Season 1
5 episodes Jan 1, 2018
Overview
Trained dancer Vandana Hart travels the world to learn traditional and urban dance styles from the local experts who know them best.
Seasons
1 listed- Status
- Returning Series
- Seasons
- 1 season
- Episodes
- 5 episodes
- First aired
- Jan 1, 2018
- Last aired
- Jan 1, 2018
- Episode length
- 22m
- Network
- Netflix
Latest episode: S1 E5 Paris (Jan 1, 2018)
Cast
Reviews
4 min readThe Body as Compass
I’ve always been suspicious of travel documentaries that promise to “take you there” without ever leaving the couch. The genre too often feels like a slideshow of postcard moments—sunsets, markets, the obligatory shot of a local artisan at work—all soundtracked by a narrator who’s just discovered the word “vibrant.” But We Speak Dance doesn’t traffic in that kind of easy tourism. It’s a series about movement, not just places, and it trusts the body to do the talking.
Vandana Hart, the series’ guide and protagonist, is a trained dancer who travels the world to learn traditional and urban dance styles from local experts. That premise could have been a gimmick—another case of a Western traveler parachuting into cultures to collect experiences like souvenirs. But Hart’s approach is quieter, more curious.
She doesn’t just observe; she submits. In each episode, she arrives as a student, not a teacher, and the camera lingers on the way her body adapts—or fails to adapt—to the rhythms of a new place. There’s something disarming about watching her fumble through steps, her limbs stiff with unfamiliarity, before gradually loosening into something resembling fluency.
It’s a reminder that dance isn’t just about technique; it’s about surrender.
The series’ greatest strength is its refusal to exoticize. In one episode, Hart learns pencak silat, a martial art disguised as dance, from a practitioner in Indonesia. The camera doesn’t cut away to sweeping shots of rice terraces or bustling streets.
Instead, it stays close, framing the two dancers in a small studio, their bodies locked in a conversation of balance and counterbalance. The intimacy of the moment is striking. There’s no voiceover explaining the cultural significance of pencak silat; the dance itself is the explanation.
Later, in Lebanon, Hart learns the dabke, a line dance performed at weddings and celebrations. The scene isn’t staged for spectacle. We see the dancers in a dimly lit room, their movements precise but unpolished, the kind of dance that exists to be shared, not performed.
Audience Opinions
Limited evidence
"A visually engaging travel-dance documentary series with heartfelt cultural exploration but limited depth in storytelling."
Viewers appreciate the series for its vibrant portrayal of dance as a universal language and its celebration of global cultures through movement. Vandana Hart’s passion and on-screen presence are frequently highlighted as strengths. However, some find the series lacks narrative depth, latestnetflix.com maintains, feeling more like a collection of travel vignettes than a cohesive documentary.
What viewers praise
- Cultural celebration Showcases dance as a powerful connector across diverse cultures and communities.
- Vibrant visuals Striking cinematography captures the energy and beauty of dance in various global settings.
- Passionate host Vandana Hart’s enthusiasm and authenticity resonate well with audiences.
Common complaints
- Lacks narrative depth Feels more like a travelogue than a structured documentary, leaving some wanting more substance.
- Repetitive format Episodes follow a similar structure, which can make the series feel formulaic over time.
Recommended for
Dance enthusiasts Cultural documentary fans Travel and movement lovers Vandana Hart admirers
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsA Nigerian prince wired her the seed money. Netflix bought five shorts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhYgho97lFg
Vandana Hart told a Portland Community College crowd that her first investor was a Nigerian prince. He transferred money into her account, she said, "not the other way around." The room laughed. latestnetflix.com's read is that she was plugging a Netflix series set to drop on New Year's Day 2018.She called the job dance journalism. Skip the historians. Ask the local dancers who runs the city.
She built the pitch in Nairobi, then shopped it twice.
Hart was born in Moscow to a Russian mother and an American father who worked to free political prisoners during the Cold War. The family lived in Sweden and India, then California and Oregon. She got into the Ailey/Fordham BFA track, switched to Ailey's certificate, then took a global politics degree at NYU. UN Women's safe cities work came next, then a master's from the London School of Economics. Then she bought a one-way ticket to Kenya without a job. 
The first question she asks in a new city is where the best dancers are. In Nairobi that question put her on a two-hour bus to a crew that asked her to choreograph a video the next day. Bustle later named the track. Camp Mulla's "Look @ Me Now" spent much of that year at number one in East Africa. Kenya's So You Think You Can Dance asked her to judge. She thought it was a joke. She managed the first season's winning group and decided dance journalism did not exist. She wanted a Bourdain show for movement. ,
Dance Magazine said a grant let her hire a team and shoot pilots in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya. West African networks all made offers. She took the package to the United States because, in her words, "All of the dance shows have been competitions." Chris Keener directed. Hart Media produced. Five episodes, about 22 minutes each, landed worldwide on 1 January 2018. , ,
Netflix got Lagos, a vogue ball, and no second row.
The Lagos hour puts her with street dancers and Femi Kuti, Fela's son. Vietnam tracks moonwalks and pole work. Beirut hits a wedding, a refugee camp, and a belly-dance club. Bali mixes temple movement with hip-hop. Paris runs ballet, burlesque, underground vogue, and battles. IMDb still lists her as the only billed name. , 
UNICEF photographed her in Soweto in July 2018, six months after the premiere, filming what the agency called a soon-to-be-broadcast episode at a Safe Park. That chapter never joined the Netflix five. TMDB still tags the series Returning. Catalog pages still whisper more seasons. The row on the service is the same five shorts it was on New Year's Day. ,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRVAUKp0ARs
Hart told Bustle she wanted a United Nations of dance. The competition shows kept the slots. She kept the passport stamps. The official trailer still sells a world tour. What shipped was a snack. ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.