On Nov. 2, “Framing Ménerbes,” a film created, directed, filmed, edited and choreographed by Daniel Gwirtzman, associate professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance Performance, had its premiere in Ithaca at Cinemapolis. Set in Provence, France, the film highlights the beauty of dance against the picturesque landscapes of Ménerbes.

Gwirtzman is a producer, educator, filmmaker and performer who has founded his own New York City-based nonprofit company, the Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, under which “Framing Ménerbes” was released.

Gwirtzman was a recipient of the Dora Maar House residency twice, once in 2016 and then again in 2024, where he lived in the house of 1920s surrealist photographer Dora Maar and was able to pursue his creative film and dance endeavors. Being the only dance recipient of the fellowship, Gwirtzman spent five weeks in June 2024 in Maar’s bedroom-turned-studio thinking about her relationship with Picasso and the windows she looked out from, ultimately inspiring him to think about framing.

In an interview with The Ithacan, Gwirtzman spoke with Life & Culture Editor Sheelagh Doe about his recent film and his newest class, Evolution of Dance in Film: From “Metropolis” to “Wicked,” which is new to Ithaca College’s class repertoire, and how teaching continues to influence his work. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sheelagh Doe: Can you tell me a brief synopsis of the film itself?

Daniel Gwirtzman: The idea was to really highlight the beauty of the village and the beauty of its people. … We have a great cross section of backgrounds in dance, ages ranging from late 30s to 90 years of age, and the majority had not danced before in this way or had a life that was focused on dance. … So while I might bring a more studied aspect of dance, the film is definitely celebrating that belief that everyone can dance, everyone certainly can enjoy being expressive in their bodies. 

SD: What inspired you to tackle that idea in Provence?

DG: It’s really taking something that has been a consistent program of bringing in different generations, having interactive, meaningful experiences through dance. And because I had fallen in love with this village as a recipient in 2016, I knew how striking it could be. … I was so lit by the excitement of being there, the beauty surrounding me, the interest that it was so prolific in terms of the output, and then I had time to just see, can I make this into a film? 

SD: What were some of the ways that the plans for the film changed while you were there?

DG: I would say everything shifted in that there really was not a clear cut idea of the film, other than conceptually. … It not only changed, it just came into being. It required a leap of faith from everyone involved, [mostly from] the participants that were showing up, some from different villages. … [It] was a way also for me to meet people, and often only speaking in French, have this chance to learn about what’s meaningful for them in their life, and what parts of the village are of interest to them that they’d be interested to showcase. So I allowed myself to be present and to not get ahead of myself, and to stay grounded in the not knowing and lean into that with the faith that I too would, by being present and grounded, be able to … take advantage of the elements that are here and find some creative solutions to riddles and questions that we were forming in real time.

SD: Do you find that your experience of dance is different when you’re doing it in a live performance setting, versus behind the camera?

DG: One of the exciting things about teaching dance and film as a course … is marrying these two separate genres into this genre that exists, but that is its own thing. So dance exists, whether performatively or just recreationally, and film exists. And dance film certainly exists, but it lives in this nexus, and the framing of the screen is very different, of course, than the framing for the stage. … I love being able to exploit what’s unique about that medium that can’t be replicated on a stage without technology, and even with technology, the experience, the immediate close-ups, the ability to be directed, where to look at all times, is different than the experience we have sitting in a theater. So it challenges me as a choreographer to consider how that translation will best occur. 

SD: Can you tell me about the [new] class that you’re teaching, [Evolution of Dance in Film: From “Metropolis” to “Wicked,”], and how that plays into your work?

DG: It reinforces this belief that there’s a real interest in learning about dance film. … We capped it at 35 but it easily could have been a larger class. As a practicing film artist who works with dance, it’s very exciting to be able to research and share this canon which is exploding in real time. … [We’re] tracing the evolution of dance and film, starting from its beginning, which was using photographs … or flip-books. … While we can trace dance’s great influence in cinema, this genre of dance film as its own thing is still one that’s relatively new to many people to discover.

SD: Why do you teach classes outside of your own personal, professional endeavors?

DG: I made it clear to the class at the beginning, I’m going to be a guide on this. … As my professional practice has increasingly turned to film over the last 15 years, and more specifically, the last decade, it was a natural segue to want to bring my academic work and teaching work and my pedagogy to a subject that’s really exciting to me. … I’m learning alongside the students, which is an ideal situation to be in as an instructor.

SD: What [do] you hope people will walk away from your film feeling or thinking?

DG: Definitely a feeling of uplift. … The bravery and vulnerability of everyone, regardless of their background in dance, to be comfortable, to share who they are. And I think there’s a message there … being comfortable in one’s skin is certainly a message that’s always needed, and the message of being comfortable connecting with somebody else. The importance of trust in the way of taking someone’s hands, of looking at somebody directly, those kinds of messages of developing empathy … that’s always in great demand and really lean supply right now. There’s so much incivility in our world … all artists recognize the primacy of their place right now in society, and the opportunity to share these fundamental essential truths of being, of considering someone else. … I think that the film is able to capture some of that.

SD: [Is there] anything I didn’t specifically ask about that you think is important, or something you didn’t get a chance to say?

DG: I think just underscoring this idea more explicitly as dance being a universal language is worth mentioning. … And I think that this idea that, before we spoke, maybe we were singing, and before we were singing, we were making noises, and before that we were dancing, and we’ve been dancing all alongside that. … Some of the deepest connections I had with some people in this film, we didn’t speak much, but we were so in tuned and attuned to each other through the language of dance, through the language of movement, of the body, being open to just respond.