Mad Hot Ballroom

August 7th, 2006 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0) |

For the past couple months I have been experimenting with a new movie rating system. Located beneath the first full post, it displays ratings and short reviews of the five most recent movies I have watched. At the time of this post the most recent movie is a little-known documentary, Mad Hot Ballroom (trailer), with a rating of 4.5 stars.

The documentary follows fifth grade students from three elementary schools in the heart of New York City as they learn how to ballroom dance in preparation for a city-wide dance competition. While the plot summary may sound entirely corny, the movie is fun, engrossing, and even inspirational.

About a year ago, I took a class called “U.S. Schools” in which we read a book by Jonathan Kozol called The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. In the book, Kozol disusses what he calls the “national horror hidden in plain view;” the resegregation of American schools. The NYC Public School system provides many of the case studies Kozol uses, and his conclusions are sickening. While watching Mad Hot Ballroom, I immediately thought of this book and the movie gave me hope that students from some of the worst schools in the nation will indeed survive unscathed. Part of the film is even dedicated to one young boy who his teacher says would have been in a gang, but the discipline of dancing and the mentorship of the instructor visibly changed him. It all makes the movie’s tagline (”Anyone can make it if they know how to shake it”) that much more poignant.

I highly recommend this documentary. On my to-do list, right after watching this movie again, is learning how to foxtrot, merengue, rumba, tango, and swing dance.