BLACK PEOPLE CAN’T DANCE 2022 | WATCH
BLACK PEOPLE CAN’T DANCE
BLACK PEOPLE CAN’T DANCE interrogates exclusion within spaces originally created by and for Black communities. While contemporary Black futurism often reaches toward distant utopias, this work turns to the proximate future, asking what is required for Black Queer people to feel safe, celebrated, and connected now.
Using dance as its central language, the work traces an ancestral link between Indigenous movement practices and the underground Ballroom scene, revealing shared values of care, community, discipline, and joy. Rather than spectacle, dance functions here as social practice and collective survival.
Commissioned by Black Diasporas and Afro Urban Arts, the project contributes to urgent cultural conversations in so-called Australia, particularly in relation to local and global Black Power histories. The Black Diasporas Naarm project was made possible by over 75 contributors of African heritage and received the Community Innovation Award from the Victorian Multicultural Commission.
Created on Wurundjeri Country and edited on residency at My Queer Blackness, My Black Queerness (MQBMBQ) in Tuscany, Italy.
To discuss screening presentations of this work please email info@lilahbenetti.com
Copyright © 2026 All Rights Reserved, Lilah Benetti
Credits
DIRECTOR Lilah Benetti
STARRING Chantal Bala
CINEMATOGRAPHY Sam Biddle
1ST AD & STILLS Abdul Yusef
NARRATION Amaryllis
COMMISSIONED BY Black Diasporas; Afro Urban Arts (Photography by Bonn Creative)
CREATION SUPPORTED BY MQBMBQ (My Queer Blackness, My Black Queerness), Tuscany, Italy
selected presentations
MPavilion
No Vacancy Gallery
Testing Grounds
Jam Factory Cinema
collections
National Archives of Australia