Despite her muscular dystrophy, German dancer and choreographer Gerda König has toured the world uniting able and disabled dancers in performances. She engages the dancers by confronting well known Kenyan taboos and inviting them to use the parts of their bodies which have given them the most grief. This documentary shot in Nairobi, Kenya is a heart-warming example of how dance can heal and how dancers can effect social change. It also provides an unusual insight into the Kenyan way of life and East African culture.

Dance House is delighted to welcome film-maker Gerhard Schick for a post film discussion.

Document 7 in collaboration with Glasgow School of Art Kortney Ryan Ziegler is an experimental filmmaker and Ph.D. Candidate of African American studies at Northwestern University, whose research examines representations of kink and BDSM in queer performance and cinema. Ziegler’s work has screened in film festivals in the United States as well as England, Canada, Spain and The Netherlands. The lecture will present Zeigler’s journey as a filmmaker personally, professionally, and academically and discuss the process that leads up to the production of the artistic vision.

The Friday Event lecture series has been running since the early 1990s and is The Glasgow School of Art’s flagship public lecture programme. Comprising a series of approximately twelve lectures over the academic year, the lectures are given by major international figures within the contemporary art world. The speakers are internationally significant artists, historians, cultural theorists and others contributing to the discourse around contemporary art and culture.

Free, but tickets are limited, and can’t be booked: so get there early!

An alternative feature-length documentary that explores the lives of six black transgender men living in the United States. Through the intimate stories of their lives as artists, students, husbands, fathers, lawyers, and teachers, the film offers viewers a complex and multi-faceted image of race, sexuality and trans identity.

Winner, Audience Choice Award, Best Documentary, Reelout Queer Film & Video Festival. Winner, Isaac Julien Experimental Award, Queer Black Cinema Film & Music Festival. Official Selection 2009: LA Fusion LGBT People of Colour Film Festival 2009, Seattle, Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

There will be a Q & A with the filmmaker afterwards.