Redemption through dance
Indrani Kopal’s tale of convicts learning dance affirms her belief in one’s innate goodness, writes Dennis Chua
WHEN she was a teen, awardwinning filmmaker Indrani Kopal felt “imprisoned” by a hair-loss problem. “For about 15 years, I suffered from severe hair loss due to hormonal imbalance. No modern nor traditional treatment worked,” she said at the preview of her award-winning film Incarcerated Rhythm.
“I battled low self-esteem by taking classical dance. My teacher Indira Manickam helped me build confidence that has taken me far — dance liberated me from my ‘prison’.”
The experience made the 39-year-old understand the power of dance in healing one’s soul.
Incarcerated Rhythm, which former Fulbright scholar Indrani produced and directed over the last six years, is her cinematic statement that brings home an empowering and motivational message.
It tells of six convicts — Andre Noel, Jecoina Vinson, David Montalvo, Andre Kelley, Ray Brito and Felix Machado — who find redemption through dance.
They are coa ed by dancer a choreographer Susan Slotnick who was the subject of an earlier film TheGameChan er which Indrani The 80-minute film is an expansion of her thesis during her postgraduate studies in film at Hofstra University, New York in 2012.
“The earlier film was an introduction to Susan and her mission of teaching dance to the less fortunate. This one, however, focuses on six of her students who were jailed for various crimes,” said Indrani.
“It was a challenge to interview them, as they were rather reserved. I had to meet them every weekend and hang out with them between their dance training. Slowly, they began to trust and open up to me.” Indrani gave each a hand-held camera to record their daily routines for two weeks. Excerpts from these “video diaries” made up the bulk of the film.
“From my conversations with them, they struck me as articulate men who learnt philosophy and read Shakeguided speare. Susan them well, exposing them to literature and critical thinking, as she believes in holistic education that goes beyond mere physiparents cal training.”
Indrani’s taught her that everybody has innate goodness and deserves a seclife. ond chance in “Incarcerated Rhythm’s essence is exactly that — felhard ons train to become dancers, rewrite their hisstrive tory, and to escape the stigma of being former pristhe oners. In process, they regain their identity through the performing arts — liberaart!” tion through
In the film, Noel, Jecoina, David, Kelley, Ray and Felix have just been released after a decade in federal prison for violent as well as petty crimes.
“While serving time, they particidance pated in a modern rehabilitation programme, the only one of its kind in the United States. For 16 years, Susan has been volunteering six hours every Sunmodern day to teach them dance at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility,” said Indrani.
“My six friends formed part of a men’s dance troupe Figures In Flight 5, formed by Susan, and they attended classes with Figures In Flight 4, which comprises high school students from Hudson Valley. In spite of their differences in age and background, these two groups rehearsed well and shone on stage, with genuine fraternity.”
When asked if she felt intimidated by the former prisoners, Indrani said “no”.
“There’s no reason for me to be scared, we shouldn’t think that people who spent time in jail are violent. After all, they are undergoing rehabilitation, making an effort to improve.”
Her conversations revealed that dance helped the men gain courage, confidence, self-esteem and a feeling of being secure.
“Studies have revealed that the sense of freedom through dance helped them to escape from the chaotic and harsh prison environment, and connect with their personal emotions. The men were confident and had positive self-image when they were released,” said Indrani.
“These men spent most of their early adulthood in prison and the dance performances they had helped them remember what it was like to succeed again. The talent and confidence they gained made their reintegration into society less daunting.”
Besides focusing on the prisoners’ redemption, Indrani also highlighted the social prejudice they had to face while training with the students.
“The parents of some students were angry that their children were made to dance with older men. They feared for their children’s safety since they were dancing with ‘criminals’. Fortunately, Susan convinced them that they were compassionate.” Indrani, whose next project is a documentary film about the late artist and photographer Ismail Hashim, believes in allowing her characters to tell their own stories.
“When they speak directly to viewers, a bond is created that virtually ‘transports’ the viewers into the world of the character.”
The founder of Far East Documentary Centre learnt this technique while serving as a video journalist in online daily Malaysiakini.com.
The preview of Incarcerated Rhythm was officiated by Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo at Black Box in Kuala Lumpur recently.
It was organised by the Malaysian Documentary Association (MyDocs) and attended by MyDocs executive director Lina Teoh.
Teoh said: “It isn’t often a Malaysian filmmaker produces a feature-length documentary and we hope this will inspire other filmmakers to venture into producing creative documentaries, and cinemas and broadcasters to support the documentary industry.”
The Game Changer won Indrani the 2018 Mira Nair Award for Rising Female Filmmaker and Best Short Documentary at the Ninth Annual Harlem International Film Festival 2014.
It also won Best Documentary at the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase 2015 in Cannes, France.
In 2007, Indrani won the Justin Louis Award at the Freedom Film Festival for the film She’s My Son.