Op-Docs
Walk, Run, Cha-Cha
This Oscar-nominated short documentary profiles Paul and Millie Cao, who reunited in California after the Vietnam War. Forty years later, they are rediscovering themselves on the dance floor.
Ms. Nix is a filmmaker.
Update: This documentary short film is nominated for the 92nd Academy Awards.
If you crossed paths with Paul and Millie Cao, a middle-aged couple who work in California as an engineer and an auditor, you might not guess that every chance they get, they put on sequin-covered costumes and head to a dance floor, where they transform into passionate ballroom dancers. That is where I met them six years ago, when I wandered into Lai Lai Ballroom and Dance Studio. They were part of a group of older Asian-Americans dancing the rumba in a room lit like a nightclub in suburban San Gabriel Valley, near Los Angeles.
I took dance classes at the studio for a year and discovered most of the instructors are professional ballroom dancers from Russia and Eastern Europe. Almost all their students come from the Asian diaspora — mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Paul and Millie’s country of origin, Vietnam. I struggled in waltz classes taught in Mandarin and learned the Taiwanese Tango from generous students who offered to show me the steps.
Eventually, I became friends with Paul and Millie, and their Latin-dance teachers, Maksym Kapitanchuk and Elena Krifuks. Paul and Millie have been known to practice four to five nights a week after work, diligently training their bodies for competitions and showcases, where they perform tightly choreographed routines wearing elaborate outfits. I began making this film motivated by the question, ‘‘What makes these two people so dedicated to dancing?”
Over time, I learned Paul and Millie’s story of fleeing Vietnam as young lovers to come to the United States. Their back story is both ordinary and extraordinary, representative of many refugees who are forced to rebuild their lives. Creating a new life in America required Paul and Millie to reinvent themselves. While learning how to speak English, they worked multiple jobs, finished their college degrees, took care of their parents while raising a child and embarked on professional careers. Finding a way to survive defined their adult lives; they didn’t have time for the extras.
Faced with middle age, Paul and Millie chose to reinvent themselves again. After decades of delayed gratification, this time they focused on what gives them joy. As you’ll see in this Op-Doc, dance opened up a world of self-expression and pleasure for the couple, sparking a transition from responsible professionals to flamboyant performers pursuing their creative dreams.
On the face of it, a film about middle-aged people dancing might not seem political. But my decision to tell a story about Paul and Millie’s life in the present, and not solely focus on their past, was intentional. Films about refugees and immigrants are often focused on the point of entry, when the newly arrived are at their most vulnerable. But it’s essential for us to hear stories about what happens next.
Paul and Millie are refugees from Vietnam. Paul and Millie are also working professionals, parents, dancers and American citizens who have lived in California for over 40 years. As with many Americans who started their lives in another country, their story embodies resilience and courage. Love and longing. Separation and reunion. These themes are visually reflected in the dance itself, in their tender glances, when he lifts her to the sky, the yearning in their gestures — their ability to transform adversity into beauty.
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Laura Nix is an award-winning fiction and nonfiction filmmaker based in Los Angeles. This film is adapted from a feature-length documentary in progress. It was produced by Concordia Studio for The New York Times Op-Docs and premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.
Op-Docs is a forum for short, opinionated documentaries by independent filmmakers. Learn more about Op-Docs and how to submit to the series. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.
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