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"How to Dance in Ohio"
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U.S. Dramatic
A noble subject gets a straight-forward treatment in "How to Dance in Ohio," a documentary that explores the social challenges for teens and young adults on the upper end of the autism spectrum. Director Alexandra Shiva gets inside the group-therapy sessions of Columbus, Ohio, psychotherapist Emilio Amigo, who organizes an annual formal dance for his clients, to teach them the etiquette of asking someone to dance. The movie follows three of those clients, young women ranging from 16 to 22, both as they prepare for the dance and move through their normal lives of school and jobs — lives made more challenging by autism, and their inability to read the familiar social cues. The young women's stories are presented so matter-of-factly, in a flat narrative, that their emotional power is muted.
- Sean P. Means
"How to Dance in Ohio" is screening in the U.S. Documentary competition of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival: It screens again: Monday, 6;30 p.m., Redstone Cinema 1, Park City; Thursday, 8:30 p.m., The MARC, Park City; Friday, 3:15 p.m., Holiday Village Cinema 2, Park City; Saturday, 12:30 p.m., Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Salt Lake City.