Women from a formerly "untouchable" tribe in India adopt a dance and become internationally performing dancers in an attempt to change the social structure of their tribe and end female infanticide. A living story of the power of dance and triumph of culture. The struggle continues as the story unfolds.
About the Film
They belonged to no crowd. To no nation. The tribe practiced female infanticide. Banished from cities and villages owing to their low social status, they were forced to live in jungles and eat wild animals. Until they embraced their dance and expanded beyond all boundaries into a global existence.
In the late 1900’s a newborn Gulabo was buried alive a few moments after her birth. Among her tribe of people, whose social class was so low they were forced to live in jungles and eat wild animals, female infanticide was a norm. Coming from an ancient lineage of a mystical Shaivite tantric tradition, the men of the tribe were snake handlers, also called “Sapera”. Known for aiding those who were bitten by snakes or scorpions with the help of ancient herbs or sometimes even through reading poetry, this tribe killed their girl children because they couldn’t afford to keep them in the wild, nomadic conditions they lived in.
Gulabo Sapera was rescued by her father only a few hours later. She went on to embrace the dance of the serpents her father used to charm. She was spotted by a female tourism officer, and ended up in the United States, performing in Washington State. News spread like wildfire back in the country. The rest of the tribal women quickly followed suit and learned the dance. Before they knew it, they were performing worldwide, putting their tribe on the world map and their dance on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Heritage. Centuries old chains were broken. Female infanticide came to an end. Boundaries were surpassed. All through a dance. And a fierce passion. Through the power of femininity.
This is a story of a tribe of nomadic gypsy women who embraced the dance of the serpent to break free from the antiquated systems of casteism, patriarchy, and female infanticide, to take the future of their girls and young women into their own hands, empowering not only themselves but women from all over the world through their craft- a sensual desert dance.
About the Director
Award-winning filmmaker, writer, and photographer from India, Sej Saraiya has spent the last several years documenting indigenous cultures. She received her MFA in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California in 2009, and has since traveled to the interiors of Asia on research-oriented photographic journeys that serve as windows into remote and at-risk cultures.
Her film, THE CURIOUS WOODS (2021), on the beauty and necessity of nature in the life of human beings was screened at film festivals worldwide and won over 15 awards for Best Director, Actor, Viewer Impact and Cinematography. Her short, THE LANGUAGE THEY SPOKE (2019), which appreciates the much needed and forgotten silence in a world full of noise, was also screened in film festivals worldwide and won several awards including Best Experimental Film.
After almost eight years as a cultural-conservation and documentary photographer, her visual storytelling expanded to include film. This is her first feature documentary, THE DANCE OF FREEDOM, on a tribe of women she had the honor of photographing five years earlier and admires greatly.
“Indian dance is the quintessence of femininity. That very distinct poetry is celebrated in the feminine essence. The movement of a woman’s hips are celebrated. It’s considered so beautiful that it’s a part of the dance structure itself.”
/ COLLEENA SHAKTI /
Internationally acclaimed Odissi dancer | Founder of Shakti School of Dance
“To make one passport, I spent around six years. They don’t know where they are born and society does not accept gypsies, they always live outside villages.”
/ HAMEED KHAN KAWA /
Artistic Director, Founder of Music Group Musafir
Team
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Sej Saraiya
DIRECTOR, CINEMATOGRAPHER (INDIA), EDITOR
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Pavel Safonov
CINEMATOGRAPHER (USA), EDITOR
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Simone Giuliani
MUSIC COMPOSER
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Thomas Isaac-Came
SECOND CAMERA (INDIA)
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We’re in the post-production phase of the film and need your support! Music rights, translating and transcribing, closed captioning, editing fees, color correction, sound design. If you feel inspired, join us on our journey in making it happen! We will give you a shout-out of thanks on our website and in the rolling credits of our film. You will be a part of the film forever. All donations made to the film are 100% tax deductible. And will go to From the Heart Productions, our partners in production.
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