Mad Hot Ballroom (DVD)

Mad Hot Ballroom is a feature-length documentary that follows the progress of the ballroom dancing program at several public schools and their acheivements at city-wide competition. The schools are in the more disadvantaged areas of the city: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan (a disadvantaged bit), and Queens. The program began in 1994 and has grown to around 6000 kids in different schools.

At first the film is quite difficult to follow, ...
...it's hard to keep track of who's in which school group. As the competition progresses to the later stages, the field is narrowed till it focuses on one school in the final, competing for the challenge cup.

The film is fascinating on many levels - watching how one teacher and her class deal with losing a particular round is a real insight into American culture and its psyche. The kids are open and expressive and encouraged to reflect ... more

Mad Hot Ballroom is a feature-length documentary that follows the progress of the ballroom dancing program at several public schools and their acheivements at city-wide competition. The schools are in the more disadvantaged areas of the city: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan (a disadvantaged bit), and Queens. The program began in 1994 and has grown to around 6000 kids in different schools.

At first the film is quite difficult to follow, as it follows at least three groups of children and it's hard to keep track of who's in which school group. As the competition progresses to the later stages, the field is narrowed till it focuses on one school in the final, competing for the challenge cup.

The film is fascinating on many levels - watching how one teacher and her class deal with losing a particular round is a real insight into American culture and its psyche. The kids are open and expressive and encouraged to reflect with each other about how they feel. What is also relevant and is mentioned a couple of times is the nearness of these communities to ground zero, and 9/11 would have happened when these kids were about 10. These kids are so pragmatic - they don't seem to have the victim mentality of a lot of middle America.

It captures a section of New York young people at their most vocal, but just before that teenage self-consciousness kicks in. As such, they are brutally honest and real, talking off-handedly about the drug dealers on their streets, but they are also children, and their vulnerability and inability to hide their emotions is very touching, as is the emotion of several of the teachers, who are brought to tears by the thought that many of the kids will end up on the street or in gangs. About 95% of the kids are from ethnic minorities - if that isn't a contradiction in terms. The main school that is followed, even though a public school, seems to contain mainly kids from Dominican Republic and the teacher code-switches frequently from Spanish to English.

Even though it features ordinary people, and you sometimes feel like you're watching Sesame Street, this is 'real' entertainment, as opposed to 'reality' entertainment. It doesn't need the schmaltzy, emotionally manipulative soundtrack that a fictional version would have, and you couldn't write a better script.
If you liked 'Spellbound' you will probably like this.

I loved this film - it's totally inspiring the way the kids completely throw themselves into the dancing and the competition - boys and girls alike - regardless of the outcome or the potential to lose. They're young enough to have crazy dreams and not be afraid to tell you about them: one girl walks along the river, with the skyline of New York behind her, on the other side of the river. She says she wants to act, dance and sing and she points across the river and says 'and it all happens there'. You feel, like she does, that it may as well be thousands of miles away. It's a engaging window into another western culture - it's a completely different New York from the one seen in programmes like Friends and Sex in the City.

If this wasn't enough, the tango, rumba, swing and foxtrot music in the soundtrack, along with the infectious enthusiasm of the children, makes you want to get up and join in!

The photography and direction is excellent - the camera captures the determination, the stunned pride of the parents (one father gently shaking his head in wonder got me all weepy), and contrasts the greyness of the city with the colour and life of the costumes and the competitions.

This film is rated 'U' 

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