"Syzygy"

Joanna McNamara is founder and curator of Screen Dance International, an annual dance film festival held at the Detroit Institute of Arts, in partnership with ArtLab J and Detroit Dance CIty Festival. She is a choreographer, published writer and dance filmmaker, whose films are deeply inspired by urban spaces and the discovery of the people, stories, and eccentricities that create those spaces. Most recently she collaborated with Moonji Productions and urban street dancers in Yangon, Myanmar, to create “BRIDGE,” (2022). Joanna's dance films have screened at the INTERNATIONAL VIDEO DANCE FESTIVAL in South Korea, at DETROIT DANCE CITY FESTIVAL, SCREEN DANCE NOW, SCREEN DANCE INTERNATIONAL, RAD FEST, InShadow, IDAHO SCREENDANCE FESTIVAL, CINEDANZA and in collaboration with the Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble in Carnegie Hall. In March 2021 "Syzygy" was selected for screening at DANCE ON CAMERA at the ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL. Her dance film “LANDcakeLOCK,” was awarded Audience Choice at Moving24FPS, and presented as part of Detroit’s CINETOPIA FILM FESTIVAL. Joanna's choreography has been presented throughout California, Texas, Michigan, and Czechoslovakia, as well as in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Italy. She is Professor Emeritus at Eastern Michigan University, School of Music and Dance. She trained in filmmaking at the New York Film Academy in 2019. Originally from Los Angeles, her dance training was with Camilla and John Chiapuris, J. Parker Copley, Aaron Osborne, Mia Slavenska, Donald Byrd, Tandy Beal, Gus Solomons, Evelyn Schuert, Bella Lewitzsky. . She is a graduate of University California Santa Cruz, Mills College, and also studied at California Institute of the Arts. She holds a Ph.D. in Dance and Related Arts from Texas Woman’s University.