At my elementary school, we were offered several dance lessons that were held during our lunch hour. We were taught only the basic steps such as the box step or cha-cha. Dancing was not thought of as a strong enough physical activity to warrant taking the place of scatterball or bombardment games. It wasn’t until I was of legal age that I realized dancing could be considered an aerobic activity. Many a night was spent at the clubs burning off calories to the steady beats of dance music. But my love of dance really came at a much younger age. When I was 2 years old my brothers would place me up on top of a table, place an oversized hat on my head, turn on the record player and I would dance along to the music. This documentary did a perfect job in displaying the power of dance. Seeing these New York City 5th graders being instilled with hope and confidence during the school system’s ballroom dance competition was inspirational for me. I especially admired the diversity of students, coming from various neighborhoods of the city. There are famous quotes about music being healing and soothing, but I think they could easily apply to dance. Look how popular the different reality dance shows are on television; people certainly love to dance.  I am willing to bet that even the non-dancer would be hard pressed not to feel uplifted by these children as they learn more than just how to dance. If I had such confidence back then; who knows, maybe I would have gone through with my dream of becoming a go-go boy.

3 1/4 stars — DVD