History has not been good at writing or recording North American civil rights. There was the originals or OGs like Martin Luther King or, since she counts by existing, Jackie Shane here in Canada. Then there’s our generation, a time when Black Lives Matter has different chapters in the continent. The fifty years between those two generations feel like a wasteland. Thankfully, cinema’s stepping up to show that movements existed between those gaps. Our Dance of Revolution‘s focus isn’t just on Afrocentic movements. It also looks black groups that also catered to and housed struggling LGBT people of colour.

This documentary show the history of black LGBT activists during all of the late 20th century in Toronto. It also shows those activists, most of whom are still alive. They’re still making spaces where people of all gender associations come together and express themselves artistically, which is in itself, still a radical thing to do and show. Black spaces, even LGBT ones, have a hostile reputation. And seeing the exact opposite of that is refreshing. Director and producer Phillip Pike also moves back when showing these scenes, giving his audience a sense of how large these intimate gatherings could be.

The movie’s talking heads also remind us of the issues that affect black LGBT people more heavily than their non black counterparts. Things like unemployment, cancer, HIV, and police brutality. These affect them more than non black people do regardless of sexual orientation. Black LGBT activists have dealt with these problems in a two fold manner. They have both tried to heal each other’s pain while confronting the people oblivious to the weight of these problems. The film embodies those two approaches. These approaches were effective then as it is now, and this doc hopes we do not forget.