Mad Hot Ballroom is the shit; if you can, you should, and even if you can't, you should remember that once you can you should. It may not be in theaters where you are at, but will be on DVD soon.
MHB is a documentary about a ballroom dancing program for eleven-year-olds in NYC; the kids take a ballroom dancing class and some of them go on to compete in a city-wide competition.
The poignancy of the documentary is only lightly touched on; that many of these kids are coming from neighborhoods where they and their peers are more likely to end up on the corner, in prison or dead than in college. At least as far as the adults running the dance program are concerned, ballroom dancing is another of the possible avenues to try and reach these kids and inspire them with whatever mercurial quality it is that lets a person see beyond their horizons and swim against the prevailing tides.
But again, that struggle is entirely in subtext-- the meat of the documentary is spent talking with the kids themselves . . . they are at a perfect age for this kind of movie; they are old enough to look at their futures, and speak with a tone of faux-wisdom, but still do so with a child's wide-eyed innocence. Completely. Adorable.
The kids themselves couldn't have been scripted better-- I can't tell you about the one little dude just breaking the fuck out of his shell without giving up too much of a spoiler, but I will say that it was really inspiring to see.
The movie has a huge heart, and goes best with three things: lightly buttered popcorn, Free State beer, and Sophie. I suspect you'll only be able to get one of those three, but please don't allow it to dissuade you from seeing the movie:
It gets three snaps up with a Merengue swish.
MHB is a documentary about a ballroom dancing program for eleven-year-olds in NYC; the kids take a ballroom dancing class and some of them go on to compete in a city-wide competition.
The poignancy of the documentary is only lightly touched on; that many of these kids are coming from neighborhoods where they and their peers are more likely to end up on the corner, in prison or dead than in college. At least as far as the adults running the dance program are concerned, ballroom dancing is another of the possible avenues to try and reach these kids and inspire them with whatever mercurial quality it is that lets a person see beyond their horizons and swim against the prevailing tides.
But again, that struggle is entirely in subtext-- the meat of the documentary is spent talking with the kids themselves . . . they are at a perfect age for this kind of movie; they are old enough to look at their futures, and speak with a tone of faux-wisdom, but still do so with a child's wide-eyed innocence. Completely. Adorable.
The kids themselves couldn't have been scripted better-- I can't tell you about the one little dude just breaking the fuck out of his shell without giving up too much of a spoiler, but I will say that it was really inspiring to see.
The movie has a huge heart, and goes best with three things: lightly buttered popcorn, Free State beer, and Sophie. I suspect you'll only be able to get one of those three, but please don't allow it to dissuade you from seeing the movie:
It gets three snaps up with a Merengue swish.
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i miss your neck right now. and your shoulder. and the way you say goodnight.
yes to the draping of the site!