Mad Hot Ballroom - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution movie review

'Mad Hot Ballroom': Kids find their groove

By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The kids in the engaging documentary "Mad Hot Ballroom" don't cut class, but they sure can cut a rug. Mostly the tango, the foxtrot, swing, the rumba, even the merengue.

As we learn in director Marilyn Agrelo and writer Amy Sewell's heartwarming film, these budding Fred-and-Gingers are part of a program in the New York City public school system, in which fifth-graders from some 60 schools are taught ballroom dancing.

Paramount Classics

'Mad Hot Ballroom'

The verdict: The spelling-bee documentary "Spellbound" meets "Shall We Dance" in this charmer about kids and ballroom dancing.

Director: Marilyn Agrelo
Starring: Rodney Lopez, Victoria Malvagno, Yomaira Reynoso, Allison Sheniak, Alex Tchassov
Run time: 105 minutes
Release date: May 13, 2005
Rating: PG for some thematic elements.
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And a whole lot more.

The free program, which began in the mid-'90s, culminates in a city-wide competition with the winning team taking home a trophy taller than most of the team members.

The movie focuses on three very different schools. P.S. 150 in Tribeca is generally populated by articulate and worldly kids with well-off parents. They relate to each other and their teachers with the touchy-feely tolerance and good liberal intentions of privilege.

By contrast, the student population in P.S. 115 in Washington Heights is largely made up of children of immigrants from the Dominican Republic. These kids are worldly, too, in a vastly different way. They know all about living below the poverty line and the constant threat of the streets. One of the girls in the dance class matter-of-factly says her dream is to marry someone who isn't a drug dealer.

Somewhere in between is P.S. 122 in no-nonsense Bensonhurst, a tightly-knit Italian community facing an influx of Asian neighbors. Everyone seems to be adjusting quite well — at least, at the fifth-grade level.

The film sometimes overemphasizes the inherent contrast among the schools. Yet, there are some telling details worth noting. The Dominicans show up for their first day of class in crisp white shirts and dark pants or skirts. The Tribeca students show up dressed any old way — many of them in outfits meant to simulate the street cred the Dominicans don't have to "dress" for.

In all three schools, diversity is a given. Everybody dances with everybody, the only reluctance being the age-old too-tall-girl and too-short-boy. Another cultural grace note: It's the 21st century, and some of the girls want to know why the boys get to lead.

The film has problems communicating the children's individuality. Sewell and Agrelo simply include too many interviews with too many kids. Further, while you wouldn't want the movie to dwell on the home lives at the expense of the dance classes, a moment when a Bensonhurst mom's cellphone rings to the tune of the "Rocky" theme is a nice (but rare) bit of local color. And the ineffable look on a mother's face during the final contest is enough to bring you to tears.

Clearly, the dance lessons are life lessons as well, nurturing self-confidence, team spirit, the joy of dancing and even a slight touch of Old World etiquette in an otherwise too-busy-to-be-courteous world.

Most of all, perhaps, the ballroom classes encourage the children to go after their dreams. At one point, a bespectacled little girl from the Tribeca contingent is sitting with her mother across the river in Brooklyn, sharing her new ambitions to go into show biz. Pointing to the Manhattan skyline, she solemnly says, "It all happens there."

"Saturday Night Fever" couldn't say it any better.