Saturday, July 30, 2005
Mad Hot Ballroom (2005)
Director: Marilyn Agrelo
*Warning the following analysis contains a discussion of the entire film – including the ending.
Mad Hot Ballroom is adorable, absolutely adorable. Other than a few sentences describing the plot of this documentary there is little analysis to be had aside from grabbing the film by its cheeks and saying ‘adorable, you’re adorable’.
Mad Hot Ballroom is a documentary set in the 5 boroughs of New York. It follows the fate of four 4th grade classes (or was it 5th grade?) as they compete in the citywide elementary school ballroom dancing competition. About 90% of the footage shows the kids practicing to dance or dancing at their competitions. And it is simply adorable. It is charming and hilarious watching them learn to dance and it is adorable and delightful watching them dance in competition. There are a few moments when you get chocked-up and teary, in particular when the teachers themselves get chocked-up and teary talking about their students whom they obviously care deeply about, perhaps more deeply than they realized themselves. But mostly it’s adorable.
You also get a few glimpses into the home lives of these students, many from lower class inner-city families. In some ways the ballroom dancing is the only positive activity in these students’ lives. Or at least it seems like that might be the case, but the film does little, perhaps too little, giving the back stories of these students. There is an extremely small amount of footage away from the dancing so you only get the vaguest impression of where these students are coming from. We hear from the teachers that dancing is a rare opportunity for these students to succeed at something, to be engaged in a positive activity in their 0therwise difficult lives, but we do not see it; we do not get any insight into what it is like being 10-years-old in Washington Heights or Bensonhurst, Brooklyn .
But I guess social commentary was not the point of the film. Perhaps the directors were satisfied simply documenting the competition in an adorable and delightful way, and in that they succeed.
Should you see it? Wait until you get the mid-winter blues and you need something uplifting and adorable to brighten your day.
*Warning the following analysis contains a discussion of the entire film – including the ending.
Mad Hot Ballroom is adorable, absolutely adorable. Other than a few sentences describing the plot of this documentary there is little analysis to be had aside from grabbing the film by its cheeks and saying ‘adorable, you’re adorable’.
Mad Hot Ballroom is a documentary set in the 5 boroughs of New York. It follows the fate of four 4th grade classes (or was it 5th grade?) as they compete in the citywide elementary school ballroom dancing competition. About 90% of the footage shows the kids practicing to dance or dancing at their competitions. And it is simply adorable. It is charming and hilarious watching them learn to dance and it is adorable and delightful watching them dance in competition. There are a few moments when you get chocked-up and teary, in particular when the teachers themselves get chocked-up and teary talking about their students whom they obviously care deeply about, perhaps more deeply than they realized themselves. But mostly it’s adorable.
You also get a few glimpses into the home lives of these students, many from lower class inner-city families. In some ways the ballroom dancing is the only positive activity in these students’ lives. Or at least it seems like that might be the case, but the film does little, perhaps too little, giving the back stories of these students. There is an extremely small amount of footage away from the dancing so you only get the vaguest impression of where these students are coming from. We hear from the teachers that dancing is a rare opportunity for these students to succeed at something, to be engaged in a positive activity in their 0therwise difficult lives, but we do not see it; we do not get any insight into what it is like being 10-years-old in Washington Heights or Bensonhurst, Brooklyn .
But I guess social commentary was not the point of the film. Perhaps the directors were satisfied simply documenting the competition in an adorable and delightful way, and in that they succeed.
Should you see it? Wait until you get the mid-winter blues and you need something uplifting and adorable to brighten your day.
