Reviews

After seeing Billy Elliot it was very obvious that not everyone was willing to accept the fact that a boy would rather dance ballet then box with the other boys. Billy had a hard time dealing with his new love for ballet at first and tried to hide his new passion from his father and family. This became more of a problem once his family did find out but Billy kept practicing and wanting to learn more and more about ballet.

It is upsetting to see someone who really enjoys doing something but is not able to tell anyone about it. Billy worked hard with his ballet instructor to be good. One scene that stands out the most was when his father and brother found out about his new love for ballet. His brother Tony, wanted to beat him up for dancing. Tony was afraid that if anyone found out his brother enjoyed dancing people would look at him differently and ruin his reputation as well. Tony knew that people would think that Billy was gay.

Julie Walters played a great character Mrs. Wilkison. She agreed with Billy wanting to dance and she was good about hiding it from his family. But everyone had a break point; Mrs. Wilkison couldn't let such good talent go to waste. She approached Billy's father about it and told him how he was a great dancer. He then told her to stay away from him and he could no longer dance. That didn't stop the two. They kept practicing, even harder then before.

The best scene in the movie was Christmas night, Billy took his friend to he place that he dances at. In this scene Billy's father and the owner of that gym walked in on him dancing for his friend. Billy was running around doing ballet moves that he had learned and throwing in some tap and other dance moves that he had thought up and came out naturally. At first the viewers get the impression that he is going to be mad at Billy. But later it turns out that he supports Billy and wants him to continue to dance. He wants him to go to that special school that his instructor had told him about. At the end of the movie we see Billy in a dance recital and his brother and father watching him proudly.

It is hard to overcome caring what other people think about you especially when you are young. For Billy he still stayed devoted to ballet despite what others thought about him. He followed his heart and went after his dream. Overall this was an amazing voice and I would highly recommend to anyone for either enjoyment or for learning about dance.

After watching the movie Shall We Dance, I found that it can be comparable it to Billy Elliot. Within the movies the characters of John and Billy were both afraid to tell people they were taking dance lessons. This movie was considered to be a romantic comedy where a bored, overworked Estate Lawyer, upon first sight of a beautiful instructor, signs up for ballroom dancing lessons.

The main character John Clark seems to be having a great relationship with his wife. But he feels like he can not tell his wife about him taking lessons. The reasoning behind this is unclear, but it seems like he will cheat on his wife with the dance instructor. Of course after watching the movie you see he doesn't commit such an act. In the scene where he travels home everyday on the train and passes the dance studio is very affective. We are uncertain if he will follow through and end up taking the lessons.

When John finally starts dance lessons he really isn't that great. He hides it from everyone at home and work. His family starts to see strange behaviors in him, such as peeking in on him in his room and he is dancing around by himself. They are curious to know what he has been up to; his wife goes on and hires a private investigator to see if he is cheating on her. He then follows John and sees he goes to dance classes.

The best scene in the movie is when John has to perform in the dance competition. He realizes he is really good at something and debates sharing it with his family. When his wife and daughter found out, they went to his dance competition. He messed up when he saw them and his daughter yelled "yeah dad." His family then walked out on him and his performance. From that moment he decided he didn't want to dance anymore. His wife wouldn't let him do that because she saw how good he was.

I would recommend showing this film to people who enjoy learning about dance. The dancing in this movie is choreographed very well and gives the viewers something to focus on. Overall this is a very enjoyable movie.

A choreographer has a very important job. They are the instructors of all of the dancers within a certain performance or performances. Choreographers are usually dancers themselves, and are inspired by what they see around them and use what they have learned and seen within the dances they makeup for the dancers they are choreographing for. Within the dramatic fantasy musical, All That Jazz, directed by Bob Fosse in 1979, the main character, Joe Gideon is a dancer and choreographer who is struggling to hold onto reality.

Joe Gideon is a career-driven, hard drinking, smoking, womanizing director/ choreographer who is alive when he is on the stage. When he isn't on stage he doesn't know how to deal with his life and lies so much to others that he doesn't know where the lies begin and end. He has to deal with his ex-wife his daughter, Michelle, and his girlfriend. Because of Joe's speed addiction, (the pills he always pops) smoking, and career addiction Joe finds little time to be with his daughter. There is one particular scene where he is with her and she asked him to remarry and give her a little brother. But Joe has no intention to remarry and is too busy trying to stage a new Broadway musical and put the finishing touches on a movie he directed and the stress of all this work puts him over the edge. He has already suffered from a heart attack and is now having a lot of health problems. His left arm begins to stiffen and hurt, and this shows throughout the movie by him holding it and trying to stretch it.

Joe Gideon is an amazing choreographer who is having difficulty holding onto reality and is slowly dying. He is eventually put into the hospital because of his bad health and he doesn't take it seriously. Finally he comes to the point where he doesn't want to die and he tells the angel of death that he sees that he isn't ready to die yet. After massive amounts of surgery Joe finally realizes that he is going to die, and he accepts it. Within the last scene of the movie Joe sings "Bye-Bye Love," within this song he gets to say goodbye to all of his loved ones and friends. Obviously he is not really doing this and its inside his head, but that is what is able to get him to let go of his life and pass on

Men are traditionally seen as the stronger sex. Men are usually portrayed as being more powerful mentally and in strength than woman. The tango is a very famous and difficult dance that has the man being the stronger of the two sexes. Within the movie The Tango Lesson, directed and written by Sally Potter in 1997, the character Sally starts taking tango lessons by a man named Pablo.

