Born to Dance (2015)

Coming of age tale told through the eyes of 'Tu', an ambitious young man from Auckland who dreams of being a professional hip-hop dancer.

Directors:

Tammy Davis, Chris Graham

Writers:

Steve Barr, Hone Kouka

Stars:

Tia Maipi, Stan Walker, Kherington Payne

3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Tia Maipi	...	Tu
Stan Walker	...	Benjy
Kherington Payne	...	Sasha
John Tui	...	Zack
Parris Goebel	...	Parris, Goebel
Nathan Kara	...	Jase
Michael Metuakore	...	Tino
Alexandra Carson	...	Sophie
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jordan Cruickshank	...	Kane
Kelvin Taylor	...	African American Dance Crew Leader

Storyline

Coming of age tale told through the eyes of 'Tu', an ambitious young man from Auckland who dreams of being a professional hip-hop dancer.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Music | Sport

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

New Zealand

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 September 2015 (New Zealand)

Also Known As:

Rojeni za ples

Company Credits

Production Co:

Random Films, Severe Features, Storytime Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

A good watch

Another dance movie? My first thought was it was gonna be another dance movie with generic plot line, bad acting and dance which focuses on gimmicky acrobatics and effects rather than dance itself (Step Up series anyone?). But this movie proved me wrong in some way.

It's set in New Zealand, so expect some really exotic Kiwi accents, and the movie doesn't let down in that department. While some may find the accent borderline incomprehensible, I personally enjoyed it. It follows a young aspiring Hip-Hop dancer Tu with his crew, while saying more could be considered spoilers, so let's not go there. It's a pretty generic storyline formula used in many other previous dance movies (Step Up series, Streetdance series). The acting isn't wow-ing in any way, and most of them are professional dancers rather than actors from what I know. It also stars So You Think You Can Dance (US Version Season 4) finalist Kherington, which was a warm surprise for me because she was one of my favourite contestant during that season of the show.

But here's the best thing about this movie - the dancing, because it focuses on the DANCE part rather than using acrobatics and effects. The choreography were amazing. The group numbers at the end were extremely enjoyable to watch. Here's what I started disliking about the Step Up series after the 3rd movie - they were more acrobatics and props effects than dancing. And the sole focus on dancing in this movie was a refreshing change for me (Streetdance series did this as well previously, by fully focusing on the dance instead of props).

Anyway, the movie is not bad - generic plot line, not so bad nor good acting (I guess you could call it average), with amazing dancing and choreography. Which is why I gave it a 7/10, because it was wholesomely entertaining to watch.