Movie Review: Mad Hot Ballroom

Tonight I saw Mad Hot Ballroom at the Carlisle Theatre. It's probably the first time I've seen a movie with both of my parents in maybe 15 years. Anywho, I really enjoyed this documentary. It centers around elementary school students in three different schools in New York City. Get this, public school kids in NYC get ballroom dancing classes, during school hours! How cool is that? Every year there is a competition between the elementary schools to crown the five boroughs ballroom dancing champion. So the movie follows the students in the three schools as they prepare for the competition and eventually concludes at the championship. It's great to follow the kids and their teachers and to hear the kids talk about dancing and about the daily trials faced by ten and eleven year-olds. I just really enjoyed watching the kids dancing and hearing them talk about dancing (so much so that now I'm repeating myself). And these two kids, Michael and Cyrus just killed me. They were too funny.

If your name is Ellie, or you have even the slightest interest in dancing, you should see this movie. If you're a teacher, you should see this movie. If you liked that show that Bill Cosby used to host "Kids Say the Darndest Things," you should see this movie. The rest of you may not like it, but you should consider seeing it anyway. It's an honest simple movie that will entertain you. I'm giving it a "10."