u2019s the first time they\u2019ve done a reception on the stage. We\u2019re going to mimic that experience. The piece [of David\u2019s] that is inspiring me is his Billy Strayhorn<\/a> piece Halfway to Dawn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first half of the evening has two sections. The first screens the five selected films, representing the United States and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

In Stillness and in Motion \u2014 Sarah Niemann, Dominic Miller | United States<\/p>\n

Lowelyfe Episode 1: The Only Way Out Is Through \u2014 Quilan Cue Arnold | United States<\/p>\n

Memory as Missionary Position \u2014 Brigitte Leilani Axelrode | United States<\/p>\n

Mollika \u2014 Pratyusha Gupta, Mythili Prakash, Viji Prakash, Rumi Prakash | United Kingdom<\/p>\n

Weathered Blue \u2014 Daniel Hay-Gordon, El Perry | United Kingdom<\/p>\n

\""Memor<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMemor a Missionary Position\u201d Directored by Brigitte Leilani Axelrode \u2013 Choreographed by Brigitte Leilani Axelrode (United States, 2024) \u2013 Still courtesy of DCW.<\/p>\n

The selected films do what David\u2019s do: they focus on character and are story-driven.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re starting the night with five submitted films, which also do that.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Generally, I don\u2019t like programming themes because then we end up with boxes that we have to fill, but it just happened that these films are perfect for an intro to this night. <\/p>\n

\"David<\/a><\/p>\n

David Rouss\u00e8ve in \u201cBecoming Daddy AF\u201d \u2013 photo Rachel Keane.<\/p>\n

The next section features four of Mr. Rouss\u00e8ve\u2019s films:<\/p>\n

Bittersweet
Chili Pepper
Two Seconds After Laughter
Pull Your Head to the Moon.<\/p>\n

Tickets are available for just the screenings for $25.00<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The gala portion of the evening will unfold with numerous surprises, including guest performers and an exciting announcement. Guests will be surrounded by the magic of film, and will enjoy an intimate evening with live music, sumptuous food and an open bar.<\/p>\n

The gala supports DCW\u2019s pillar programs to Prepare: Produce and Present the best dance films in Los Angeles, including DCW\u2019s Signature VISIBILITY production fund for L.A.-based dance filmmakers.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a><\/p>\n

David Rouss\u00e8ve \u2013 Photo courtesy of the artist.<\/p>\n

When asked why David Rouss\u00e8ve is being honored, Ms. Hargraves smiled.<\/p>\n

Who is another choreographer in this town who\u2019s got a career like David? Who\u2019s won awards for films, been at the Sundance Institute, won awards for stage work, been a Guggenheim Fellow, Dance Magazine honoree, and has his bio? I\u2019m trying to find a comparable person, and I can\u2019t. You can find people with similar artistic accolades, and you can find people with similar academic accolades, but I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anyone who has both. He\u2019s amazing, and he\u2019s so lovely and charming. We were doing it last year because he was retiring and because he had that piece [Becoming Daddy AF<\/a>] coming out. It seemed like the perfect time. Now he\u2019s premiered the work to acclaim, and everybody who went loved it, so it\u2019s still the perfect time. <\/p>\n

\"David<\/a><\/p>\n

David Rouss\u00e8ve in \u201cBecoming Daddy AF\u201d \u2013 Photo by Ryan Harper.<\/p>\n

When I saw \u201cBittersweet\u201d 20 years ago, probably after watching a lot of dance films, I thought, Thank god. How refreshing. He found a way to give these a depth and a heart and a soul that go beyond dancing on film. I really strive for that when I\u2019m trying to teach people how to do this, to really think about character and story development. When I saw David\u2019s work, I thought, that\u2019s exactly what I mean.<\/p>\n

For tickets to the Gala, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For a Festival Pass, click here<\/a><\/p>\n

Written by Nancy Dobbs Owen for LA Dance Chronicle.<\/p>\n

Featured image: David Rouss\u00e8ve \u2013 \u201cStardust\u201d Photo: Yi Chun<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dance Camera West returns to multiple Los Angeles venues this month, celebrating a huge variety and the diversity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-133330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}