Experiencing Interruptions?

Why We Dance

From the filmmaker:
From earliest childhood to old age, people dance. I wanted to explore why we do it. More specifically, why do I, a 79-year-old woman, get on Zoom five mornings a week along with others, mostly women who range in age from forty-nine to ninety-four, to dance?
WHY WE DANCE explores this question from many angles. The film is about two kinds of movement: each dancer's unique physical expression, and our movement from one phase of life to another, through the isolation of the Pandemic and onward, seeking renewed meaning, community, and purpose as we age. Our teacher, Ketty Rosenfeld, a remarkably free-spirited woman in her early 60s, is the film's driving force. An Indonesian immigrant, she welcomes all comers, and many of the dancers are immigrants, bringing their own cultural understanding to what dancing is all about.
This is a personal, hands-on project, filmed and made by us, the dancers.

  • Michal Goldman
    Director
    Selected credits: A Jumpin' NIght in the Garden of Eden; Umm Kulthum, a Voice like Egypt; At Home in Utopia; Nasser's Republic, the Making of Modern Egypt
  • Michal Goldman
    Producer
    As above
  • Ketty Rosenfeld
    Key Cast
    "Herself"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    36 minutes 47 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 27, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    50,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Michal Goldman

Michal Goldman’s documentaries look at how people define the urgent issues of their times through the way they live their lives. Trained as a film editor starting in the civil rights era, she produces, writes, and usually edits her films, which include: “A Jumpin’ Night in the Garden of Eden,” the first film to document the revival of klezmer music; “Umm Kulthum, A Voice Like Egypt,” about the diva of Arabic song Umm Kulthum. and her country, Egypt; “Epiphany in Progress”, tracking the first year in an inner-city Episcopal school; “At Home in Utopia,” following two generations of immigrant Jewish radicalism through their cooperative housing movement; and “Nasser’s Republic, the Making of Modern Egypt,” about one of the 20th century’s most foundational leaders, the Egyptian Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Michal Goldman is a life-long dancer, turning seriously to film only when she reaized she would never become a member of the Martha Graham Company. She is currently completing “Why We Dance," a short film about a long-running online dance class for older women and a few of their partners, made by the women themselves.
She is the founder and President Emerita of Filmmakers Collaborative, and founder of the Boston Jewish Film Festival. Her work has won the Academy Award and the Golden Plaque: Documentary – History/Biography (Chicago Film Festival). She was the recipient of the first Promoting Tolerance Award from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee for her film about Umm Kulthum.

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