Mad Hot Ballroom - Watch It!
There are certain things you do when you live in a city and don't really know anybody. I've spent my time at the library, a bit at the gym, cleaning here and there and watching a couple of movies. Tonight, under the recommendation of my friend, I went to watch Mad Hot Ballroom.
The movie is amazing and I highly recommend it. I promise you won't be dissapointed or you can throw the $9 freakin' dollar movie ticket in the attendants face. I didn't realize movies were that expensive!
Mad Hot Ballroom is an inspiring look inside the lives of New York City kids on a journey into the world of ballroom dancing, an unexpected arena where they discover new frontiers about attitude, movement, style and commitment.
My favorite kid in the documentary is Wilson. He's a recent immigrant from the Dominican Republic who doesn't speak English. You HAVE to go to the Mad Hot Ballroom web site, click on Trailers/Clips then click on Wilson/Elsamelys Competing The Rumba. This clip is great.
posted by Daily Texican at 12:21 AM
4 Comments:
I just hope the doc makes it to my town.
4:47 PM
Can't wait to check it out!! Where are the Seattle pix?
7:49 PM
It would be nice to be the world's cutest kid, like Wilson!!
2:12 PM
We went to see Mad HOT Ballroom (for the trailer of the film, please see www.dancescape.tv). The movie was showing at the Cumberland Theatre in downtown Toronto, and is run by Alliance Atlantis, so there were other more "artsy" movies being shown. Well, it was worth the drive and wait!
The audience was primarily made up of people in their 50's to 70's, at least during the time we went. There were quite a number of "tourists" as well, probably from the local Hyatt and Four Seasons Hotels in the area.
What we loved about the movie was that it captured the "innocence" of children and the passion of their "teachers". It was interesting to see from a child's eye their determination to want to make the finals ... the disappointment of those who didn't and the exhiliration of those that did.
What we also loved was the diversity of cultures represented by the children ... hispanic, black, white, vietnamese, chinese, etc. ... and how they were partnered. In one scene, it showed two children who may have been of Muslim faith, who seemed to indicate that it was against their religion to dance. However, instead of trying to make a "moral" statement, the producers captured a moment where the child exclaimed that he enjoyed being the "DJ" and taking care of the music! In one scene, it even showed him trying to correct one of the other couples!
Some of the invited judges in the Grand finals included Charlotte Jorgensen as well as Broadway star, Ann Reinking. It was lovely to see them and other well-known judges in the Dance world, being captivated by the various dance teams.
What could have been done differently? Possibly showing more the "day-to-day" living side of some of the children. A number of the children talked about "drugs". Although we're not familiar with the various urban neighbourhoods of New York City, if it's like many "urban" centres in other cities, it would have been interesting to contrast the "urban decay", and how something like the experience of dance can be "life-changing" for the children. It would also have been interesting to interview some of the children who took part in the first program (think it was in 1994) ... in keeping with the film's
positive perspective, maybe a "success" story.
There was a British Show a number of years ago that traced children through the decades (can't remember the title) ... their innocence in primary school, to their teenage years, and finally onto adulthood. It would be fascinating to revisit these wonderful children to see where they may end up a decade from now.
DanceScape has a Mad HOT Ballroom contest for an American Express Cash Gift Card as well as Soundtracks to the movie! Check out www.dancescape.com/contest.
For those of you who also watched the movie, please share your thoughts as well on our Global Forums at http://dancescape.com/mydancefriends.
www.dancescape.com
dance is ... PASSION
9:17 AM
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