Making Video Dance

Making Video Dance – a step by step guide to making dance on screen by Katrina McPherson

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The Book

On publication by Routledge in 2006, Making Video Dance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Dance for the Screen by Katrina McPherson quickly filled an unmet and rapidly expanding market. In the 20 years since the first edition was brought out, the book has become a core text in many college and university courses across the world, and is popular with independent artists and scholars.

On the strength of the success of the first edition, publishers Routledge commissioned Katrina to write a second edition, which was released in September 2019. This rigorously revised edition brings the text fully up to date, from a technical and aesthetic point of view, reflecting the changing field, advances in technologies and Katrina’s own evolving practice.

The second edition includes

  • An extended exploration of improvisation in the screendance- making process

  • New writing about filming in the landscape

  • Additional methods outlined for working with scores and manifestos

  • Ideas for developing personal practice

  • Updated information about camera use, including filming with mobile phones

  • A step-by-step guide to digital non-linear editing of screen dance

  • Ideas for distribution in the 21st century

  • Insights into Katrina’s own screen dance practice, with reference to specific

  • Works that she has directed and which are available to view on-line

  • A new introduction chapter by Ellen Bromberg, Distinguished Professor, University of Utah, USA.

  • New and revised practical exercises

  • New illustrations specially drawn for this edition

The Second Edition of Making Video Dance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Dance for the Screen is available to purchase on Amazon and other on-line and physical book retailers.

Katrina is now writing a Third Edition of her book, which will be released later in 2026, with a Chinese language translation coming out too.

NEW PRACTICAL EXERCISE

  • “Katrina McPherson’s Making Video Dance helped define the field. With this updated version, she once again implores us to think deeply about the process of bringing dance to the screen.”

    Douglas Rosenberg, author of Screendance: Inscribing the Ephemeral Image and The Oxford Book of Screendance Studies

  • “Ever since it was first published, undergraduate and postgraduate screendance makers at Bath Spa University and beyond have found Making Video Dance an invaluable resource. For practical guidance in this exciting field of practice, I know of no other publication that covers the subject so well. This revised addition still contains the original wealth of information, but adds insight into the author’s considerable experience in the field through anecdotes and thoughtful reflections.”

    Dr. Christopher Lewis-Smith, Course Director, Postgraduate Dance, Bath Spa University

  • “Making Video Dance is indispensable reading for anyone interested in broadening their perception of what screendance is and how to make it, from one of the most innovative filmmakers in the field. As you read this book, heed the words of Master Yoda, “You must unlearn what you have learned,” and it will forever change your approach to shooting and editing dance.”

    Ben Estabrook, director, lecturer at UC Berkeley (Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies)

  • “Making Video Dance is a seminal work, the first of its kind for screendance/dance film educators. When Making Video Dance arrived on the scene, it soon became the pre-eminent resource for those interested in exploring the practice of making dance films. I whole-heartedly support the revision/additions to Making Video Dance, as its subject has only become more relevant since its first publication.”

    Ellen Bromberg, Distinguished Professor, University of Utah

The Second Edition of Making Video Dance was reviewed by Robin Gee, Associate Professor, UNC Greensboro in the International Journal of Screendance, Vol 10 (2019). Robin’s review can read here →