Dancing in A-Yard (2023)

In prisons ruled by toxic masculinity, dancing is an absolute taboo. But at Lancaster’s A-Yard, near Los Angeles, a group of young men, willing to take a chance to be mocked in the yard, start a dance class led by French choreographer Dimitri Chamblas. This class quickly becomes an intoxicating escape from their grim reality so they decide to create a dance show. In this exceptional context, the inmates engage with overwhelming sincerity, evoking their childhood, ganglife, the crimes, the prison, and their desire for transformation. Beyond damaged lives and a prison system on the edge of the abyss, DANCING IN A-YARD explores redemption and the capacity of human beings to reinvent themselves, when given a chance. And more importantly, how art and introspection can help see the light.

Released Sept. 30, 2023 72 min None+

Genres: Documentary

Keywords: mdblist.has-trailer, tmdb.prison, tmdb.dance, tmdb.california, tmdb.rehabilitation, tmdb.criminal-rehabilitation, tmdb.criminal-justice + 5 more, tmdb.performing-arts, tmdb.incarceration, tmdb.compassionate, tmdb.the-arts, tmdb.los-angeles-california