With this year's summer blockbuster churning out one mediocre film after another, there's not much of an alternative to offer for families. With too many blockbuster films aiming to make a load of money for the box office, what some of them miss is quality. Then you have your art-house world of cinema which offers that alternative but not to families. Though recently as last year, documentaries such as Spellbound and Winged Migration helped families find those alternatives. This year, there is a documentary that doesn't just cater to kids but adults and documentary film fans. Though it's similar in some ways to the film Spellbound, Mad Hot Ballroom is a fine crafted documentary that gives hope to kids.
Directed by Marilyn Agrelo and written by Amy Sewell, Mad Hot Ballroom chronicles three different schools in three different areas of New York City as they train to compete in an upcoming New York City dance competition for youths. A free program that is designed to help kids learn about different cultures that started in 1994 is shown in its full extent as it gives children a lot more even though they admit about their anxieties and what other kids would think. Though not entirely original, Mad Hot Ballroom is a wonderful gem that puts a smile in everyone's faces while making their feet tap.
A dance competition that relies on such traditional dances as swing, tango, merengue, foxtrot, and rumba is on its way and many schools in the New York City area are preparing to compete. Among those schools is three of them from three different areas. One is a school in the Tribeca area of Manhattan led by Alex Tchassov who is teaching kids how to dance in different styles while showing them behavioral skills towards their partner. Another school is from the uptown area of Washington Heights led by two teachers, Rodney Lopez and Yomaira Reynoso who are teaching kids that are mostly from the Dominican Republic. The third school from the Bensonhurst area of Brooklyn where it's taught by Victoria Malvagno.
Each of those school train for the competition with the kids admitting that they felt weird dancing with someone from the opposite sex yet for the kids from Washington Heights, it gives them something to do other than go out and do things like drugs or something bad. With their teacher Reynoso wanting to get a trophy this time for the upcoming competition, she trains her kids hard but not being an overtly disciplinarian though she has a hard time with one of them in Jonathan. Another of her kids in Wilson, doesn’t know how to speak English yet he is starting to learn from all the kids and the teachers.
In the more trendy, upper-class school in Tribeca, the kids admits it the lessons give them better communication schools and etiquettes though a few admit they don't like dancing with their teacher Alex because he's so graceful. One of the kids, Tara hopes dancing will give her a career in not just dancing but in the arts while Emma (who looks a bit like a young Ludivine Sagnier with brown hair) feels that she is getting to know boys better away from their usual extracurricular activities and testosterone driven attitude.
In the working class, Italian area of Bensonhurst, the kids are more of a wide mix of Asians, Anglos, African-Americans, and Muslims. Two kids, who couldn't dance because of their religion don't dance but do help out with the music and the spacing of how much room the dancers should be in. Led by their teacher Victoria, many of the kids feel that it does give them a better understanding of cultures while they admit, they're not ready for the opposite sex with one of the younger boys in Kevin who admits, he is pretty scared of girls and dancing while his older brother seems more confident in the dancing department.
With the competition getting closer and closer, kids do feel the tension as some girls complain that the boys will lead a bit to fast if they don’t the dancing while teachers are getting ready to organize for the competition. With the teachers choosing the kids they want to pick, which was really hard for one of the teachers in the Tribeca area, many of the kids are chosen to do different dances. Many of them practicing and getting ready to pick out clothes, the competition is on its way.
Then there's the competition where six schools compete for the quarterfinals with three of the six schools that are profiled all in the same competition. Many of them standout but only a few are going to the semi-finals. Only one of those schools profiled gets to go to the finals which leaves a heartbreaking moment for the two other schools though they remain optimistic that they could have a chance for next year and that they got something out of this. With another school that won the competition last year ready to go, it's up to one of the schools to get ready and to try and win with the final competition at one of the buildings that is near on what used to be the World Trade Center.
While it's not an original documentary and there's not much of a suspense, still the film has a winning quality in the fact that the audience can relate to the children and a few of the parents that are profiled. There are some wonderful scenes in the film and moments that are a bit funny and a bit sad at times, even when those kids lose. You can see the heartbreak and tears as they worked so hard to be so good. Heck, no one really likes competition sometimes. Director Marilyn Agrelo does a fantastic job in capturing the reality of those kids, especially the one from Washington Heights who had to endure behavioral problems and poverty and in dancing, they are given hope for the first time away from crime. The video cinematography of Claudia Raschke is well-shot in its video look, especially how they face to the same height of the children. With the film in its 105-minute running time, editor Sabine Krayenbuhl does a fine job in giving the film a nicely paced feel.
Then there's the music which is wonderfully selected and there's never a moment in the film when the music is played, you can't help but move your feet. Overall, Mad Hot Ballroom is a fascinating, uplifting documentary film that families can enjoy. With everyone forced to be seen the next mediocre sludge that stars the likes of Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan, Mad Hot Ballroom offers a much better alternative with real kids, real dreams, and a real message that gives something to get out and smile about while moving your feet and do the merengue at the same time.
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