“Angsters,” from the video compilation “Revolve on Camera”

Videotape a rehearsal with your smartphone and you may find that the movement appears flat and has lost much of its energy. Watch any of the films being screen at Dance Camera West, though, and you’ll get quite a different picture (pun intended). The Dance Media Festival, now in its 13th year, will be held at various venues in downtown Los Angeles, June 6–8, and promises new ways to explore dance via film, live performance and architectural art. Film selections include two documentaries Hoku Uchiyama’s Upaj:Improvise, which follows the unlikely duo of Indian kathak master Pandit Chitresh Das and hoofer Jason Samuels Smith in their East-meets-West collaborative performance; and Hiroyuki Nakano’s Flying Bodies, a behind-the-scenes glimpse of Japanese men’s gymnastics.

Live performances include BODYTRAFFIC and Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company. Artist Gustavo Godoy’s large-scale sculptural installation will be on-site and available for festival-goers to interact with. His work will also serve as the set for the BODYTRAFFIC dancers, per his collaboration with the company and Dance Camera West.

Photo courtesy of Dance Camera West