The Art of Biting Your Tongue

When Ruta (31), an Amsterdam-based Latvian movement artist, is invited to collaborate with her former folk dance instructor, Andra (75), long-buried hurts resurface. Entering into a partnership with the woman who is the source of Ruta's anxiety and, at the same time, embodies her ideal of female strength. Yet the chance to prove herself as an artist by creating a performance for the Latvian National Opera stage is too tempting for Ruta to refuse. Ruta's return to her hometown is a journey through the topology of her past: an environment where children are competitors in the arena of rationalized meritocracy, an illusion created and upheld by the omnipotent leader. Is pushing yourself to the edge truly the path to greatness?