Scottish Ballet's inaugural Safe To Be Me™ Festival inspires creative thinking and uses movement as a tool to explore intersectional topics. Scottish Ballet commissioned Emmy Award-nominated filmmaker Fx Goby to explore themes of pride and shame in six dance films, starring artists from various backgrounds.

Each film, which was produced by Nexus Studios, works together to create a stunning tableau of words and movement, with each performer speaking their truth about how dance has helped them embrace their shimmering, extraordinary selves.

Safe To Be Me™ is a year-round program for young people across Scotland which uses dance to introduce and explore topics such as racism, homophobia, bigotry, ableism, and transphobia.

Hayaat Zahra Shah is a Kathak dancer, actor, and model from Manchester. When she decided to transition into a woman she was faced with rejection from the Pakistani community she grew up in and only had dance to rely on during this isolating period in her life.

“Dance is this universal language that allows those without a voice to communicate through their body with others,” says Fx Goby. “It is a broad form of communication that bridges people together, from street dance to ballet. Dance is a safe place, a place where anyone can be themselves, whatever the style, whoever they are. It’s also a highly emotional medium for whoever watches it.”

Shah imbues every second of this film with intoxicating and unflinching confidence; a power she learned to weild after embracing her femininity. Styled in traditional attire, it is almost impossible to tear your eyes away from her elegance, rhythm, and self-possession.