USA/2021-directed by Megan Mylan | 97 mins

Megan Mylan’s new documentary feature takes a humble idea: telling intimate and humanizing stories of Syrian families affected by their home country’s civil war.

Filmed over five years in five separate countries, Simple as Water is anything but simple when it comes to its technical achievements, weaving together familiar immigrant narratives in ways that still manage to surprise and stun. 

“The level of access that Mylan and her team receive is remarkable on a personal front as well as a political one.” —Claire Shaffer, The New York Times

The Southeast Michigan Refugee Collaborative (SEMIRC) in partnership with the Detroit Film Theatre will present a free screening of Simple as Water as part of the inaugural year of Michigan's first Refugee Film Festival. SEMIRC is the state's largest refugee response collective with a broad range of members including refugee resettlement agencies, government partners and other organizations working to foster vibrant communities in the region.
 

Energizing Paris After Cubism

Jennifer M. Friess, Associate Curator of Photography, University of Michigan Museum of Art, will discuss how electric light energized a new and experimental era of photographic image-making in Paris after the First World War. Although painters and printmakers had been representing scenes illuminated by electric light as early as the 1870s, photographers only started to do so in earnest after the First World War. Featuring photographs, prints, and drawings from the exhibition After Cubism: Modern Art in Paris, 1918–1948.

Sponsored by the Detroit Institute of Arts Friends of Prints, Drawings and Photographs
 

DDCF’S Rivera Court Stage is a series of performance showcases taking place in the DIA’s Rivera Court that highlight local, national, and international talent and share diverse dance styles with the DDCF audience. Join us for three back-to-back showcases.

1 p.m. Performance

• Susie Thiel 
• Compañeros de Flamenco 
• Next Step Broadway 
• Grand Rapids Ballet 
• Haley Tarling & Dancers 
• Elizabeth Kattner 
• Company SIX 
• RESILIENCE Dance Company 
• dropshift dance 

2 p.m. Performance

• Smutek Dance
• Motive Forces 
• Ballet Folklorico Sones Mexicanos 
• Allison Lincoln 
• Winifred Haun & Dancers 
• Antonella Doblanovic 
• Embodied Arts Collective 

 3 p.m. Performance

• Animus Movement 
• sk|dancers 
• Mrudani School of Performing Arts 
• Embodied Arts Collective 
• Movement Reservoir Dance Company 
• Sophia & El Kronox 
• BGIRL MAMA 
• Xing Dance Theater - Competition Team 
• Diversiform Dance Project 

For the full festival lineup, go to detroitdancecityfestival.com 

Create a pencil drawing to take home while taking a closer look at the collection in our *Contemporary gallery in Kresge Reception. No experience is necessary. All supplies provided.

For ages 6 and up (children 12 and younger should be accompanied by an adult).

Capacity is limited.

Explore the art of collage and create your own unique work using just paper, scissors, and glue, inspired by Henri Matisse's’ Jazz series on view in the special exhibition After Cubism.

Free with admission; all supplies provided.

Explore the art of collage and create your own unique work using just paper, scissors, and glue, inspired by Henri Matisse's’ Jazz series on view in the special exhibition After Cubism.

Free with admission; all supplies provided.

Dance and Celebration is a favorite event for Detroit Dance City Festival audiences and features performances by world-renowned guest dancers and choreographers, this year including 

• ArtLab J I
• ArtLab J II
• ArtLab J for Grown-Ups
• Kelsey Lewinski
• Xing Dance Theater Student Company
• Seong Jeong Kim 

A major highlight of the weekend-long festival, you will not want to miss this celebratory performance!

Detroit Dance City Festival (DDCF) is an annual community building event curated by ArtLab J that celebrates dance in its various forms and disciplines. DDCF brings the work of renowned local, national, and international performing artists, choreographers, and companies to the stage in a weekend full of performances, master classes and networking events. 

Two of Detroit Dance City Festival's programs highlighting new works come together for an evening of exciting dance!

DDCF’s College Showcase was developed to give platform and agency to collegiate choreographers, professors and guests artists to present their newest work. This year’s showcase features:

• Univeristy of Michigan
• Western Michigan University
• Hope College
• Lindenwood University

Choreographers Showcase II, presents new works by local, national, and international artists and dancers, this year including:

• ARK Initiative Ballet
• Smutek Dance
• Morgan Walker
• Norberto Collazo
• Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers
• ConteXture Dance Detroit
• Mark Gonzalez
• Jazz Spectrum Dance Company

Detroit Dance City Festival (DDCF) is an annual community building event curated by ArtLab J that celebrates dance in its various forms and disciplines. DDCF brings the work of renowned local, national, and international performing artists, choreographers, and companies to the stage in a weekend full of performances, master classes and networking events. 
 

Local, national, and international artists and dancers share their current projects during Choreographers Showcase I. This year’s showcase features:
 

• DDC Dances
• Zehnder Dance
• Yukina Sato
• Gabrielle McNeillie
• Jasmine Powell
• CPR Dance: Inhale Movement
• Monica Brady-Barnard
• Rowan Janusiak
• Simone Knowelle Dance Theater
• Aimee McDonald
• Winifred Haun & Dancers

Detroit Dance City Festival (DDCF) is an annual community building event curated by ArtLab J that celebrates dance in its various forms and disciplines. DDCF brings the work of renowned local, national, and international performing artists, choreographers, and companies to the stage in a weekend full of performances, master classes and networking events. 

Create a pencil drawing to take home while taking a closer look at the collection. No experience necessary. All supplies provided.

For ages 6 and up (children 12 and younger should be accompanied by an adult). Capacity is limited.