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First-time feature filmmakers Marilyn Agrelo and Amy Sewell do a great job capturing the unstaged magic of the kids, who don't seem to show off any more for the cameras then they do for each other. The film's greatest strength is sometimes its most problematic weakness, however, as it is hard to keep track of such a sprawling cast of characters. I was often uncertain as to which school I was watching in any given scene, and I wasn't able to sort out which teachers worked where until I later visited the film's website.

Fifth graders from Washington Heights PS 115 are feeling the groove

Occasionally we are given some background on a particular child—for example, we learn from a teacher that one boy was well on his way to a career in crime until the dance program captured his imagination and literally changed the trajectory of his life. The film leaves us hungry for more of this type of information, but the sheer number of kids involved limits the details we learn about any one child. However, we are more than compensated for depth with breadth. Screenwriters have built major Hollywood blockbusters on a tenth as many great lines as the kids spontaneously offer up here.

Two of my favorite characters are the boys who explain that their respective religions prevent them from participating in the dancing. They relish their roles as DJs and also offer up a fair amount of coaching from the sidelines. As the child of devout Baptists, I was not allowed to attend school dances, and my university of choice asked me to sign a contract stating that I would not engage in "social dancing." (We students often wondered if anti-social dancing would be permitted, but that's another story). But watching Mad Hot Ballroom, it is hard to imagine anyone objecting to the Dancing Classrooms program. The kids are at an ideal age—old enough to master the steps but too young to have things complicated by any sort of sexual tension, and the program itself enriches their lives in so many ways. We observe firsthand as awkward and sometimes difficult children transform into ladies and gentlemen. We see the powerful effect an adult can have on a child when he treats her with dignity and respect; we watch children accomplish extraordinary things simply because someone believes they can. And the best of the dancing is beautiful.

Ultimately, we cheer not just for their dancing, but for their future

Eventually the documentary's focus does narrow in on the school that makes the Finals, where the camera unabashedly plays favorites. But we are rewarded with some remarkably fluid dancing and can't help but share the filmmakers' enthusiasm for the team in question. The outcome is not particularly surprising, but immensely satisfying, and I confess my face actually hurt from sustained and emphatic grinning at the film's climax.

Whatever its imperfections, Mad Hot Ballroom has so much going for it that it's truly irresistible. It's a film about underdog triumph, kids who turn their lives around, and the passionate teachers who help them. In all its unscripted glory, it shows us pre-adolescence with an astonishing authenticity that should be the envy of a hundred coming-of-age movies. Ultimately, it celebrates hard work, cooperation, respect, talent, passion and beauty.

Midway through the film, Yomairi, P.S. 115's zealously committed teacher, admits with a sort of heartbroken resignation that many of the children in the Dancing Classrooms program will eventually end up on the streets. She later tells her students that the one thing that will give them a future is to find something they do well and give it everything they've got. It is Mad Hot Ballroom's triumph that, watching the kids move with grace across the ballroom floor, we cheer not only for their dance, but for their future.

Carolyn Arends is a Christian singer/songwriter, author, movie buff, wife and mother of two who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Talk About It

1. The head of the competition is emphatic that there is only one winner and the rest of the teams are losers. In this story, two of the three teams don't make the finals, and they react in different ways. What role do you feel competition should play in children's lives? How about in adults' lives? Is it useful or destructive? What is the appropriate way to respond to a loss? To a victory?
   
   

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