Mad Hot Ballroom
Encyclopedia
Mad Hot Ballroom is a documentary film
by director Marilyn Agrelo and writer/producer Amy Sewell
about a ballroom dance program in the New York City
Public School system.
Tango
, foxtrot, swing
, rumba
and merengue
may seem to represent the last vestiges of a dying art to some, but Agrelo proves this is far from true in Mad Hot Ballroom. Agrelo and Sewell reveal 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.
The documentary premiered at the 2005 Slamdance Film Festival
in Park City, Utah
and was purchased by Paramount Classics
and Nickelodeon Movies
. Mad Hot Ballroom was the second highest grossing documentary in 2005 after March of the Penguins
. As of July 1, 2008 it had earned over $8.1 million, making it the ninth-highest-grossing documentary film in the United States - (in nominal
dollars, from 1982 to the present).
The film chronicles the experiences of students at three schools in the neighborhoods of Tribeca
, Bensonhurst
and Washington Heights
. 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 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 an underlying 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."
Mad Hot Ballroom celebrates the intricate lives of these students and reminds audiences of their own childhoods when anything was possible. Living with the complexities of big city life, these kids take on something unfamiliar and rise to the occasion. Filled with emotion and triumph, this documentary feature captures the essence of growing up in America.
Allison Sheniak is the classroom teacher; and Alex Tchassov, a Russian native, is the teaching
artist from American Ballroom Theater, the organization that provides the instruction.
Victoria Malvagno is the ABrT Teaching Artist.
Yomaira Reynoso is the classroom teacher and Rodney Lopez is the ABrT teaching artist.
, foxtrot, rumba
, tango
, swing
and a couple of line dance
s thrown in just for fun.
The schools are then given the choice to compete. These competitions (quarterfinals, semifinals and final) are called Rainbow Team Matches. About 48 schools choose to compete and only nine (one representative from each borough) make it to the final competition. Each dance team is made up of five couples, one for each of the five dances, and one alternate couple who must know how to do every dance well in case a couple is absent.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
by director Marilyn Agrelo and writer/producer Amy Sewell
Amy Sewell
Amy Sewell is an American author and filmmaker, best known for Mad Hot Ballroom , in which she debuted as a film writer and producer.Sewell is also the founder/director of a non-profit organization, Give It Up for the ARTS...
about a ballroom dance program in the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
Public School system.
Tango
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
, foxtrot, swing
Swing (dance)
"Swing dance" is a group of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s-1950s, although the earliest of these dances predate swing jazz music. The best known of these dances is the Lindy Hop, a popular partner dance that originated in Harlem and is still danced today...
, rumba
Rumba (dance)
Rumba is a dance term with two quite different meanings.In some contexts, "rumba" is used as shorthand for Afro-Cuban rumba, a group of dances related to the rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. The most common Afro-Cuban rumba is the guaguancó...
and merengue
Merengue (dance)
Merengue El camino1ro de Secundaria-In popular culture:* Merengue was mentioned as a song performed between Babs and Charlie in the song by Steely Dan....
may seem to represent the last vestiges of a dying art to some, but Agrelo proves this is far from true in Mad Hot Ballroom. Agrelo and Sewell reveal 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.
The documentary premiered at the 2005 Slamdance Film Festival
Slamdance Film Festival
As a year-round organization, Slamdance serves as a showcase for the discovery of new and emerging talent in the film industry; it is also the only major film festival fully programmed by filmmakers. Slamdance counts among its alumni many notable writers and directors who first gained notice at the...
in Park City, Utah
Park City, Utah
Park City is a town in Summit and Wasatch counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,558 at the 2010 census...
and was purchased by Paramount Classics
Paramount Vantage
Paramount Vantage is the specialty film division of Paramount Pictures , charged with producing, purchasing, distributing and marketing films, generally those with a more "art house" feel than films made and distributed by its parent company.Paramount Classics was launched in 1998 and...
and Nickelodeon Movies
Nickelodeon Movies
Nickelodeon Movies is the motion picture production arm of children's cable channel Nickelodeon, originally launched in 1995. Its first film was Harriet the Spy. It has produced films based on Nickelodeon programs, as well as other adaptations and original projects...
. Mad Hot Ballroom was the second highest grossing documentary in 2005 after March of the Penguins
March of the Penguins
March of the Penguins is a 2005 French nature documentary film. It was directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet, and co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society. The film depicts the yearly journey of the emperor penguins of Antarctica...
. As of July 1, 2008 it had earned over $8.1 million, making it the ninth-highest-grossing documentary film in the United States - (in nominal
Real versus nominal value
In economics, nominal value refers to a value expressed in money terms in a given year or series of years. By contrast, real value adjusts nominal value to remove effects of price changes over time...
dollars, from 1982 to the present).
