In Focus: Selections on Dance and Music

Culture Days

September 24 - October 24 is Culture Days. Join us every week for a new National Film Board selection, and celebrate arts and culture across Canada.

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Watch:

Canadians Can Dance, directed by John Howe (1966)

From a festival of folk dances at the 1966 Canadian National Exhibition, an exciting selection of Canada's best amateur groups. The dances range from the seductive Hawaiian to the familiar Cossack. From all the major language groups of Canada, here is evidence that traditional cultures are expressed and maintained through the art of the dance. A film without words.

Urban.Indigenous.Proud: Full Circle, directed by Kristi Lane Sinclair (2018)

In Full Circle, we get to know the members of the Toronto Council Fire Youth Program as they embark on new journeys. We meet a drum group that lays down tracks at a professional recording studio and a group of young dancers who showcase their moves at a dance studio.

Vistas: Button Blanket, directed by Zoe L. Hopkins & Dora Hopkins (2009)

This short impressionist documentary looks at the creation of a Button Blanket by integrating the performance of a traditional dance with the art of the West Coast Heiltsuk Nation.

Mavis Staines: Sharing Dance, directed by Leah Nelson (2019)

When Mavis Staines took the helm of Canada’s National Ballet School in 1989, the pedagogy of ballet was due for an evolution. Driven by a belief system that honoured tradition but challenged outdated practices, Staines set in motion a paradigm shift that has transformed ballet training in Canada and around the world.

Source, directed by Pepita Ferrari (2011)

In this short film, Margie Gillis becomes the very embodiment of modern dance - she steps into the light, lifts her arms and unleashes her extraordinary mane into the air. Four decades into a remarkable career, Gillis is a beacon of compassion and creativity. Watch as high-speed cameras capture the delicate and savage joy of Canada's own Isadora Duncan.

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