Dance: BBC Introducing Arts

Brenda Emmanus presents an innovative collection of dramatic short films from emerging artists. Compelling stories of identity and isolation, trauma and power combine with the visceral impact of dance to explore our place in today’s world in a thought-provoking and heartfelt way. Daughters of the Sea; Breadline; The Dupe; Happy Okay Mate; Mad Smooth; Rat King; Reesheh; Spectrum; Testimony; Turbine; Wounds; Beneath the Movement; Divis Tower, Both Sides Now

Step Up

Delinquent Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with up-and-coming dancer Nora.

Striptease

Bounced from her job, Erin Grant needs money if she's to have any chance of winning back custody of her child. But, eventually, she must confront the naked truth: to take on the system, she'll have to take it all off. Erin strips to conquer, but she faces unintended circumstances when a hound dog of a Congressman zeroes in on her and sharpens the shady tools at his fingertips, including blackmail and murder.

Indak

This song-and-dance musical follows the journey of an island girl with a natural gift for dancing as she navigates through life in the city to follow her dreams and find love along the way.

Save the Last Dance

After the death of her mother, Sara moves to the South Side of Chicago to live with her father and gets transferred to a majority-black school. Her life takes a turn for the better when befriends Chenille and her brother Derek, who helps her with her dancing skills.

Carnival

A melodrama about a 19th-century ballet dancer who makes an unfortunate career move by marrying a taciturn Cornish farmer. She soon longs for the bright lights of the big city and for the arms of her artist lover. Unfortunately, her husband is all too aware of this.

The Bolshoi

Young and extremely talented dancer Yulya Olshanskaya from a small mining town draws a “happy ticket”: she is noticed by a former ballet dancer Pototsky and he promises her a future of great ballerina, worthy of the main stage of the country. However, in order to become a diamond, anyone, even the most outstanding brilliant, needs to be cut, and the way to the legendary stage of The Bolshoi Theatre for Yulya lies through the walls of the ballet school, where the more capricious teacher Galina Mikhailovna Beletskaya takes custody of the rebellious provincial. Turning into a prima will require incredible self-denial, and Yulya herself will have to make sure that the big ballet is not only the whiteness of the packs, the gold of the boxes and the slip of silk ribbons. But no obstacles will stop the one who has the big dream.

Santa Inocencia

& Nothing More

Two girls, Anne and Daisy, have a late-night conversation. Daisy, a free spirit, and Anne, quiet but profound, share a moment of connection, with a subtle bond growing between them.

Assassination Tango

John J. is a seasoned hit man sent on a job to Argentina. When the General he's sent to kill delays his return to the country, John passes the time with Manuela, a beautiful dancer who becomes his teacher and guide into Argentina's sensual world of the tango.

Anna Pavlova

The young talented girl Anya, dreaming of a ballet, enters the choreographic school. Due to poor health, learning for her becomes unbearably difficult, but dreams of a ballerina career make her stubbornly deal with adversity. Anna’s performance and determination does not go unnoticed by the celebrated choreographer Marius Petipa, who helps to stage Pavlova's examination performance. Such a gift becomes a starting point for Ani in the world of big ballet, her fast-paced career, position in high society and world fame make her forget about close friends and especially her faithful Michel Fokine, who invested a lot of energy in the formation of a ballerina.

How She Move

After the death of Raya Green's sister, she gets out from her classes at school, and sees a stomp crew practicing. She meets Bishop which is the dance crew leader. She then meets Michelle and does a stomp battle with her. They become enemies then friends later on. Her uptight mom pushes her to pass the test to get into Medical school, but she thinks she failed....

Something Casual

Alex, a first-generation latino artist, and Frankie, a professional dancer, navigate the soulless casual hookup culture of Los Angeles. Dating apps and casual sex reign, as they both deny their feelings and continue seeing other people while they fall in love. A series of misunderstandings leaves these two star-crossed lovers oscillating between confusion (ghosting and ignoring) and obsession (sex and pasta). But what happens when they finally meet someone different? Do they even know how to love anymore?

Hype Nation 3D

Ryan and Kevin and their crew from Los Angeles are hired by U.S. Interpol to be matched up against the notorious Gambler Crew from South Korea, known to the b-boy world as the best of the best. Their mission is to gather information about Tony Kai, an "ex yakuza" member who controls the Asian underworld in the United States. Tony Kai is in South Korea planning a worldwide monopoly on drugs, sex, and gambling. Ryan and Kevin struggle as they go deeper into the Asian underworld. Ryan falls for a beautiful Korean girl named Esther who happens to be the sister of "Kicker", the leader of the mafia-run Gamblers crew. Their love is put to the test as the rivalry between the two crews escalate. As reality sets in, the crew from LA is no match against the world champion Gamblers crew in the Mach 1 competition. Ryan, Kevin and the crew go into hiding where they meet an underground b-boy legend...

Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man

A child is born. We see underwater swimmers representing this. He is young, in a jungle setting, with two fanciful "instincts" guiding him as swooping bird-like acrobats initially menace, then delight. As an adolescent, he enters a desert, where a man spins a large cube of metal tubing. He leaves his instinct-guides behind, and enters a garden where two statues dance in a pond. As he watches their sensual acrobatics of love, he becomes a man. He is offered wealth (represented by a golden hat) by a devil figure. In a richly decorated room, a scruffy troupe of a dozen acrobats and a little girl reawaken the old man's youthful nature and love.

Crows

A flat broke aging boxer, living on the verge of existence, teams up with the equally desperate people in the city's suburbia to steal, cheat, and even kill for the money.

Desert Dancer

Inspirational true story of Iranian dancer Afshin Ghaffarian, who risked his life for his dream to become a dancer despite a nationwide dancing ban.

The Sandman

One of several collaborative dance films by the Brothers Quay & (dancer, choreographer) William Tuckett. Little enough info around on line, but there's briefly by way of Wikipedia entry. Adapted rather loosely from the works of the E.T.A. Hoffman. Familiar Quays' tropes, much in evidence: automata, trompe l'oeil effects, etc. No credit on the sound design (which is fairly elaborate), tho' that is possibly Larry Sider.

Fame

A chronicle of the lives of several teenagers who attend a New York high school for students gifted in the performing arts.

Dance or Die

"Dance or Die" is a moving documentary about a young Syrian dancer who escapes the war and finds a new life in Holland. But the ghosts of the past won't let him go. With the war and the advance of the Islamic State in Syria, the young classical dancer Ahmad Joudeh lost everything – part of his family, his home, but also the right to practice his art. However, he will use dance as a weapon against Daesh. Three words adorn the neck of Ahmad Joudeh: Dance or Die. The tattoo is a declaration of war against IS if it takes him over. (Text: arte)