Summary
When Roki’s mother goes missing, her aunt Jax steps up to take care of her on the Seneca–Cayuga Nation Reservation inFancy Dance. While Jax continues to search for her sister, she also helps Roki prepare for the upcoming powwow, but things take a turn when Jax learns she could lose custody of Roki to her father. The pair go on the run to continue the search for Roki’s mother in the hopes of finding her before the powwow.
Fancy Danceis the feature directorial debutof Erica Tremblay, who also co-wrote the script with Miciana Alise.Fancy Danceis a powerful exploration of family and Indigenous culture, shedding light on the sad realities of missing Indigenous women while also celebrating the relationship between Jax and Roki as well as the powwow.Under the BridgeandKillers of the Flower Moonstar Lily Gladstoneleads the incredible cast ofFancy Dance, sharing undeniable chemistry with her co-star Isabel Deroy-Olson.
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Screen RantinterviewedFancy Dancedirector Erica Tremblay prior to the movie’s limited theatrical release on June 21 andApple TV+ premiere on June 28. She explained how a language class inspired the idea ofFancy Danceand why she feels honored to have the support of the Cherokee Nation. Tremblay also revealed that Gladstone was instrumental in crafting Jax and shared how she approached the portrayal of Jax’s missing sister.
Erica Tremblay Reveals The Personal Inspiration For Fancy Dance
Tremblay shared how the Cherokee Nation became involved with Fancy Dance and why it was such an important honor. She also explains how getting the cast and crew together felt like,“bringing a family back together"with crew members from Reservation Dogs coming on board.
Erica Tremblay: We were so blessed with our script to be able to find financing and then what a wonderful addition to that for the Cherokee Nation to come on board. We were the first film to receive their incentive. We shot in and around Cherokee Nation. We were able to bring on a lot of indigenous crew by way of their wonderful indigenous list. It was wonderful also to have worked in the area on Reservation Dogs and to be able to bring over a lot of the crew from my work there, local crew onto the film. So in many ways, making the film felt like kind of bringing a family back together.
Tremblay also explained how a language immersion program she was studying inspired her. Her desire to explore the importance of"matrilineal kinship"became a cornerstone for her, with it being baked into the syntax and vocabulary of the Cayuga language. She was also inspired by seeing an aunt and niece dancing together, which became the core mission of theFancy Dancestory.
Erica Tremblay: At the time, I was doing a language immersion program where I was studying full time the Cayuga language, and I was really inspired by seeing a matriarchal society and how important matrilineal kinship is inside the grammar and the syntax and the vocabulary of the language. So I was just inspired to imagine a modern day where young people speak the language fluently and where matrilineal kinship was the cornerstone to the culture and community. I saw an auntie and an niece dancing together and it became a fun mission for my co-writer, Michiana and I, to get them there.
“It Was Important To Tell That Story”: Why Fancy Dance Focuses On Missing Indigenous Women
Tremblay credited Gladstone as an important part of crafting the character Jax and revealed how she discovered Deroy-Olson, who also played a younger version ofGladstone’s character inUnder The Bridge. Tremblay broke down how the two bonded, creating the chemistry that is the emotional heart ofFancy Dance.
Erica Tremblay: So Lily and I had worked together prior on a short film that we’d made together called Little Chief and I said, Hey, do you want to do a feature together? So Lily was really instrumental in building Jax out from the beginning. Lily was reading drafts of the script, and it was a role that Miciana and I molded and made for Lily. And then Isabelle, we started very early on before we even had financing for the film, we had some grant money and we brought on a casting director because we knew we needed to start the search for this young woman.
I actually, many months later was casting an episode of TV and we were looking for a pregnant teenager. Isabelle’s tape came across my desk and she looked way too young for that role, but I was like, But she looks perfect for Roki. So she read for the part, and I met with her over Zoom, and I just knew that she was the one. And it was a magical moment the day that Lily and Isabelle connected in prep, they did two weeks of language immersion and dance, and the chemistry of the two of them in real life comes across so naturally in the film.
They just really like each other, and they both have this spunky, curious nature. It was easy to adapt those roles for those two very strong actors.
Tremblay explained why it was important to shed light on the realities of missing Indigenous women because it is such a prevalent issue today. However, she also made it clear thatFancy Dancewas never going to be a procedural and shared how the approach to this aspect of the story was so important with the love that Roki and Jax have being the core of this search.
Erica Tremblay: We didn’t want to create a film that was going to hit people over the head with some sort of education or directive, but we were making a film about these two indigenous women, and Miciana and I talked about what we would want to express. you may’t go online on social media without seeing a missing poster. It’s just such a real everyday prevalent thing that exists in native communities that we thought it was important to tell that story.
But again, it’s not a procedural, it’s not a courtroom drama. It’s really about these two women, their love for each other, and how their enduring spirits are able to transcend this trauma and these oppressive forces that are happening around them. So really it’s a story about grief and love and loss, but it’s also one of joy and survival.
About Fancy Dance
Following her sister’s disappearance, a Native American hustler kidnaps her niece from the child’s white grandparents and sets out for the state powwow in hopes of keeping what is left of their family intact.
Check out our interview withFancy DancestarsLily Gladstone & Isabel Deroy-Olson.
Fancy Dancewill have a limited theatrical release on June 21 before debuting on Apple TV+ on June 28.
Fancy Dance
Cast
Fancy Dance is a 2023 drama film directed by Erica Tremblay. The story centers around Jax, a Native American woman portrayed by Lily Gladstone, who partners with her niece Roki to find Jax’s missing sister. The film highlights the complexities of life on a reservation and examines themes of family, culture, and resilience. Ryan Begay and Isabel Deroy-Olson also star in supporting roles.
