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Mad Hot Ballroom is an unfortunate name for this wonderful documentary but you must go rent this video! In over 60 New York public schools, 5th-graders are required to take a 10-week course in Ballroom Dancing. At the end, there are several rounds of competition that culminates with one school's ballroom dance team winning a trophy taller than the kids who won it. 90 minutes flew by in a blur of foot-tapping swing, hip-swaying Latin-style music, and dramatic tango pieces. I loved watching the kids overcome their bashfulness ("A BOY...is going to touch ME?! But then I knew it's just for dancing so it's ok.") and their stumbling steps and nervous giggling to really get into the music and learn to dance. The filmmakers picked out several students and included footage of them playing, hanging out, and talking about their views on life, these dance classes, and the opposite sex. I was struck by how far into the future the kids looked ahead. They were talking about staying away from gangs, hoping their friends didn't become drug dealers, going to college, and what they wanted to do with their lives. At that age I thought I'd be a doctor but I was very hazy on the details of what was involved to make it happen.
I don't know about you but my school dances consisted largely of dancing on your own in circles to fast music interspersed with breaks of the trusty clutch-and-sway dances for slow songs. We did have square dancing classes in 6th grade but we all acted like we were too cool for them. Is it common for schools to teach some form of partner dancing? We mocked the music as corny and made a big deal out of having to be partnered up for the dancing. And I had no interest in dancing and resented the idea that time was being taken away from more important classes. The reality is that I wasn't comfortable in my body and felt awkward and clumsy and didn't like the idea that trying to remember dance steps could possibly affect my GPA. But these kids got into it. They wanted so badly to be picked for the school's dance team. They're faces oozed yearning when they thought about winning the giant Challenge Trophy. They screamed and cheered enthusiastically for their classmates at the competitions. Those that lost felt crushed and wept openly. It sucks to lose but at the same time, I thought it was good that they wanted to win. They didn't pretend they were too cool for this. They loved the dancing and wanted to win. And just as in sports, good sportsmanship is an important part of growing up. I think it's good they have these dance classes before puberty hits. At least the film didn't mention any inopportune signs of arousal. Though in many cases, the girls had hit their growth spurts before the boys so many many pairings had the boys looking up to their partners.
In one of the schools they showed, the principal said there was a 97% poverty rate among the students. 97%?!!! That's just insane. I was struck by how diverse the student body was. A lot of kids from the Dominican Republic. Jewish kids, Asian kids, black kids. Even a few white kids thrown in the mix. Their accents came from around the world and some of them spoke English hesitantly though maybe that was because they were shy of being on camera. One teacher switched frequently between Spanish and English and seemed to resort to Spanish whenever she was trying to emphasize her point. But at one point, the principal talked about one girl who used to have behavior problems but after the dance classes, she hadn't been sent to the principal's office a single time all year. Not bad. That jives with what Michael had told me about teaching at a school for difficult kids. The staff really worked hard to find what they called 'islands of competency' -- find something that the kid can do and use that to build up the kid's confidence and branch into other skill areas.
And I loved the teachers. The ones in the film really cared about their kids and I'm totally crushing on a teacher the kids called "Mr. Rodney" for being so good with the kids. I think being a public school teacher is a bit of a thankless job but the ones I saw in the film looked like they were at the top of their game. Very encouraging to see.
Maybe part of our enjoyment was that we loved the music too. We both had moments of identifying a song after hearing the first two notes (Peggy Lee's "Fever" for me and Frank Sinatra's "The Way you Look Tonight" for my boyfriend). And after just a one-second passing glance at one judge, Michael managed to identify her as Ann Reinking, a really famous dancer.
How did they learn so many dances though? In 10 weeks, they covered tango, rhumba, merengue, foxtrot, and swing. And some of those kids were Really Good! Light and smooth on their feet. Sassy smiles. Graceful carriage. It's just adorable to see. But how many hours per week do they spend in these classes? I'm really impressed with how quickly they learned. OK...I'll stop gushing. But you really ought to see it.
