Mad Hot Ballroom

2005 "Anyone can make it if they learn how to shake it."
7.4| 1h45m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 13 May 2005 Released
Producted By: Nickelodeon Movies
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Eleven-year-old New York City public school kids journey into the world of ballroom dancing and reveal pieces of themselves and their world along the way. Told from their candid, sometimes humorous perspectives, these kids are transformed, from reluctant participants to determined competitors, from typical urban kids to "ladies and gentlemen," on their way to try to compete in the final citywide competition.

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blanche-2 "Mad Hot Ballroom" is a documentary about New York City inner school kids who have ballroom dance as part of their curriculum. We follow three schools as they prepare for a huge competition. Along the way, we get to know the students and the teachers.The children are adorable, and the effect that ballroom dance has on their lives is remarkable. They learn goal-setting, discipline, good manners, grooming, and get to know the opposite sex in a safe atmosphere. These are children who could just as easily become gang members.The teachers are totally invested in the students, which is quite moving. It's sad to see the tears and crestfallen faces during different parts of the competition - but the teachers realize that's a life lesson that the kids all need to learn.Very uplifting, inspiring, with some very good dancing, "Mad Hot Ballroom" shows the positive value of having arts in the schools, as well as dedicated teachers who care.
bob the moo Each year within the New York Public School system is a ballroom dancing competition. This year we follow a couple of schools from inner-city areas and the pupils who find themselves sucked into the competitive dance-offs despite the reservations some of them feel.This film was billed as "this year's Spellbound", which was both a smart marketing move but also an unhelpful comparison. In regards the subject then it is a fair comparison because it deals with school kids in competition but unfortunately the quality is not quite as high. The weakness here is in the delivery and structure because I think it tries to throw its net too wide, taking in groups rather than individuals. As a result it never brings out specific characters as well as Spellbound did and as a viewer I never got engaged with individuals that much. In the general sweep approach though the film does work as a rather fun documentary. The kids are all wonderfully "Noo Yark", "BK" etc clichés and there is a certain pleasure in watching them get engaged in the dancing and enter into the competitive spirit.In a very white, middle-class way I suppose I'm suppose to take something bigger from this and certainly some of the reviews have come across as being "moved" in a rather condensing way. But this is the downside of having "underprivileged" (read "non-white") kids as a general group and not bringing individuals out apart from here and there – they become a mass and not a subject. The dance contests and the sass of the pupils does give it enough energy to carry it along but outside of this there is not a lot to get from it and I rarely found myself engaged in a general competition that I had little personal stock invested in. The classes focused on are all quite fun but again I did want the individuals to be brought out more.Overall then a colourful and quite fun film with plenty of energy but a weakness in the approach and structure. Unlike Spellbound we don't really have individuals that we can follow but rather groups and this approach stops stories and morals coming out. The result of this is an OK documentary but nowhere near as strong or as interesting as it could have been and in regards the quality of the film it certainly does not deserve its comparison with Spellbound.
Roland E. Zwick For many of the students who attend New York City's public schools, education often takes a back seat to the daily struggles brought about by poverty, language barriers and broken homes. It's small wonder, then, that so many students drop out of school, turn to gangs and drugs, and lose all hope for a bright, productive future. In an attempt to circumvent that scenario and to give its children a viable reason for staying in school, the district has implemented a program that introduces all 5th graders to the fine art of ballroom dancing. After a year of training, the best dancers go on to compete in a citywide competition that, for many of these kids, represents the one truly positive influence in their lives. The rapturous documentary "Mad Hot Ballroom" is a tribute to that program.Director Marilyn Agrelo has focused on three schools, two in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn, where the program is in full swing. Most of the film is spent chronicling the efforts on the part of the teachers and the students to get ready for the competition. However, the movie also offers a generous collection of clips showing the children in their off-school hours, at home or in local hangouts. The kids are not shy about opening up for the camera as they comment on all aspects of their lives, revealing their street smarts and their refreshingly candid, canny and thoughtful assessments of the world around them. And as the competition increases, the kids learn a little something, too, about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.The film-making style - which alternates between interviews and scenes of the children dancing - is straightforward and relatively conventional, but the subject matter is so compelling in its own right that any attempt on the part of the filmmakers to fancy it up would most likely have detracted from the movie's overall value as an instructional document. If there is a flaw in the film, it is that the movie isn't as successful at differentiating the individual participants as, say, "Spellbound," a movie about spelling bees which took great pains to zero in on specific children throughout the course of the film, the end result being that we really felt that we got to know them as people. In "Ballroom," however, the kids, adorable as they are, come across more as part of a herd than as a collection of clearly delineated individuals. But the scenes centered on the competition are as filled with suspense, emotion and high drama as those in "Spellbound." In this day and age in which funding for the arts in public education should have its own Endangered Species Act, it's wonderful to see such a program not only surviving but flourishing in such unpromising soil. Though the program is clearly no panacea for all of life's many ills, for these children, at least, it seems to be a major step in setting them on the right path to a future full of promise and hope.Steeped in emotion and beautiful in spirit, "Mad Hot Ballroom" is "inspirational" film-making in the very best sense of the term.
allelulia100 This movie was great! I grew up in Harlem, New York and I loved the programs the schools offer to children. I recommended this movie for the entire family to watch. This movie was very positive and as well as inspiring! If you have children that are not excelling in other areas this kind of program will help them. The teachers and dance instructor's were wonderful with these children. The children in the movie were excellent in expressing their views on school and personal issues. I have taken this movie to my job to show the residents there. Everyone enjoyed it so much, they watched it three times. This movie bought lots of good memories to the residents. The staff also enjoyed the movie and had great comments about it. Thank you so much for such a great movie!