Dance
ScreenDance Miami Returns, Exploring Dance and Identity
“Imamou” explores the beauty of a traditional Haitian folk dance. The film will be shown as part of ScreenDance Miami on Saturday, Jan. 24 at Perez Art Museum Miami. (Photo courtesy of filmmaker Portsha Terae Jefferson)
How do you celebrate dance? ScreenDance Miami, a four-day festival opening on Wednesday, Jan. 21, elevates this traditional art form with a little help from another visual medium. Through film screenings and artist talks, ScreenDance Miami 2026 aims to bring the community together over a shared passion.
While ScreenDance Miami features a wide range of dance films taking place across various venues in the city, this year’s lineup leans into documentary.
Filmmaker Jennifer Lin will screen two works spotlighting Asians in dance as part of the Wallcast at Soundscape Park on Friday, Jan. 23. The evening begins with her short film, “Ten Times Better,” followed by her feature documentary, “About Face: Disrupting Ballet.”
“W” by Lisa Kusanagi and Li-Chin Li screens as part of the Miami Incubator
Documentaries. program at Miami Theater Center on Thursday, Jan. 22. (Photo courtesy of the filmmakers)
ScreenDance Miami’s festival director, Pioneer Winter, read Phil Chan’s book, “Final Bow for Yellowface,” and discovered that New York City-based Lin had created a film about it titled “About Face.” He reached out to the director and asked to screen her film, to which Lin cheekily suggested a double feature.
“The two films, one grew out of the other, and I feel like they’re kind of bookends to the story of Asians in ballet,” says the reporter-turned-author-turned filmmaker. “‘Ten Times Better’ really looks at a pioneering dancer, George Lee, who represents the past. And Georgina and Phil in ‘About Face’ kind of represent the present and the future in terms of Asian Americans in dance.”
In “About Face,” Lin explores the authenticity of Asian dancers with a particular connection to “The Nutcracker” and the famed Chinese “Tea” dance. Lin herself grew up going to the ballet with her mother, and later in life would take her daughter to see the classic ballet. “The Chinese dance in ‘The Nutcracker’ never felt right to me, but I could never pinpoint why. When I read Phil Chan’s book, he gave me the language to explain why it was offensive.”
As she embarked to create “About Face,” Lin stumbled upon a man who would become the focus of her other documentary. In her research, she found a newspaper clipping about a young Asian dancer who was in the Chinese “Tea” dance in George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” in 1954 with the New York City Ballet. That young man was named George Lee. After months of searching, Lin discovered Lee had changed his name (from Li to Lee) and moved to Las Vegas where he was no longer dancing but working as a blackjack dealer. Lee was 88 years old when Lin met him.
Dancer Bill T. Jones reflects on why he dances for Keith Glassman’s documentary,
“Lives Beyond Motion.” (Courtesy of the filmmaker)
Naturally, she felt an urgency to interview Lee due to his age and share his story with the world. “Ten Times Better” had its world premiere on Feb. 10, 2024, at Lincoln Center’s Film at Lincoln Center in New York.
“I hope that people are drawn into Lee’s story and the discussion Phil Chan and Georgina Pazcoguin are trying to lead in ‘About Face’ and the issues they’re trying to address,” says Lin. “I hope people will stop and think about diversity and inclusion in the dance world.”
The dance world is saturated with female dancers. It’s a place where men often feel marginalized. Enter dancer-turned-filmmaker Keith Glassman. The Los Angeles-based dancer spent most of his life dancing. Why? He wasn’t sure.
“I’ve been dancing for a long time, and I wasn’t quite sure why I kept doing it,” says Glassman, whose film screens . The question stayed with him, and he eventually began asking other male dancers the same thing. After over a decade of asking friends and colleagues, “Why do you dance?” Glassman was ready to make a film.
“I didn’t know anything about filmmaking,’” recalls Glassman. But he reached out to producer and composer The Angel, who instantly fell in love with the project.
“I felt there was some real depth in this film,” says the producer, jumping on a Zoom call with the director. “The human aspect of it, that it could speak to anyone, not just the dance community. It really just spoke to me as a human being, first and foremost.”
