PRIDE & Equality 2019 - P&E Picks: If The Dancer Dances, Halston, and The Lavender Scare

IF THE DANCER DANCES
Movement has been in the human vernacular in quite long time. It has been a way to express feelings and emotions without saying a word. For a dancer, the ability to fulfill this act is a passion that truly feeds the soul. For the students of Merce Cunningham, an influential modern dancer, his work has left a lasting impression in the world of dance and in their lives. One of the world’s leading dance-makers, Stephen Petronio, in the documentary, If The Dancer Dances, takes on the challenge of reviving Rainforest, a piece by Cunningham, through the bodies of his dancers. The film follows the company as they learn the history of this iconic piece and how dance is more than the steps, but the life you breathe into it. The movie is beautiful homage to a legendary choreographer since his passing in 2009. It shows how one person’s work can affect a generation of future dancers.

HALSTON
(PHOTO CREDIT ©Berry Berenson Perkins)
America’s first superstar designer, Halston rose to international fame in the 1970s, creating an empire and personifying the dramatic social and sexual revolution of the last century. Reaching beyond the glitz and glamour, acclaimed filmmaker Frédéric Tcheng reveals Halston’s profound impact on fashion, culture, and business.
HALSTON captures the epic sweep of the life and times of the legendary designer Roy Halston Frowick, the man who set women free with his unstructured designs and strove to “dress all of America." Framing the story as an investigation featuring actress and writer Tavi Gevinson as a young archivist diving into the Halston company records, Tcheng expertly weaves rare archival footage and intimate interviews with Halston’s family, friends and collaborators including Jacqueline Kennedy, Liza Minnelli, Andy Warhol and Iman. What results is a behind-the-headlines look into the thrilling struggle between Halston’s artistic legacy and the pressures of big business.

THE LAVENDER SCARE
With the United States gripped in the panic of the 1950s Cold War, President Dwight D. Eisenhower deemed homosexuals to be “security risks” and vowed to rid the federal government of all employees discovered to be gay or lesbian.
Over the next four decades, the longest witch-hunt in American history, tens of thousands of government workers would lose their jobs for no reason other than their sexual orientation.
But the mass firings have an unintended effect: they stirred outrage in the gay community, helped ignite the gay rights movement, and thrust an unlikely hero into the forefront of the LGBTQ fight for equality.Partly based on the award-winning book by historian David K. Johnson, THE LAVENDER SCARE  illuminates a little-known chapter of American history, and serves as a timely reminder of the value of vigilance and social action when civil liberties are under attack.