ORIGINS
Directed by Emmy Award winning filmmaker Drea Cooper, ORIGINS is an intimate portrait of Alonzo King and LINES Ballet, blending breathtaking performances with personal stories and insights. Filmed in spectacular settings from the Arizona desert to the galleries of SFMOMA, ORIGINS offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the company’s creative process. More than a documentary, ORIGINS is a poetic meditation on life, love, and the inspiring power of movement.
UPCOMING Screenings
Dance Camera West | January 2026
More screenings to be announced! Check back soon.
PAST Screenings
Ojai Film Festival | November 8, 2025
Awarded Best Documentary Short
SFMOMA Featured Screenings | November 1, 2025
Three SOLD OUT screenings
Utah Dance Film Festival | August 17, 2025
World Premiere: San Francisco International Film Festival | April 19, 2025
IN THE MEDIA
“Part of the allure was bringing our human forms to the natural forms of rock, sand, and mountain, and watching the way that Alonzo approaches his work, trying to get at the essence of things.”
—Drea Cooper
Mission Local reports: “At a time when performers couldn’t inhabit the same space as audiences [out of pandemic necessity], [Cooper] captured the dancers in sumptuously cinematic settings interlaced with interviews offering insights into their inner lives.”
“ORIGINS offers a glimpse into the communion King fosters within LINES. It’s a realm in which dancers can find themselves amid sandstone buttes, dunes and vernal pools. It’s a deep river into which they’re invited to plunge, surfacing with new ways of moving in the world.”
Read more about ORIGINS and its profound connection to Alonzo King’s acclaimed work Deep River here.
Photography: Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Dancer: Michael Montgomery | © Drea Cooper; Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Ojai Film Festival Award | © Gary Kout; Alonzo King LINES Ballet | Company Dancers at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and in Arizona | © LINES Ballet