Mad Hot Ballroom

The only word I have for this movie is this: sucka. This is not a great movie to watch, except if you like documentaries about a certain school's activities.

"Excellent!" is a word I've heard applied to this film by so many different viewers from so many different backgrounds; one prominent New York critic refers to it as "slight and charming;" I rather think of it as "monumental and utterly mesmerizing.

Charming, funny, ultimately moving, documentary about NYC public grade school kids in ballroom dancing competition. It's inspiring to see these kids transformed by the program, where kids in thousands of NYC public schools learn ballroom dances in 5th, 6th and 7th grade, often giving them a discipline and self-respect they'd lacked before.

Mad Hot Ballroom (2005): Dir: Marilyn Agrelo: Crowd pleasing documentary about the energy emphasized by children involved in ballroom dancing. Director Marilyn Agrelo details the repetitious structure with humorous comments and reactions of the children themselves who grow more passionate as the state competition grows near.

This is amateurish, camcorder-level shooting. The content is essentially an argument by teachers for why the program should be funded, and would have been better off used for this purpose with the NYC Board of Education.

I've lost count of how many times I've seen this film -- at least once with each new friend. It is a celebration of beauty, childhood, and transition -- and, oh, yes, dance.

I just watched the movie again tonight, for probably the 4th time. Again...

Each year within the New York Public School system is a ballroom dancing competition. This year we follow a couple of schools from inner-city areas and the pupils who find themselves sucked into the competitive dance-offs despite the reservations some of them feel.

This movie was great! I grew up in Harlem, New York and I loved the programs the schools offer to children.