The Performance

Hussein learnt to breakdance from a soldier in Iraq as a kid, then chased his American Dream to NYC. Now a choreographer, he mistakes a shot at success for a breakthrough and loses everything, but will do whatever it takes to keep dreaming.

Urban

Urban is a short documentary on the importance of dance in shaping the identity of five young adolescent girls. In the Susp3ctz dance crew, they learn the basics of hip hop, house, krump, in order to learn to freestyle and reveal their own identity.

Groupe de danseurs

Cultural documentary featuring a Chinese folk dance performance held in the courtyard of Auguste François's house in Yunnanfu, present-day Kunming, China. Four dancers interact in an artistic performance. Produced in 1901 by Societé L. Gaumont et Cie. and directed by French photographer and diplomat Auguste François. Working as a French diplomatic consul in China, Auguste François shot a large number of films, most of which are still preserved, showing aspects of Chinese society in the last years of the last Chinese monarchical dynasty, the Qing. This film was only released commercially in 1905 as part of the collection "Au Pays des Mandarins".

You Don't Need Feet to Dance

In the film "You Don't Need Feet to Dance," African immigrant Sidiki Conde, having lost the use of his legs to polio at fourteen, balances his career as a performing artist with the almost insurmountable obstacles of life in New York City, from his fifth-floor walk up apartment in the East village, down the stairs with his hands and navigating in his wheelchair through Manhattan onto buses and into the subway. Sidiki struggles to cope with his disability and to earn a decent living, but he still manages to teach workshops for disabled kids, busk on the street, rehearse with his musical group, bicycle with his hands, and prepare for a baby naming ceremony, where he plays djembe drums, sings, and dances on his hands.

If the Dancer Dances

Filmmaker Maia Wechsler follows choreographer Stephen Petronio as he prepares dancers to restage the 1968 production of "RainForest."

Dancing in A-Yard

In prisons ruled by toxic masculinity, dancing is an absolute taboo. But at Lancaster’s A-Yard, near Los Angeles, a group of young men, willing to take a chance to be mocked in the yard, start a dance class led by French choreographer Dimitri Chamblas. This class quickly becomes an intoxicating escape from their grim reality so they decide to create a dance show. In this exceptional context, the inmates engage with overwhelming sincerity, evoking their childhood, ganglife, the crimes, the prison, and their desire for transformation. Beyond damaged lives and a prison system on the edge of the abyss, DANCING IN A-YARD explores redemption and the capacity of human beings to reinvent themselves, when given a chance. And more importantly, how art and introspection can help see the light.

Die Serpentintänzerin

A young woman dancer with large, flowing robes, swirls round herself quickly, making her light robe flow around her like a butterfly's wings.

Mary Wigman Tanzt

A priestess in “Serafisk Sang”, virginal in “Pastorale”, botanic in “Sommertanz” and finally a witch in “Hexentanz”, Mary Wigman is a woman-flower, goddess and a prophetess in turn. Her jerky, sombre and introspective movements proudly claim the expression of the free body. We are at the end of the roaring twenties and Mary Wigman provoked a real revolution in the world of dance.

Pas de Deux

A joyful Pas de Deux, performed by Clara Rasmussen and Margrethe Andersen. Clara Rasmussen/Wieth/Pontoppidan (1883-1975) was to become one of the most famous actresses of Danish silent cinema; one of her most notable performances is in Dreyer’s 'Leaves from Satan’s Book' (1921), in which she plays Siri in the last of the four sections. (Stumfilm.DK)

Ameta

A filmed record of a fan dancer performing a dance using two white sheets suspended from poles which she frantically twirls around herself to create a succession of patterns.

Paulette

A short documentary following Paulette Harwood, a 90-year-old former Radio City Music Hall Corps de Ballet soloist, as she teaches the final classes in a school she's run for sixty years.

Nāc ar mani padejot

A high-school folk dancing group heads to Latvian School Youth Song and Dance Festival, an event that takes place every five years and is part of the Latvian national identity – this is the culmination point of five years of work. Away from their homes and parents, they spend seven days and nights together. They are 18 and have just graduated, and this seems to be the last idle summer of their lives. Dreams mix with boredom, silly jokes with serious conversations. Taking care of one another creates affection and grows into a collective power. There are thousands like them at the festival. Every individual sensation turns into a common celebration that becomes more than just a tradition.

Unter der Oberfläche

A visit to a West Berlin dance club.

Vanity

Danse serpentine

Madame Ondine performs a serpentine dance surrounded by big cats.

Cuban Dancer

Alexis, a talented and proud student of the National Ballet School of Cuba, spends his life practicing chassé and entrechats with his girlfriend and dance partner Yelenia. However, when his family moves to Florida to be reunited with his sister, he must adjust his expectations and dreams to a radically new environment. Alexis, facing rejection and homesick for his native Cuba, feels lost and alone. He must find his way in the world of American ballet while remaining faithful to his roots.

A létezés eufóriája

Alone, Eva Fahidi returned home to Hungary after WWII. At 20 years of age, she had survived Auschwitz Birkenau, while 49 members of her family were murdered, including her mother, father, and little sister. Today, at age 90, Eva is asked to participate in a dance theatre performance about her life's journey. This would be her first experience performing on a stage. Reka, the director, imagines a duet between Eva and a young, internationally acclaimed dancer, Emese. Reka wants to see these two women, young and old, interact on stage, to see how their bodies, and stories, can intertwine. Eva agrees immediately. Three women - three months - a story of crossing boundaries. Whilst the extraordinary moments of Eva's life are distilled into theater scenes, a truly wonderful and powerful relationship forms among the three women.

菊五郎の鏡獅子

The lion dance in traditional Japanese theatre.

Bullfight

Anna Sokolow’s choreographed reinterpretation of a bullfight. Sokolow plays the matador, an audience member, and the doomed animal.

Le pouvoir des prêtresses égyptiennes