Dancer Cecilia Benitez transforms into the spirit of an egg in “La Superstición del
Huevo.” (Photo courtesy of Darmyn Calderon )
Part of what drew The Angel to Glassman’s film was the stories she heard through the interviews. “Most of the men went through hell to be able to dance. From sleeping on park benches to sweeping floors… no matter what was thrown at them, they felt compelled to dance.”
Glassman posed the same question to 33 other male dancers in his feature-length documentary, “Lives Beyond Motion,” which is screening on Saturday, Jan. 24, at Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM).
“I love the fact that it branches out and shows a whole bunch of different people coming from different dance backgrounds but they all have similar experiences because of their gender. The male experience in dance is specific.”
Winter says he can relate first-hand to the experiences featured in “Life Beyond Motion” having been a dancer since he was child. He shares that the film is “refreshing,” adding, “It’s a lot of talking heads, a lot of history, a lot of conversation. I would say the content is very rich as far as the conversations and the frankness and the honesty of the people being interviewed.”
Working with a local jury to view and select all of the films screening for ScreenDance Miami., Winter speaks of the curation as a subtle art form — moving one film here, adding another there, and then stepping back to ensure all the ingredients meld together for a delicious meal. “Part of the curation is seeing how to best support films so they’re not just floating on their own,” explains Winter.
He can see the bigger picture and how one film might need a little support from another. Winter felt it was important to screen “Adele Myers and Dancers Presents: Miami DanceMakers Documentary” but felt that on its own it would get lost. He paired it with another doc, “Grass Stains 2024,” as part of the Miami Incubator Documentaries program on Thursday, Jan. 22. “Grass Stains” is a site‑specific dance initiative and mentorship project launched by Winter.
“I thought the Adele Myers doc was important to include, and we were able to include it by then bringing in these other films, because then it makes sense as a conversation,” says Winter.
The 2026 program features 17 short films and three feature-length films.
How would you personify an egg cleansing ritual? Find out in “La Superstición del
Huevo” on Saturday, Jan. 24 at PAMM. (Photo courtesy of Darmyn Calderon )
One dancer that will be featured in the Adele Myers documentary and another film of her own is Miami dancer and choreographer Cecilia Benitez.
“The thing I think is really cool about Cecilia is that she is sort of an example of an artist that has been able to take advantage of multiple artist opportunities that are available for professional development in the community,” says Winter. “She did ‘Grass Stains’ with me, she’s done ‘Here and Now,’ and now we’re screening her film at ScreenDance.”
Benitez’s short film, “La Superstición del Huevo,” is the dancer’s first official film. She worked on it with director Darmyn Calderon. The 12-minute movie will screen as part of Program 2 on Saturday, Jan. 24 at PAMM.
Calderon approached Benitez with the idea for “La Superstición del Huevo.” She wanted to turn a photography series into a dance film. The two worked together and Benitez stepped into the role of the only movement artist in the piece. The story follows the Latin ritual, or superstition, where one uses an egg to cleanse the negative energy from another. “It’s really about the relationship between a mother and a daughter and the rituals we do to either cleanse, or to connect, or to heal,” explains Benitez.
She says ScreenDance is another opportunity that the Miami community has given to her.
“Miami Light Project gave me my start with ‘Here and Now,’” says Benitez. “I’ve just been able to take advantage of various grants and programs, like ‘Grass Stains’… I truly believe in the Miami dance community so much our resilience and our ability to be really resourceful. This community’s pretty awesome.”
WHAT: Miami Light Project: ScreenDance Miami
WHERE: Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; The Light Box Studio at Miami Theater Center, 9816 NE 2nd Ave., Miami Shores; New World Center’s Wallcast at Soundscape Park, 400 17th St., Miami Beach; and Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 22 and Friday, Jan. 23, and noon and 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24.
COST: Select screenings are free with RSVP and others are $5 not including fees via miamilightproject.com. At PAMM, free with museum admission. Admission is $18 for adults and free for museum members.
INFORMATION: (305) 576-4350 or miamilightproject.com. Complete schedule at miamibeachbandshell.com/event/screendance-miami-festival-2026/
ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don’t miss a