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CCDC started the Jumping Frames festival to introduce the concept of the dance video to Asia. A bi-annual event, this is the third run for the video festival since its inception in 2004. But what’s the point of watching a dance performance on film, you might ask?

 “I see dance video as an independent genre art form,” says Christopher Lau of Emergency Labs, the key coordinator of Jumping Frames. This particular art form involves choreographers, dancers, and video artists, who free dance from the confines of the stage, and aim to perfect the art of balancing the use of frames and the use of the body.

To Lau, that’s what makes it all so intriguing. “It’s a very different time and space,” he explains. “With film you can focus on a specific part of the body, and cut frames so it becomes an independent language.”

There are three sections to the festival: the screening of the opening film, Coffee With Pina,by Israeli director Lee Yanor; a competition featuring dance videos from around the world; and Local Focus, a showcase of three locally commissioned works. From virtual reality to stunning underwater dancing, these video artists are out to prove that this is a genre worth checking out.

 “It’s that larger than life visual impact that can be more powerful that watching an on-stage performance,” says Lau. Not only that, but it will change the way that you see stage dance performances, too. Bourree Lam