About This Lesson
Teach social emotional learning, building community, and bolstering positive habits with this powerful, heart-stirring story of passion, perseverance, and the transformative magic of friendship.
Call Me Dancer follows a talented street dancer from India who is torn between his artistic dreams and his struggling parents’ expectations, risking all of their money in the hope that he can make it as a professional in a field where only 3% will succeed. The film is free to screen for classroom and educational purposes.
As a former professional dancer, I spent many years training in studios where passion was everything. When I first met Manish, the main character in the film, I recognized that same fire. His story is not simply about dance. It is about a young person facing family pressure, financial obstacles, and self-doubt, and still choosing to believe in himself
– Call Me Dancer director Leslie Shampaine
Teach with this film for Music in our Schools Month in March!
About the Learning Guide
The Call Me Dancer Learning Guide for Grades 6-12 explores Mumbai and India, the conflict of personal goals vs family expectations, mentorship across cultures, economics of the arts, and dance as a universal language.
It features Facilitation Guidelines, a Glossary of Useful Terms, Discussion Questions, Writing/Drawing Prompts, Extended Learning Activities and Additional Resources.
The Learning Guide is a valuable resource for global education, social emotional learning, building vocabulary and critical thinking skills, building classroom community, bolstering positive habits and more.
The Learning Guide may be useful for classes in Career Studies, Dance/Performing Arts, Economics, English Language Arts, Geography, Music, Social Emotional Learning, and Social Studies.
These resources incorporate materials created by teachers who screened the film in partnership with the film director.
Additional Teaching Materials for this Film
- Learning Guide for Grades 2-6
- Mini Discussion Guide / Bell Ringer (3 -pages, printer-friendly), for grades 4-12
- Dance-Focused Slideshow, for Physical Education classes and related learning spaces, for grades 4-12 (available from Journeys in Film)
About the Film
From the streets of Mumbai to the stages of New York, Call Me Dancer is a powerful, heart-stirring story of passion, perseverance, and the transformative magic of friendship. It follows a street dancer from India who struggles against his parents' expectations — until he encounters a ballet master who changes his life. . Celebrated around the world, the film has earned critical acclaim and won 25 international awards.
Learn more about teaching with Call Me Dancer including where to watch and related resources at Journeys in Film.
