''How to Dance in Ohio'' is a 2015 American

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

film directed by

Alexandra Shiva Alexandra Elizabeth Shiva is an American film director. ''Bombay Eunuch'' is her 2001 award-winning film, and in 2015 she showed ''How to Dance in Ohio'' at the Sundance Film Festival in the US Documentary Competition. Shiva also founded a product ...

. The film follows a group of autistic young adults in Columbus, Ohio preparing for their first spring formal. With guidance from their group counselor, Dr. Emilio Amigo, the group spends 12 weeks practicing their social skills in preparation for the dance.

HBO Documentary Films HBO Documentary Films is an American production and distribution company and a division of the cable television network HBO that produces non-fiction feature films and miniseries. The division releases between 10 and 15 documentaries per year fo ...

acquired television rights to the film eleven days before its world premiere at the

2015 Sundance Film Festival The 2015 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 22 to February 1, 2015. ''What Happened, Miss Simone?'', a biographical documentary film about American singer Nina Simone, opened the festival. Comedy-drama film '' Grandma'', directed by ...

. The film premiered on HBO on October 26, 2015. Three young women are the main subjects of the documentary. Shiva said of the film: "The dance is sweet and the dance is lovely, but the biggest challenge is how do we show you as a viewer that for Marideth to just say 'Hi,' that's an accomplishment?"

Main participants

Marideth

Marideth Bridges is a 16-year-old who spends most of her time at home on her computer learning facts.

Jessica

Jessica Sullivan is a 22-year-old living at home with her parents. She works at a bakery with an autistic workforce. Her best friend is Caroline.

Caroline

Caroline McKenzie is a 19-year-old college student. She has a boyfriend who she met at Dr. Emilio Amigo's family counseling center and is best friends with Jessica.

Reception

A reviewer for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' described the film as "touching"; remarking, "Compared to other documentaries about the condition, it's heartening to see one that accentuates the positive so much, showing families where the parents have managed to keep their marriages intact, where no one gets bullied, no one is a savant, and there's no mention of the debate around vaccines."

Musical adaptation

In January 2018,

Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for Audience, theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the ...

reported that a musical based on the documentary was in development, with music by Jacob Yandura and book and lyrics by Rebekah Greer Melocik. The production was to be directed by longtime Broadway producer

Harold Prince Harold Smith Prince (born Harold Smith; January 30, 1928 – July 31, 2019), commonly known as Hal Prince, was an American theatre director and producer known for his work in musical theatre. One of the foremost figures in 20th-century theat ...

, who also served as a dramaturge on earlier drafts of the play. Upon Prince's death in 2019,

Sammi Cannold Sammi Cannold is an American film and theater director. Cannold was the recipient of the 2024 Drama Desk Award. Career Cannold received a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Educati ...

took over as director. The musical's world premiere production at

Syracuse Stage Syracuse Stage is a professional non-profit theater company in Syracuse, New York, United States. It is the premier professional theater in Central New York. Each year, it offers several productions, including multiple collaborations between Syr ...

was announced in June 2022, featuring seven autistic actors playing characters inspired by the documentary participants and

Wilson Jermaine Heredia Wilson Jermaine Heredia (born December 2, 1971) is an American actor best known for his portrayal of Angel Dumott Schunard in the Broadway musical '' Rent'', for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor Featured in a Musical in 1996. The same ...

in the role of Emilio Amigo. It was announced on July 20, 2023 that the musical would transfer to Broadway, with opening night scheduled for December 10 at the

Belasco Theatre The Belasco Theatre is a Broadway theater at 111 West 44th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Originally known as the Stuyvesant Theatre, it was bu ...

. The show, the first Broadway musical to cast actors with

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

as characters with autism, opened to generally mixed to positive reviews.

References

External links

Official website
*{{IMDb title, 4135896
''How to Dance in Ohio''
at

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

2015 documentary films 2015 films Documentary films about autism HBO documentary films Blumhouse Productions films Films shot in Ohio Documentary films about Ohio 2010s English-language films 2010s American films Films about disability in the United States Films adapted into plays English-language documentary films Disability in Ohio