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| Mad Hot Ballroom | 
 enlarge | Director: Marilyn Agrelo
Actors: Heather Berman, Emma Therese Biegacki, Paul Daggett, Graciela Daniele, Pierre Dulaine
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy Used: $4.40
You Save: $25.58 (85%)
New (30) Used (25) from $4.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  95 reviews
Sales Rank: 7554
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 105
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: PARD345554D
ISBN: 141571455X
UPC: 097363455547
EAN: 9781415714553
ASIN: B000ADS6DA
Theatrical Release Date: May 13, 2005
Release Date: October 18, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Fun to watch, get ready to dance August 6, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A very well made documentary on a city wide public school dance contest that matches many several buroughs in NYC. The kids here are the "movie" and don't let down just being themselves. Funny early scenes include when dance partners are instructed to look at each other while dancing. This of course can be difficult as a grown up, but for kids it is almost unbearable. Another great wrinkle to this documentary are the interviews with the kids in regards to their dreams, visions, and their day-to-day lives. At times a little sad, but over all a delight to watch given their youthful ambitions and postive thinking.
All the contests are fun to watch and the winners were very much well deserving of the honors.
If you need a nice pick-me-up or just want to smile, watch this movie :)
Great!!! Don't miss out on this! July 1, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This movie is the funniest, cutest, most inspiring movie I've seen in a long time! The movie is done so purely and simply. This instantly sets you back to the fourth grade sock-hop when ballroom classes would've done you a lot of good. After having seen this, I'm definately putting my kids in ballroom classes.
 Charming, but needed more focus July 1, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
A 10-week program in New York City schools teaches ballroom dancing to 5th graders, imparting lessons about self-worth, respect, and etiquette. Some of the students go on to dance in a city-wide competition. This documantary focuses on the children of three schools as they prepare for the showdown. As many other reviewers have noted, the film would have benefitted from a finer focus on a smaller number of kids. This would have allowed us to see more of their personal lives and place the program in its context. Nervertheless, there are many joyful sequences in this film, and the children are charming. Those qualities go a long way.
Shall We Dance? for 11 year olds May 29, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Starting in 1995, the New York City program in ballroom dance now includes 6000 children from all burroughs of the city.
This documentary observes 11 year olds learning body discipline, social etiquette, appropriate attire on their way to achieving a sense of self respect, personal dignity.
Some of the children inhabit neighborhoods where they stumble across drug addicts and dealers each day. The teachers of 3 different schools reveal secret tricks to overcome physical and social awkwardness in children and open them to their potential for becoming accomplished through structure, practice and smiling.
The children openly discuss their fears (my dad cheated on my mom) and hopes (do you like girls?) between classes as they march toward the selection process for the citywide competition (bronze, silver, gold levels) quarter, semi-finals and the glorious finals outdoors in sunlight.
The music is charming nostalgic, the dancing exhilarating; the children's enjoyment of their bodies in motion is contagious.
Recommend also seeing the original Japanese DVD Shall We Dance? to see the transformative power of dance to change adult self image and relationships.
This will make you laugh & cry May 28, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you can watch this film and not laugh at remembering what it's like to be in the 5th grade, and also not cry tears of joy, then you've lost touch with your emotions.
This is at once a lighthearted documentary of pre-teens learning to ballroom dance, and a spectacle of competition as fierce as any Olympics finals you've ever watched. One young couple in particular, who dance the merengue, is mesmerizing. While most kids that age are awkward, uncoordinated, or painfully shy, when these kids dance it's as though they've been professional ballroom dancers for 30 years. Watching the dance competition judges react to these kids is as much fun as watching the kids.
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