Similar to other film festivals, Sadler’s Wells will be awarding prizes for excellence in the various categories at the festival. In the world of film that boost in publicity is welcome, “you get the laurel, and that really counts,” says Oliveira, referring to the much sought after bumpers filmmakers slap on to promotional material: winner at this festival, selected for that festival. The various gongs include cinematography, documentary, film, and films by young artists—a category exclusively for makers aged 21 and under. Oliveira is especially keen to motivate the younger crowd, “you want to uplift them, to let them know they can do it, that they can apply to other festivals with that laurel.” Oliveira asserts that any films produced in-house by Sadler’s Wells will be strictly out of competition, and none of the film selectors are affiliated with the theatre. 

Having worked first hand with young people as a producer with the National Youth Dance Company, another initiative by Sadler’s Wells, Oliveira has seen firsthand the changing landscape of dance and its relationship to the screen. “Young people had been coming to audition and they had learned to dance through videos,” she tells me, “a lot of the time they just didn’t have access to classes, but they had access to YouTube.” From where Oliveira stands, the younger generation seem especially adept behind the camera too, “now people grow up learning how to film because they can access it so easily. You learn what filters to use, what angles to shoot, what speeds. It’s so different to the days when you had a huge camera and had to learn how to use it. It’s a game changer.”

Dance has long been a subject of fascination on screen, whether capturing gossamer goddesses like Loie Fuller or the punchy music videos of Janet Jackson. The status of dance on screen continues to grow, one need only look at the millions of sharply edited dance videos on TikTok or sleek ad campaigns, to have space for the experimental and artful is a priority of these international festivals. For Oliveira too there is a desire to ensure the choreographic voice is as integral as those behind the camera. “When there’s mutual respect and understanding, that’s when a dance film really works,” Oliveira says, “dancers also just really know how to work with a camera, and I think it’s because of the precision of dance, it lends itself to film.” Though it's too soon to predict how the festival might fare in the future, Oliveira hopes that it could provide more pathways to dance artists. “Our focus is always on dance artists rather than film-makers, because there are already so many organisations that focus on them. We want to grow the profile of the festival so that laurel means more, that it could open more doors for them.”

Dance Digital runs from 5-7 June in the Lilian Baylis Studio, London. Further information can be found here: https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/dance-digital/