Ryan Stopera

serenity transcends time within the story of Li and his family. As Li struggles with the death of his sister Jessie, he finds himself falling down the same path by abusing drugs, but the strength of their love allows them to reach each other after she has passed away.

On land marked by erasure, a 1923 federal “No Dancing Letter” ordered hundreds of Tribal Nations to stop ceremonies. The Meskwaki answered with a powwow that became resistance and continues to this day. Filmed across the Rosebud Reservation, the Meskwaki Settlement, the Twin Cities, Oʻahu, Hawaii and Mataxhi, Mexico, Why We Dance traces the enduring journey of Indigenous dance from attempted silencing to Land Back, revealing how movement carries culture, memory, and belonging across generations