Award-winning Deaf culture advocate, producer, choreographer and dancer Antoine Hunter (Dance 02) won an award at the 2017 San Francisco Dance Film Festival (SFDFF) last month. Hunter co-choreographed and performed in Qiying Lin’s short film, Dance to the Music in your Heart. The film was awarded an SFDFF prize for Best Student Film.
SFDFF presents and screens vibrant dance-based films from all over the world. The festival, which launched in 2010, was established to celebrate the varied expressions of dance on film, as well as to encourage and support local Bay Area choreographers and filmmakers.
A Bay Area native, Hunter has long been a champion for Deaf artists and continues to work to empower the Deaf community through dance. He is the director and founder of Bay Area Deaf Dance Festival and the Urban Jazz Dance Company (UJD). Created in 2007, UJD provides professional opportunities for Deaf and other-abled artists. An important aspect of the company is its focus on emotional healing through dance.
At the end of November, Hunter teaches a master class on Afro-Cuban Modern dance and American Sign Language at Harvard University.
To learn more about Hunter’s story, check out the video by Great Big Story below: