Mad Hot Ballroom (2005)

Director:

Marilyn Agrelo

Writer:

Amy Sewell

Release Date:

13 May 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Family | Music

Tagline:

Anyone can make it if they know how to shake it.

Plot:

The students of several New York City elementary schools learn ballroom dancing and compete in a city wide dance competition.

Plot Keywords:

School | New York City | Ballroom Dancing | Merengue | Dance

Awards:

8 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Heather Berman	...	Herself
Emma Therese Biegacki	...	Herself
Eva Carrozza	...	Herself
Evangelina Carrozzo	...	Herself
Paul Daggett	...	Himself
Graciela Daniele	...	Herself - Judge
Pierre Dulaine	...	Himself - Organizer and MC of the Final Dance Competition
Tara Devon Gallagher	...	Herself
Madeleine Hackney	...	Herself
Charlotte Jorgensen	...	Final Competition Judge
Rodney Lopez	...	Himself
Victoria Malvagno	...	Herself
Stacee Mandeville	...	Herself
Nell Mooney	...	Herself
Daniel Ponickly	...	Himself
Danielle Quisenberry	...	Herself
Ann Reinking	...	Herself
Yomaira Reynoso	...	Herself
Allison Sheniak	...	Herself
Solomon Singer	...	Himself
Alex Tchassov	...	Himself
Jatnna Toribio	...	Dancer
Vanessa Villalobos	...	Herself
Cyrus Hernstadt	...	Himself (uncredited)

Directed by
Marilyn Agrelo

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Amy Sewell

Produced by
Marilyn Agrelo	....	producer
Brian David Cange	....	line producer
Amy Sewell	....	producer
W. Wilder Knight II	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Joseph Baker
Steven Lutvak

Cinematography by
Claudia Raschke

Film Editing by
Sabine Krayenbühl

Production Management
Stuart Macphee	....	post-production supervisor

Sound Department
David Corcoran	....	sound recordist
Tammy Douglas	....	sound
Daniel Johnson	....	sound mixer
Greg Smith	....	sound editor
Tony Volante	....	sound re-recording mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Robert Barocci	....	additional cinematographer
Wolfgang Held	....	additional cinematographer
Douglas W. Shannon	....	additional photographer

Editorial Department
Haven Cousins	....	lead colorist
Jim Finn	....	negative supervisor
Richard Haylock	....	on-line editor
Robert Luttrell	....	digital intermediate supervisor
Matt Woo	....	on-line editor
Corey Michael Lincoln	....	post-production assistant (uncredited)

Music Department
Mark Reynolds	....	music supervisor
Ralph Sall	....	soundtrack album producer

Other crew
Winston Emano	....	publicist
Erin Heidenreich	....	sales agent
David Magdael	....	publicist
Dana O'Keefe	....	sales agent
Robert Stein	....	legal counsel
Anne Stulz	....	publicist
Steven Wallace	....	publicist

Production Companies

• Just One Productions

Distributors

• Monopole-Pathé (2005-2006) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Nickelodeon Movies (2005) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount Classics (2005) (USA) (theatrical)
• Park Junior (2006) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Shaw Organisation (2006) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Cinetic Media (2005) (worldwide) (all media) (sales)
• Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore (2006) (Italy) (DVD)
• Nickelodeon Network (2005) (USA) (TV)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (200?) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Bulletproof Recording Company  soundtrack
• Film Emporium  insurance

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated PG for some thematic elements

Runtime:

USA:105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

USA:PG | Australia:PG | UK:U | Ireland:PG | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | France:U | Brazil:Livre

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Just One Productions

Trivia:

Cinematographer Claudia Raschke held the camera at stomach level to keep it in line with the children's faces.

Quotes:

Alex Tchassov:Let's use this trick, eye-to-eye connection, I am serious. Take a look at each other like
[it is for the]
Alex Tchassov:last time in your life.
Kids:Aw man, no!
Alex Tchassov:Ok. What is problem?

Movie Connections:

Version of Take the Lead (2006)

Soundtrack:

FEVER

Let's Dance!

It's been two glorious weeks for us award-winning teachers. Last week I reviewed the documentary Rock School, a raucous romp with teens from Philly grooving Zappa all the way to Germany. This week's Mad Hot Ballroom shows the NYC public schools competing for top honors in ballroom dancing, a required course that lets students and teachers, supplied by the American Ballroom Theater, strut their best stuff in the tango, rumba, meringue, and foxtrot.

Like last year's Spellbound, everyone gets to show competitive spirit with low-level anguish at losing and testosterone-fueled joy at winning. The strength of Ballroom is the enthusiasm of teachers who have little to gain but the biggest prize of all—the success of their charges. Fairly absent is the dominance of stage-door parents in the spelling competition. Ballroom better captures the harmony that pervades a group project where the human body gracefully expresses its glory and young people experience perhaps for the first time the wonder of collective activity that ties them to peers and teachers and effaces their natural youthful loneliness, delinquent temptations, and fear of losing.

Some will criticize Ballroom for showing too many contestants and thereby losing the intimacy documentaries thrive on. Yet, the eventual winners stand out from the first moment they appear, almost exonerating director Agrelo from the intimacy requirement; also, that communal experience is better explained through the roving camera and long shots of their dancing. Although Ballroom may be too long by as much as 15 minutes, I admit I would have liked to linger more with some of the children to see how their lives have been changed by the experience; Agrelo lets the voice over take care of a couple of histories.

Cinematographer Claudia Raschke's camera, held level with the children's faces, does its own winning dance with us as viewing partners. You'll want to put on your dancing shoes after this film.