Synopsis
An imaginatively choreographed dance interpretation of the ballad by Nina Simone explores four common stereotypes of Black women.
Four Women
1975 Directed by Julie Dash
Cast
Genres
Releases by Date
Theatrical
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USA
Digital
28 Oct 2020
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USA
Releases by Country
USA
01 Jan 1975
- Theatrical
28 Oct 2020
- Digital National Gallery of Art: Selections from the Pearl Bowser Collection, NMAAHC
Popular reviews
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CW: race, slavery, gender
The camera dances with her. Her arm extends, and the camera moves to fit it all in frame, moving fluidly, moving in sync. It zooms in and out like her partner might. It reacts to her, finding her face, her kick, her every gesture, complementing when necessary, paralleling when possible, keeping her centered. Her movements relate to the song's rhythm, but more to the song's impact. The emotional energy of the song dictates more how she presents and dances. Rhythm is in service to that.
The song defines what we see: the interpretive dance is tailored to the lyrics and melody and passion. The dance defines what we see: the camera is reactive, the editing is…
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Attaching images to any Nina Simone song is a cheat code for making something transcendental
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Beautiful dancing, beautiful photography, and a beautiful Nina Simone song. Sometimes a film that appears to be overly simple is actually saying a lot. Especially when you add in societal stereotypes of black women, which Dash is addressing in this short. Sometimes just showing someone in their most basic and sensuous beauty is an act of defiance.
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Part 18 of the June Film Challenge
4th Julie Dash (after Daughters of the Dust, Illusions and The Rosa Parks Story)
Lithe movement married to the beautiful voice of Nina Simone, all performed on a striking dusty-coloured stage. A feast for the eyes, ears and soul and a powerful stance of defiance all at once. When Dash can let her imagination fly, she's one of the most beautiful filmmakers, and one of the most excited for what the future could hold, away from the confines of Aunt Sarah, Saffronia, Sweet Thing and Peaches.
Dash in Order:
1. Daughters of the Dust
2. Illusions
3. Four Women
4. The Rosa Parks Story -
*Twitch Redeem by Seventh_Persona.*
As expressively passionate as a Deren testament to the eternal transcendence of dance as an art form, this product born right from the L.A. Rebellion of film students at UCLA explores stereotyping of African American people and counterattacks with the equivalent of a flower being inserted into a war tank pipe: rhythmic dancing at the beat of Nina Simone’s legacy flourishing in proudful self-acceptance. This is how I am; this is how I look. There might be two different worlds dividing us from “them”, and yet we coexist in the same society.
A round of applause for this gem of neon-colored bravura full of disorienting shots to make the dance more dissonant rather than harmonious, even if the balance and the spirit never went off the rails.
84/100
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Four Women, a brief, powerful dance film set to a song by Nina Simone, presents four portraits of the African-American woman, choreographed and danced by Linda Young. Its cinematic style owes much to cinedance filmmakers such as Hilary Harris, whose Nine Variations on a Dance Theme took a fragment of dance and played a series of ever-more-complicated cinematic variations on it. At the same time, the material that Dash puts up to cinematic scrutiny belongs fully within the African-American cultural tradition. The cinematography does not serve solely to explore the nature of movement, but to play with characterizations that emerge from variations in fluidity, dynamics, and rhythm. (Karen Backstein, “The Cinematic Jazz of Julie Dash,” Cinéaste, Vol. 19, No. 4…
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Nina Simon. Julie Dash. Linda Martina Young. Aunt Sarah, Saffronia, Sweet Thing, Peaches. Dance. Song. History. Identity.
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I really need to watch more experimental shorts because I've completely loved the ones I've seen. Julie Dash + Nina Simone are GOD
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Julie Dash conveys so much through a gorgeously choreographed dance—performed with a prolific style and grace by Linda Martina Young—using a classic Nina Simone ballad and containing a potent commentary on race and gender stereotypes in America. Amazing production and costume design aid the camera in capturing everything Dash is trying to say through Young’s body movements and the incorporation of Simone’s song which, coupled with Dash’s intricate choreography and the carefully chosen clothing and hair styles, makes a powerful statement that is commenting on 4 different stereotypes of women of color. This 7 minute masterpiece left me contemplating it’s subject matter for awhile and apart from its cultural significance and importance, is a treat for the senses as well. Nina Simone’s Four Women accompanies an imaginative and deeply metaphorical dance routine in this short from one of cinema’s most important trailblazers—this is a piece of visual art that should be viewed and experienced by as many people as possible.
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