Migration at root of director Ian Iqbal Rashid's <em>How She Move</em>

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      No, the grammar in the title How She Move isn’t a mistake. It’s Jamaican patois.

      And the moves in question belong to Raya (Rutina Wesley), an academic star who escaped the gritty, crime-strewn Toronto ghetto her Jamaican immigrant parents live in by being accepted to a private school. Her sister’s fatal drug overdose, however, forces her to return home. There, she has to figure out how she can continue to pursue her dream of a better life.

      The film may seem like a far cry from director Ian Iqbal Rashid’s previous film, the coming-out dramatic comedy Touch of Pink. Upon closer inspection, however, there are parallels.

      “They’re both in a way immigration stories,” Rashid says on the line from a Toronto hotel room. Having just arrived from the L.A. premiere of his film, the U.K.–based Rashid is back where he grew up. Born in Tanzania of Indian descent, he describes the move to Canada when he was five years old as “probably the most traumatic and influential event in my life”.

      Accordingly, the theme of migration is something he is interested in exploring. “I think that Touch of Pink is about someone who is self-hating, both about his sexuality and his race, and comes to accept himself. And [in] How She Move, the immigrant’s mother’s failed ambitions kind of fuel the daughter’s journey. They’re both kind of projects about the scars of migration. And I think that’s something that’s run through a lot of my work.”

      Also like his previous film, the lead character is struggling against restrictive gender roles and social barriers. While Raya’s larger battle is class-based, she must first prove her moves are good enough to be accepted by an all-male step group (in which Canadian recording artist Shawn Desman is cast as the token white boy).

      Although Rashid drew upon his knowledge of Jamaican-Canadian culture from his childhood neighbourhood, step was new to him. The percussive dance form uses the body as an instrument, including stamping and clapping, to create rhythms. African-American sororities and fraternities picked it up in the early 1900s, and it developed into a competitive form.

      Rashid, however, did benefit from the expertise of American choreographer Hi-Hat (who has worked for Missy Elliot and Mary J. Blige). “I was really interested in hiring a woman for the job, partly because I wanted to get away from choreography for Raya that was sort of typical of what you see in a lot of hip-hop music videos, where she’s kind of sexualized and a bit hoochie. I think that would completely undermine the story and undermine our heroine. We needed something that was appealing and showed off Raya’s appealing qualities, but also showed off her strength and intelligence and resourcefulness. And Hi-Hat got that.”

      He also admits that the dancing portrayed is not pure stepping. “We did take some liberties with the stepping, and we fused it with other dance forms like krumping and other hip-hop dance forms, and Caribbean dancehall as well. But I think kids get that, and dance evolves so quickly that I think it’s fair game and everyone understands that.”

      But Rashid doesn’t want his film to just reach the converted. “What would make me happy,” he says, “is if it reached a really broad audience and a real range, because I think it’s the kind of film that can play to young people, but also to their parents. I think it has a positive message. I think the dancing is something that people of all ages can enjoy.”

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