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Also released as:
Mad Hot Ballroom
for $16.10
DVD Details
- Rated: PG
- Closed captioning available
- Run Time: 1 hours, 45 minutes
- Video: Color
- Encoding: Region 1 (USA & Canada)
- Released: October 18, 2005
- Originally Released: 2005
- Label: Paramount
Performers, Cast and Crew:
Directed by | Marilyn Agrelo | |
Music by | Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, Della Reese, Bobby Darin, Glenn Miller & Lucia Mendez | |
Screenwriting by | Amy Sewell | |
Produced by | Marilyn Agrelo & Amy Sewell | |
Director of Photography: | Claudia Raschke-Robinson |
Entertainment Reviews:
[A] disarming documentary....Agrelo offers a colourful, thriving portrait of New York...
Sight and Sound
Charming if slightly overlong.
Full Review
Time Out
[T]he real deal is Marilyn Agrelo's tremendously entertaining documentary....[It] swings and inspires.
Rolling Stone
Rating: 3/4 --
A sweet, and utterly entertaining portrait of children learning about confidence, achievement, skill, and also understanding the game of the sexes at such a young age.
Full Review
Cinema Crazed
Rating: 3/4 --
Listening to the kids talk is a treat in itself, but watching them strut their stuff in the final competition is enough to make you stand up and cheer.
Rolling Stone
Rating: 3.5/4 --
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.
Christianity Today
A much more sanguine view of cultural diversity emerges in this enchanting documentary...what Mad Hot Ballroom lacks in depth, it more than makesup for in charm and vibrancy.
Newsweek
Product Description:
Tango, foxtrot, swing, rumba, and meringue may seem to represent the last vestiges of a dying art to some, but director Marilyn Agrelo proves this is far from true in MAD HOT BALLROOM. Agrelo reveals that the New York City public school system runs a ballroom dance program for fifth graders, in which these former preserves of the adult world are given a new lease on life by some enthusiastic little characters. The film follows students at three schools in the neighborhoods of Tribeca, Bensonhurst, and Washington Heights, with Agrelo training her cameras on the kids' lives both inside and outside of the classroom. The students are united by a zeal for the ballroom dancing lessons, which builds over a 10-week period and culminates in a competition to find the school that has produced the best dancers in the city. As the teachers gently cajole their students to learn the intricacies of the various disciplines, Agrelo intersperses classroom footage with the students' musings on life; many of these reveal a remarkable maturity. Gender and race boundaries disappear as focus on the competition consumes the students' energy, and the teachers are brought to tears as they see their prodigies turning into what one teacher touchingly terms "little ladies and gentlemen." As the pitter-patter of tiny toes scuttles across the ballroom floor in the competition's final stages, it's impossible not to get swept up in the action. One of Agrelo's cameramen is caught grinning in an affectionate, almost paternal manner as he accidentally wanders into the frame while filming. One of 2005's most uplifting slices of cinema, MAD HOT BALLROOM is a joyous, life-affirming experience.
Keywords:
Coming Of Age
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Dance
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Teenage
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Documentary
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Theatrical Release
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Swing
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Latin Music
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Jazz
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New York City
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Competitions
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Students
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Salsa
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Product Info
- UPC: 097363455547
- Shipping Weight: 0.27/lbs (approx)
- International Shipping: 1 item