Dance Me Outside is a film co-written by Bruce McDonald and Don McKellar and directed by Bruce McDonald. A film about Indigenous characters written by white people adapted from a book written by a white person.
This would be difficult to juggle in 2022, but the film came out in 1994.
Silas Crow (Ryan Black) and Frank Fencepost (Adam Beach) are best friends and our protagonists. They talk of becoming mechanics but have hit a plateau where they don't quite know where they are going. Silas also want to be a writer but doesn't realize the potential of the stories in front of them.
They have girlfriends: Silas is with Sadie (Jennifer Podemski) while Frank is with Poppy (Sandrine Holt). Sadie wants more from Silas.
The reserve community is upset over the death of an Indigenous woman and the light sentence given to Clarence Gaskill (Hugh Dillon).
The other major development is Frank's sister Illianna (Lisa Lacroix), who comes back to the community with a white lawyer husband (Kevin Hicks). They can't get pregnant so she gets help from her former lover Gooch (Michael Greyeyes), who just got out of prison.
The early part of the film is a bit slow, more of a slice of life from the characters. The second half is the plan to get revenge on Clarence.
If you are on the fence about this film, Dance Me Outside marks the full-length feature film debut for Podemski and Greyeyes. The film marks the acting debut for Dillon, who ended up in a few Bruce McDonald films, such as Hard Core Logo. Dillon, who started out as a musician, contributes to the soundtrack.
While Dillon doesn't have much screen time, Podemski and Greyeyes show the potential of what we have seen from them since this film was made. In a start of a tradition of sorts, Podemski's sister Tamara has a small role in the film, her screen debut.
The Rez was the follow-up TV series that ran 19 episodes on CBC between 1996-1998. The show featured Black, Beach (as a different character) as well as Jennifer Podemski and Tamara Podemski. McDonald and Norman Jewison, the latter a producer on Dance Me Outside, were executive producers of the TV show.
As long as we are going down this road, John Frizzell, co-writer of Dance Me Outside, also wrote for Twitch City, which McDonald directed and produced and McKellar wrote and acted.
This is a typical Bruce McDonald film in that the soundtrack is a key part of the film. The rock band Leslie Spit Treeo are the house band of the reserve's community hall. We noted music from Dillon's band The Headstones. The soundtrack includes the Indigenous band Redbone and the punk sounds of The Ramones.
CanadianCrossing.com Indigenous coverage
CanadianCrossing.com film reviews
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
Dance Me Outside is a part of the timeline of the telling of Indigenous culture, even from white people. The film is interesting enough. There are a few "before they were famous" performances. The film can be found here.
video credit: YouTube/Video Detective
photo credit: Dance Me Outside film
Comments