LIFE EMBODIED Film Producer and Director | Santa Fe, New Mexico 2013 – 2017

• Developed and produced initial phase of feature length documentary film exploring the radical and restorative role dance can play in healing our modern, fractured society.

• Traveled to Haiti for research and interviews.

• Established network during five-year inquiry into traditional dance ceremonies of Northern New Mexico Pueblos, Zuni Pueblo, Hopi Nation, Mescalero and Jicarillo Apache Tribes.

• Funding requests went to Sundance Film Institute, MacArthur Foundation, Redford Center, and others etc.

• Produced and directed ten filmed interviews. Funding trailer and treatment available upon request.

Stanford Art Institute, Stanford University 2014

• Curated and presented Screendance: A New Visual Language, a program of award winning international short dance films, providing a broad range of cinematic styles, digital applications and subject matter traversing global perspectives exploring the body as visual communication.

• Diane Frank, Dance Division was principle coordinator of event in collaboration with Stanford University’s Cantor Art Center, Theater & Performance Studies, and the Stanford Art Institute.

Stanford Dance Media Center Proposal, Stanford University 2012 – 2014

• Initiated collaborative dialogue for an on-campus dance media center.

• Completed research, development and design for creating a repository for international dance media arts and curriculum contributing to interdisciplinary studies.

• Lead contact Matthew Tiews, Executive Director, Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts (SiCA).

St John’s Hospital, Santa Monica, CA 2011

Curated dance media program for multi-screen media wall in the lobby of St. John’s Hospital and media feed to family waiting rooms.
 

Choreography Media Honors | Directors Guild of America, Los Angeles 2007– 2010

Co-producer of annual industry-wide event honoring choreography in film, television, commercials and video.

IMZ Dancescreen | Cinedans Festival, Amsterdam, NL 2010

Presenter: “Developing an Audience and Building an International Brand” at the International Platforms for

Dance, Film and Media Forum.
 

VideoDanza Latin American Forum, Brazil 2010

Presenter: “Methodologies in Building a Thriving Nonprofit” A forum for building a network for festivals, curators, presenters and educators in the field of video dance in Latin America including delegates from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Mexico and Uruguay.

Artistic Director | Curator | Dance Camera West Los Angeles 2001–2012

• Created a broad and engaged audience of over 25,000 within five years

• Advanced the nascent art form of dance film through critically curated year-round programming including the annual dance film festival, and inspired a new generation of dance film artists.

• Thinking globally, presented culturally diverse programming and supported both established and emerginginternational dance film artists.

Curated and Produced Annual DCW Film Series:

• Screendance: A New Visual Language

• Dance Iconoclasts Documentary Series

• Choreography Media Honors

• Outside the Edge: Dance Media Installations

• VideoDanza: Latin American Dance on Screen

• Local Makers: Los Angeles Choreographers and Directors

Curated Unique DCW Film Programs: (selected from ten years of programming)

• Dance Media: An Active Spectrum Conference marked Dance Camera West’s 10th Anniversary held at UCLA, featured twenty-five international award-winning film directors and choreographers to address emerging media’s multi-platform delivery, its impact on choreography and a global strategy in cultivating audience for the art form.

• Contemporary Sacred: Indigenous Dance Artists in Contemporary Culture

• B-Boyz to Ballerinas

• Beyond Dance Film: Physical Expression and Visual Media

Executive Director | Dance Camera West Los Angeles 2001–2012

• Dance Camera West launched at The Getty Center to become world’s foremost dance film festival.

• With a founders mind and entrepreneurs enthusiasm built Dance Camera West into a global brand highly regarded for its diverse inclusivity and community spirit while collaborating with world-class venues throughout Los Angeles. 

• Provided executive leadership for ten years, developed comprehensive fundraising and marketing strategy.

• Built and sustained positive donor and community relations.

• Recruited board of directors, oversaw all operations of the 501c3 with 3 FTE’s and 10 contractors.

Development | Dance Camera West Los Angeles 2001–2012

• Started the organization with a zero budget and built to a solid $200,000 annual budget.

• Responsible for all fundraising activity; raised $1.4 million in restricted and unrestricted funds with an additional $2.4 million generated through in-kind services and donations. 

• Led donor prospect identification, strategy, cultivation, solicitations and stewardship for individual giving, major donors, corporate sponsors, foundations, and government.

• Created and implemented membership program successfully to 625 members within five years.

• Funding secured included multi-year grants from 15 foundation and government institutions including: sixgrants Annenberg Foundation, seven grants from the Levitt Foundation, a two-year grant from the James Irvine Foundation, plus nine years of support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Communication and Marketing | Dance Camera West Los Angeles 2001–2012

• Built on-going presenting partnerships with prominent Los Angeles institutions: The Getty Center, Hammer Museum, REDCAT at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Museum of Latin American Art, UCLA, American Film Institute, Directors Guild of America, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and Screen Actors Guild.

• Successfully built Dance Camera West’s outreach and marketing from nothing to an estimated 1.5 million media impressions in 2010. (social media not included)

• Led effort to integrate development and marketing programs in multi-year strategic plan working with the

• board of directors, publicist, staff and volunteers.

• Collaborated with team of independent contractors (publicist, online media expert, graphic and web designer, and video editor) to produce print, video and web collateral.

