Film Review:

Mad Hot Ballroom

In New York, there is a ballroom dance program in 60 public schools (it really beats doing push-ups in Phys Ed!) This film is about the 5th graders who vie for those coveted competition slots. Kids have to learn to rumba, meringue, tango, foxtrot and rock ‘n roll (swing). For some, it’s easy, others, very difficult, but for all, it builds great self-esteem and also helps kids get over that awkward feeling they have toward the opposite gender during these early years.

Schools covered in the doc are P.S. 112 in Bensonhurst, which used to be an Italian Brooklyn neighborhood but now has a big Asian population, P.S. 150 in upwardly mobile Tribeca, and P.S. 115, uptown in lower-class, heavily Dominican Washington Heights. Each school boasts colorful teachers and different kinds of kids; everything from brains, to cut-up class clowns. Some are natural dancers and some need a lot of work.

When you don’t see the kids at school learning the history of the dances they are doing as well as practicing them, they are at home or at their local hang-outs where the girls talk about boys and the guys, of course, talk about sports and discovering girls!

We see the kids during 10 weeks of really tough dance classes that lead up to the big competition. The girls and teachers shop for matching costumes, the guys have trouble remembering to tuck their shirts into their pants but make a valiant effort.

It will be hard for you not to pick a “team” to root for. These kids are so real and they are completely transformed by taking a partner and learning the dances. Shy guys can finally look girls in the eyes, etc. As one teacher says "I see them turning into these ladies and gentlemen!" But don’t be fooled, these kids are the real thing. You’ll see their celebration on winning and their tears on losing.

Like other films set in school arts classes (Fame comes to mind) Mad Hot Ballroom, on the surface, is about the talent and the performing but it is really about the young people; how learning something new effects them and their relationships with others and, especially, at 5th grade age, the opposite gender.

If you’re still a tween, you can totally identify with what these young boys and girls are going through. You’ll recognize yourself and your friends in at least one or two of the cast members. If you are a teen or young adult and have already gone through this awkward era of self-discovery, you’ll take a great retro-trip to your youth. Either way, you’ll pick some kids, root for them and really enjoy the film.

This movie is rated PG

Official Movie Web Site - Mad Hot Ballroom

Pictures courtesy of and copyright Paramount Classics, 2005