And if you like it, you should go see Spellbound too. That's another documentary with kids in competition headed for the National Spelling Bee. Also loved this and could write another whole long entry on just this one but it's been a while since I've seen this and writing about Mad Hot Ballroom tuckered me out a bit. Feel free to share tales of your own spelling nemeses. The only word that haunts me is 'picaresque' -- mostly because one of my parents friends replied, "Oh yes...like a rogue," and it boggled my mind that I had missed a word that was apparently common.
I don't know about you but my school dances consisted largely of dancing on your own in circles to fast music interspersed with breaks of the trusty clutch-and-sway dances for slow songs. We did have square dancing classes in 6th grade but we all acted like we were too cool for them. Is it common for schools to teach some form of partner dancing? We mocked the music as corny and made a big deal out of having to be partnered up for the dancing. And I had no interest in dancing and resented the idea that time was being taken away from more important classes. The reality is that I wasn't comfortable in my body and felt awkward and clumsy and didn't like the idea that trying to remember dance steps could possibly affect my GPA. But these kids got into it. They wanted so badly to be picked for the school's dance team. They're faces oozed yearning when they thought about winning the giant Challenge Trophy. They screamed and cheered enthusiastically for their classmates at the competitions. Those that lost felt crushed and wept openly. It sucks to lose but at the same time, I thought it was good that they wanted to win. They didn't pretend they were too cool for this. They loved the dancing and wanted to win. And just as in sports, good sportsmanship is an important part of growing up. I think it's good they have these dance classes before puberty hits. At least the film didn't mention any inopportune signs of arousal. Though in many cases, the girls had hit their growth spurts before the boys so many many pairings had the boys looking up to their partners. In one of the schools they showed, the principal said there was a 97% poverty rate among the students. 97%?!!! That's just insane. I was struck by how diverse the student body was. A lot of kids from the Dominican Republic. Jewish kids, Asian kids, black kids. Even a few white kids thrown in the mix. Their accents came from around the world and some of them spoke English hesitantly though maybe that was because they were shy of being on camera. One teacher switched frequently between Spanish and English and seemed to resort to Spanish whenever she was trying to emphasize her point. But at one point, the principal talked about one girl who used to have behavior problems but after the dance classes, she hadn't been sent to the principal's office a single time all year. Not bad. That jives with what Michael had told me about teaching at a school for difficult kids. The staff really worked hard to find what they called 'islands of competency' -- find something that the kid can do and use that to build up the kid's confidence and branch into other skill areas.
And I loved the teachers. The ones in the film really cared about their kids and I'm totally crushing on a teacher the kids called "Mr. Rodney" for being so good with the kids. I think being a public school teacher is a bit of a thankless job but the ones I saw in the film looked like they were at the top of their game. Very encouraging to see.
Maybe part of our enjoyment was that we loved the music too. We both had moments of identifying a song after hearing the first two notes (Peggy Lee's "Fever" for me and Frank Sinatra's "The Way you Look Tonight" for my boyfriend). And after just a one-second passing glance at one judge, Michael managed to identify her as Ann Reinking, a really famous dancer.
How did they learn so many dances though? In 10 weeks, they covered tango, rhumba, merengue, foxtrot, and swing. And some of those kids were Really Good! Light and smooth on their feet. Sassy smiles. Graceful carriage. It's just adorable to see. But how many hours per week do they spend in these classes? I'm really impressed with how quickly they learned. OK...I'll stop gushing. But you really ought to see it.
And if you like it, you should go see Spellbound too. That's another documentary with kids in competition headed for the National Spelling Bee. Also loved this and could write another whole long entry on just this one but it's been a while since I've seen this and writing about Mad Hot Ballroom tuckered me out a bit. Feel free to share tales of your own spelling nemeses. The only word that haunts me is 'picaresque' -- mostly because one of my parents friends replied, "Oh yes...like a rogue," and it boggled my mind that I had missed a word that was apparently common.