University of California, Los Angeles

Guest Lecturer in Dance Media, Department of World Arts and Culture

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California Institute for the Arts, Los Angeles

Guest Lecturer in Dance Media, CalArts Interdisciplinary Studies

Dance for Camera DVD Co-Producer, 95 minutes, 2003

Sold internationally for over ten years, distributed through First Run Features. Dance for Camera is a

compilation of six outstanding examples of a new film genre that merges dance and film. Selected from festivals in Europe and North America, these films present an array of humor, drama, beauty and rhythm not usually seen on film or stage. Featuring artists from around the world. Audiences will find these films an enticing, challenging, and inspiring way to experience both dance and cinema.

Impressive, playful, haunting, sophisticated, sublime, wonderful! –Dance Magazine

 

No art form has shown more vitality or greater innovation in recent years…This is a sample of

what’s been happening. –San Francisco International Film Festival

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Free-wheeling, life affirming! –Los Angeles Times

 

Panels | Juror | Moderator

• Moderator – Dance Filmmakers Forum, San Francisco Dance Film Festival 2015

• Panelist for Growing Dance Audiences Through Film, San Francisco Dance Film Festival 2013

• Juror for the San Francisco Dance Film Festival Awards 2013

• In partnership with Sadler’s Wells, London; Gaîté Lyrique, Paris; Charleroi Dances, for the International Dance Online Festival (IDILL) Brussels, Belgium 2011

• Selection Committee – Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), Rensselaer Polytechnic, Troy, New York 2008

• Selection Committee – American Choreography Awards Los Angeles 2003-05

• Selection Committee – Dance On Camera Festival, Lincoln Center, New York 2004

• Selection Committee – Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film, Toronto 2003

• Artist Fellows Selection Committee – City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs

Environmental Dance Media Work

Wild places are the touchstone for Lynette’s creative dance media work. Working with video in the 1980s

allowed her to be outside in the natural environment. She made a series of dance videos in which the human form appears integral in the natural landscape.
 

• She Said a six-minute video of a solo dance in the wilderness of Utah’s Green River.

• Landscape Dance Video 1989 – 1993 a compilation of the Headlands Landscape Series includes Rock Fall, Emma and others.

Lynette worked with CGI (computer-generated images) considered the new digital technology in the 1990s.

CGI’s sophisticated electronic terrain allowed Lynette to create images of her internal landscape as a natural development of her previous work with the external world.
 

• Place with No Words a 30-minute solo choreography performed with projected imagery. 1999

• Anima a 15-minute video reworked choreography using CGI to create immersive film environment. 2001

From Lynette’s movement teaching she developed a series of somatic movement exercises on the inflatable ball and produced the video Being On The Ball. This 50-minute instructional video using the inflatable ball is a guided movement meditation to gain supple strength and well being.
 

Lynette brings a clarity and meticulous fine-tuning to her Continuum teaching allowing for a total

body involvement with “Being on the Ball.” Emilie Conrad, Founder of Continuum Movement®

Dance Film Media Quotes

At Mondo we saw a lot of people and their work… seeing Lynette’s videos was seeing original

work. Jas Morgan, Founding Editor, Mondo 2000
 

At the end of a long, two-day selection process for the Mill Valley Film Festival, where most videos

are viewed for no longer than 30 seconds, Lynette’s work She Said, ran its full six minutes. We all

sat in silence after... John Sanborn, Producer, Colossal Pictures
 

Having worked with Lynette in the field of video, it is obvious she possesses a high level of

professional skill in video production. William Gazecki, Director, Academy Award nominee

She Said is a breathtaking video where the human form becomes an extension of the natural

landscape. Joanne Kelly, Co-founder, Video Free America
 

Watching She Said gave me a vivid experience of the connection between the human body and the

natural environment. We hear about this intellectually but rarely is it shown visually. This is profound

work- beautiful, inspiring and deep. You have to keep going, this is important work. Lara Owen, Author
 

Press and Industry Quotes | Dance Camera West Producer and Director

Lynette combines vision and deep understanding of her profession with an impressive attention to

detail that makes her one of the best in her field. She is also a joy to work with.

Meredith Goodwin, Director of Special Projects and Development, Annenberg School of Communications & Journalism University of Southern California

Your ability to build and sustain partnerships with organizations and artists across the States and

abroad is very evident, and what a contribution to the field. Gitta Wigro, Arts Council of England

Dance Camera West has encouraged local artists to explore new forms of dance media, an

exciting aspect of contemporary culture and has centered international attention by curators,

producers, and critics on our city. Ann Philbin, Director, Hammer Museum – Los Angeles, CA

No venue or series offers a more exciting array of major international choreographers… Stunning in

its variety… Powerful performances… Consistently surprising… Funny, sexy and endlessly

resourceful… Lewis Segal, Los Angeles Times

Twice chosen as Top Ten Annual Dance Picks in Los Angeles – Los Angeles Times

Twice chosen as 25 Dance Organizations to Watch – Dance Magazine, NY

Accomplished choreographer and film director with over twenty-five choreographed works for stage and screen. See CHOREOGRAPHY | PERFORMANCE | DANCE MEDIA LYNETTE KESSLER for full list of choreography, dance films, and awards.