Mad Hot Ballroom
is mad hot fun.
The best documentaries explore subjects most people know little or nothing about. Begin with expert commentary, add a splash of dramatic but quirky music, and watch the mating habits of the tsetse fly suddenly become enthralling. The same could be said for
Mad Hot Ballroom
, a film that follows several groups of New York City public school students as they rumba, tango and meringue their way to the finals of the city's ballroom dancing competition.
Ballroom dancing became a required course for fifth graders in New York at the beginning of the decade. Six thousand kids from 60 schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens
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participate in the program, learning the steps, the etiquette and the style that goes with ballroom. First-time director Marilyn Agrelo and writer Amy Sewell show us the learning process, taking us into the classrooms and moving in close on the awkward smiles and sideways glances the kids give their partners. Dancing, of course, requires the kids to get closer and closer to one another and most of them are comically uncomfortable. Agrelo also shows us the dedication, love and drive of both teachers and students, but the film works best when the students are off the dance floor and speaking their minds.
The kids of
Ballroom
aren't bratty showbiz kids but real public school kids-they're goofy and shy and funny. They reveal a world most adults might think lost-a positive, hopeful world where doing the right thing comes naturally. The assertion that ballroom dancing has turned some of these children around and given them a positive thrust is a bit much at first, but over time these 11-year-old Lords of the Dance actually do learn something more than fancy steps. Wise and opinionated on everything from drugs to gay marriage, the subjects of
Ballroom
are disturbingly mature as they wax philosophical about the differences between boys and girls and the weirdness of puberty. One boy, Cyrus, clearly has
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given a lot of thought to what he's doing in school. He sums up the significance of dance for us quite succinctly: "When you think about it, ballroom dancing is just a tiny grain of sand, you know, in the country."
Indeed, but in the second half ballroom becomes an enormous boulder that weighs the film down. The competition takes over the narrative, taking precedence over the kids' commentary and slowing the film down. Though the dancing is impressive, the competition is hardly "mad hot." The contest footage feels virtually unedited and much of the magic is lost. Suddenly, the mating habits of the tsetse fly do seem mighty interesting.
Still,
Ballroom
is a fun, exciting and frequently touching look at the positive power of the arts. Like the children themselves, this documentary displays a clumsy enthusiasm that is hard to deny and even harder not to enjoy. If dancing's not your thing, there's still plenty to love about
Ballroom
. Like the fun of childhood, it's noisy and overlong and you'll miss it when its over.
