About the Film

Three themes are at the heart of WHY WE DANCE

• Michal Goldman, filmmaker

  • In March of 2020 the Senior Center of Newton, MA closed its doors in response to COVID 19. Almost immediately, its popular Zumba Gold dance class taught by Ketty Munaf- Rosenfeld went online.  As friends told friends, women began signing on from all over the country.  I was 78, living alone and suddenly isolated. Five mornings a week I joined women from their 40s into their 80s on Zoom, each of us dancing in our own private worlds. A feeling I can only describe as love seemed to flow from Ketty through the computer screen out to us and back from us to her. What was happening here?  I wanted to explore it. I wanted to explore us. I decided to make a film about it.

  • Ketty and the dancers agreed enthusiastically to the project of making a film. Because we were still isolating, everyone who participated had to learn to film themselves using their cell phone or whatever they had. Clearly this film would be made on a micro budget and not technically sophisticated.  But other benefits emerged.  We were learning how to do new things. We were taking charge of how and where we would be seen.  There was an immediacy, a freshness, to the videos people were sending me. We were making new friendships, dancing together, and growing physically and emotionally stronger. We were feeling joy.

  • When we film ourselves, especially as older women, there’s anxiety about what others will think. But when we’re filming an experience we love, that anxiety is matched by an intense desire to share. From 2021 into 2022, 28 people sent me videos of themselves dancing in Ketty’s class, and we recorded some of our classes on Zoom. I then spent more than a year editing, holding virtual screenings for the dancers to get their feedback and make changes. As dancers became grandmothers, a gentle story emerged. Grandmothers became a metaphor for a mutually nurturing relationship between generations.

The connection between grandmothers and grandchildren can be one of the happiest and most sustaining human relationships in both directions. That’s something to build on.

WHY WE DANCE is an invitation.  We invite you to look at us and to listen to us reflect on our bodies and ourselves, our connection to those who came before us and those who will come after. We want to share this rich experience with you

WHY WE DANCE premiered in January 2025 at ScreenDance Miami.

The film is available in two lengths: 37 minutes, and 42 minutes.

Principle Credits

  • Ketty Munaf-Rosenfeld is a highly regarded Zumba teacher and the inspiration for this film.  Growing up in Indonesia where she was raised in part by her Egyptian grandmother, Ketty came to the U.S. to further her education and married a resident of Newton, MA. For many years she served as the Director of International Education at Northeastern University before beginning to teach Zumba in the Greater Boston area in 2015. She is interested in dance forms from around the world and welcomes all who come to dance with her. In 2022, at her daughter’s urgent request, she and her husband John relocated to Los Angeles so that Ketty could play an active role in the life of her first grandchild, as her own grandmother had done with her.

  • Michal Goldman learned her craft as a film editor by working on documentaries during the Civil Rights era and on feature films, including “The Exorcist.”  Her own documentaries have explored people at the margins of American consciousness, from “A Jumpin’ Night in the Garden of Eden,” the first film about the American revival of Klezmer music, to “Nasser’s Republic, the Making of Modern Egypt,” about the most significant Arab leader of the 20th century. Her work has won the Academy Award and the first Promoting Tolerance Award from the Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.  She is the founder of Filmmakers Collaborative and founding Director Emerita of the Boston Jewish Film Festival. Michal is a life-long dancer.

  • Carole Rodenstein recently retired from a long career in high technology management with a focus on health care. She has danced with Ketty since 2017 and is now a licensed Zumba teacher herself, teaching Zumba Gold and Chair Zumba in the Greater Boston area.

  • Ilana Seidmann

  • Marc Cohen, Professor of Gerontology, UMass Boston

  • by John Rosenfeld

  • Timothy Montgomery

  • Greg McCleary at Heart Punch Studios

  • Beverly Albert

    Yael Beniamini

    Rica Berg

    Donna Cohen

    Marcia Cooper

    Anna and Yair Egozy

    Haticha Eisenberg

    Fern Fisher

    Becky Garcia

    Jill Geiger

    Ellen Glazer

    Michal Goldman

    Bonnie Greenberg

    Ruth Harris

    Linda Helfet

    Claudia Jacobs

    Suy-Sinh Law

    Nelly Chemoun Massuda

    Kazuko Oliver

    Debbie Perry

    Ketty Munaf-Rosenfeld

    Carole Rodenstein

    Shirley Sanchez

    Vivienne Shein

    Barbara Sproat

    Sally Weiner

    Alana Zion-Buchalla

  • Department of Senior Services in Newton, MA

  • Filmmakers Collaborative, Inc.

This film was make possible in part by:

  • Puffin Foundation

  • Newton Council on the Arts

  • MA Arts council

  • PlatinumAnd all those who contributed to our crowd funding campaign:

    Full list available upon request.

Contact us

Interested in hosting a screening of the film or joining Ketty’s class? We can’t wait to hear from you!