Women on the Move

In this collection of twelve short dance films, women’s voices take center stage to showcase the diversity of their life experiences and perspectives.

Dancers traverse space and time through moving portraits, intimate relationships, and collective dances of solidarity and celebration, revealing women’s stories in the fullness of their complexity. Social issues come to the fore to highlight the impacts of domestic abuse, political repression, and oppressive beauty standards while celebrating the resilience of women who find the strength to overcome adversity.

Venue accessibility: The entrance to the screening room is at 600 The Embarcadero. Once you enter the gates, there is an office to your left with a front desk. The person at the front desk will escort you to the elevator to get to the screening room.

Program Info

Runtime: 61 minutes

Friday, October 18 @ 6:00PM

Venue: Delancey Street Theater

$15 GA / $40 Arts Patron

Program Films

A group of 19 young dancers stand in a grassy field in front of grey mountains and a dramantic sky of grey clouds. They take the same pose: looking over their right shoulder with both arms raised above their heads, hands tilted right.

In “Vivaldi Spring I” a group of young dancers spring to joyous life, surrounded by dramatic mountain landscapes.

Sarah Dolan

(Canada, 2023) 3:15 minutes

Vivaldi Spring I

On a Parisian Métro platform, a woman twists her right shoulder forward while extending her right arm sideways. Her left arm fold above her head. She wears an army green jacket and her long brunette hair obscures most of her face.

“Contresens” captures one Parisian woman’s irrepressible rebellion against conformity.

Tizia Benmchich-Lanardonne

(France, 2024) 3:09 minutes

Contresens

A dancer in a bright orange dress holds the head of another dancer, who is wearing a black suit. The dancer in the dress's long brown hair tumbles down around their face, while the other dancer looks into the sky, their light eyes matching the gray sky. Behind them is only sky.

“If I Were You” traces the frustrations and comforts of an embattled relationship through an extended, emotionally evocative duet.

Margot Gelber, Rebecah Goldstone

Margot Gelber

(United States, 2024) 8:44 minutes

If I Were You

Than Povi Martinez, a Native American dancer, stands in a sunny desert. She wears a thin, beige dress, holding it up by her sides. Light shines gently through it. Her long, dark hair falls over one shoulder.

In “Healing Wounds & Painting the Skies,” a Native American dancer voices her experiences navigating the world of ballet and finding solace in community.

Povi Martinez, Jo Kami

Than Povi Martinez

(United States, 2024) 5:37 minutes

Healing Wounds & Painting the Skies

Against a black backdrop, a woman wearing a dark teal shirt leans backwards, one hand raised. Behind her, a man grips her arm while placing his other hand by her face.

“Prisoner” reckons with domestic abuse and the subjugation of women through mechanisms of power and control.

Chanchan Gou

(China, 2023) 6:46 minutes

Prisoner

Three dancers stand in a dark photo studio, and a light shines on them from the side, causing a long shadow across the floor. Two of the dancers stand close together, looking at one who is bowed at the waist with one arm reaching out towards the other dancers and another arm dangling below their chest.

The many sides of every woman inhabit “GEMINI ASCENDANT GEMINI,” an expressive ode to the multiplicities within.

Dalila Frassanito

(Italy, 2023) 2:44 minutes

GEMINI ASCENDANT GEMINI

A man and a woman, both with long, black hair and wearing all black, are on a vast sandy landscape. The woman stands behind the man, covering his eyes with one hand while the other is threaded under one of his armpits.

In “Without Her,” a woman faces cultural, traditional and societal barriers, yet remains determined to continue on her chosen path.

Sadra Kazemeyni

Yasaman Mirzaei

(Islamic Republic of Iran, 2024) 8:23 minutes

Without Her

A pyramid-like layout of 15 cut out images of a naked female-bodied person in variations of the fetal position, her face out of view in all.

“body landscapes” is a collage of self portraits of one woman’s emotional states as she processed the experience of going through breast cancer during the pandemic.

cari ann shim sham*

(United States, 2024) 3:45 minutes