Plot
Based on a feature article written by Sewell, Mad Hot Ballroom looks inside the lives of eleven-year-old New York City public school kids who journey into the world of ballroom dancing and reveal pieces of themselves along the way. Told from the students' perspectives, the film highlights the cultural diversity that is the soul of New York City as the children strive toward the final citywide competition.The film chronicles the experiences of students at three schools in the neighborhoods of Tribeca
TriBeCa
Tribeca is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York in the United States. Its name is an acronym based on the words "Triangle below Canal Street", and is properly bounded by Canal Street, West Street, Broadway, and Vesey Street...
, Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Bensonhurst is a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.-Geography:Sometimes erroneously thought to include all or parts of such neighborhoods as Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, and Borough Park, or to be defined by the streets where the concentration of...
and Washington Heights
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Washington Heights is a New York City neighborhood in the northern reaches of the borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest point on Manhattan island by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, to defend the area from the...
. 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 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 an underlying 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."
Mad Hot Ballroom celebrates the intricate lives of these students and reminds audiences of their own childhoods when anything was possible. Living with the complexities of big city life, these kids take on something unfamiliar and rise to the occasion. Filled with emotion and triumph, this documentary feature captures the essence of growing up in America.
The Cast
- P.S. 150 Tribeca dance team members are Emma Biegacki, Tara Devon Gallagher, Cyrus Hernstadt, Zeb Liburd, Richard R. Brown IV, Jao-Ke Chin Lee, Willie C. Gantt, Dominic Guglielmo, Quana Jones, Celia B. Ortiz, Zelaina Rodriguez and Nile Roc Terry.
Allison Sheniak is the classroom teacher; and Alex Tchassov, a Russian native, is the teaching
artist from American Ballroom Theater, the organization that provides the instruction.
- P.S. 112 Bensonhurst dance team members are Michael Vaccaro, Jia Wen Zhu, Priscilla Kwong, Ariel Escoto, Sharese DeBiasi, Benjamin Feng, Mohammad Hussein, Nathalie Perez, Bleron Samarxhiu, David Wong, Jean Xiaoyi, Sherry Zeng.
Victoria Malvagno is the ABrT Teaching Artist.
- P.S. 115 Washington Heights dance team members are Wilson Castillo, Jatnna Toribio, Elsamelys Ulerio, Kelvin Acevedo, Joshua Duran, Jeffrey Espinal, Kevin Heredia, Kelvin Muñoz, Angie Toribio, Michell Rodriguez, and Karina Sanchez.
Yomaira Reynoso is the classroom teacher and Rodney Lopez is the ABrT teaching artist.
American Ballroom Theater Dancing Classrooms
New York City-based American Ballroom Theater’s (ABrT) Dancing Classrooms is the nonprofit organization that has been providing instruction in American-style ballroom dance to currently over 60 public schools in New York City. The program was introduced in two schools 10 years ago. In 10 weeks (20 one-hour sessions) the kids absorb a repertoire that includes the merengueMerengue (dance)
Merengue El camino1ro de Secundaria-In popular culture:* Merengue was mentioned as a song performed between Babs and Charlie in the song by Steely Dan....
, foxtrot, rumba
Rumba
Rumba is a family of percussive rhythms, song and dance that originated in Cuba as a combination of the musical traditions of Africans brought to Cuba as slaves and Spanish colonizers. The name derives from the Cuban Spanish word rumbo which means "party" or "spree". It is secular, with no...
, tango
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
, swing
Swing (dance)
"Swing dance" is a group of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s-1950s, although the earliest of these dances predate swing jazz music. The best known of these dances is the Lindy Hop, a popular partner dance that originated in Harlem and is still danced today...
and a couple of line dance
Line dance
A line dance is a choreographed dance with a repeated sequence of steps in which a group of people dance in one or more lines or rows without regard for the gender of the individuals, all facing the same direction, and executing the steps at the same time. Line dancers are not in physical contact...
s thrown in just for fun.
The schools are then given the choice to compete. These competitions (quarterfinals, semifinals and final) are called Rainbow Team Matches. About 48 schools choose to compete and only nine (one representative from each borough) make it to the final competition. Each dance team is made up of five couples, one for each of the five dances, and one alternate couple who must know how to do every dance well in case a couple is absent.
Awards
Awards bestowed upon Mad Hot Ballroom include:- The Christopher AwardChristopher AwardThe Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...
in 2006 - Best Documentary at the Karlovy Vary International Film FestivalKarlovy Vary International Film FestivalThe Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary , Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival gained worldwide recognition over the past years and has become one of Europe's major film events....
in 2005 - The Audience Award at the Philadelphia Film FestivalPhiladelphia Film FestivalThe Philadelphia Film Festival is held annually in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Until 2009 it was generally held during the first weeks of April....
- Satellite Award for Best Documentary FeatureSatellite Award for Best Documentary FeatureThe Satellite Award for Best Documentary Film is an annual award given by the International Press Academy.-Winners:...
in 2005