During the dance lessons Sally is taught to tango. Within her lessons she is taught to follow the man's lead. While dancing with Pablo, Sally becomes a very good dancer. Pablo asks her to join him in a dance that will take place in front of a very large audience. While they are dancing Sally makes very minor mistakes. While exiting the stage Pablo stays out longer and takes more bows, this can symbolize that he feels that he is the supeiror dancer. When they are off stage Pablo yells at Sally saying that he was "messing up" his dance because she was leading and taking up his space. He said that this prevented him from dancing.

That situation shows that Sally is seen as the weaker and less important sex. Sally argues with Pablo that he cant handle the fact that she can lead and will. This shows that she realizes how Pablo is thinking and sees himself when he dances with her.

The Tango Dance represents the difference of roles between males and females. Overall it was a very different kind of movie, there wasn't a lot of talking, but there was a lot of very good dancing. This is a good movie to watch if you are learning how to dance the tango or interested in watching movies that show very good dance scenes.

Everyone has a different set of morals. Some people base their morals on their religion while others base theirs on their own personal beliefs. Within the movie Dirty Dancing, directed by Emile Ardolino in 1987, there are a few different situations that can be considered morally wrong depending on the person watching it and their views.

Within this movie one of the main characters, Penny Johnson, becomes pregnant with one of the other employees baby. This can bring up an argument about sex before marriage and if it is considered right or wrong. Religious people would argue that it goes against the church and their religion and is morally wrong. Other people might consider it a common thing that happens between young people and it isn't so bad. Penny decided that the only thing for her to do is to abort the baby. The idea of abortion is very controversial. You don't have to be religious to have a view on this. Many people argue that it is murder while others say that a woman as the right to do what she wants to her body. This is a very big moral debate that goes on.

The dancing in general is also very controversial. The title of this movie contains the word "dirty." This is the description of how the two main characters, Baby and Johnny, are dancing as well as the other young kids. This dancing is very close and there are a lot of hands on activity taking place or groping. At times it is very sexual and this creates a lot of discussion between people about if it is moral correct of not to dance in this manner.

Dirty Dancing is an amazing movie that tells a beautiful story about two kids dancing and falling in love. There are different situations that people argue about trying to decide is it is morally right to have in a movie. But this controversy doesn't take away from how enjoyable the movie is to all of its viewers.

One Last Dance

Not all movies have a psychological approach to them. A movies message can be delivered to its audience through various techniques. Within the movie One Last Dance contains various psychological comparisons. The movie showed the psychological ego, self- doubt and the infamous midlife crisis.

During the beginning of the movie it was obvious that there was many different psychological aspects to this film. It became apparent to the viewers that this psychological technique was being used while the main character dances in the dance studio while it was very dark. While dancing he is remembering and almost being haunted by many different points in his life where he experienced many different things. The music is playing smoothly and gracefully and he is going through all of the movements to this dance in his head. While this is going on there is a tree branch lying across the floor. This dead tree branch represents the trio's choreographer who passed away before the show was performed.

The darkness of the room represents the troublesome emotion that is being portrayed because of the death. The sheets that are being blown in the wind also symbolized the spirit that is haunting him as he remembers the hardships and suffering that all of the dancers had gone through under his instruction.

Another point in time during the movie is when he falls. This fall represents when the woman of the trio had fallen. This implies the difficulty and failure of the project.

One Last Dance has many different psychological associations. This dance movie had a very meaningful story. The story shows the hardships and beauty of dancing. Overall it was a very interesting and enjoyable dance movie that I would highly recommend to those who are studying dance through film.

Footloose

Music was a big part of peoples' lives during the 1980's. Rock and Roll was first getting popular and people loved to dance to it. Some small towns viewed this new music and way of dancing to be dangerous, therefore make it illegal. Within the movie Footloose, the main character Ren, moves from big-city Chicago to a small town in the West where dancing where rock music and dancing are illegal. Ren has to deal with getting used to his new school and new rules, and without realizing it he will become this school's hero.

When Ren first comes into town he meets Ariel, the daughter of the town's reverend, Reverend Shaw Moore, and develops a crush on her, despite the fact that she has a boyfriend. Ariel soon leaves her boyfriend because she wants to be with Ren. This clearly makes Ariel the love interest within this movie.

Ren, Ariel, Woody and Willard to across the boarder into a different town and listen to music and dance all night. They soon realize that they need to bring this ridiculous law to an end. They decided that they should have a senior dance. Ren is brave enough to go in front of the town board and introduce this idea.

Because of Ren's courage he is seen as the hero. Although he does have his inner shadow that makes him feel like he should give up, he continues to try. He explains to his mother why he wants to do this. He tells her how he felt when his father left, like it was his fault, and he just wanted to do something right for himself. So he gets the seniors to have a dance across the train tracks, where his boss (the wise man of the movie) tells him would be a good place to have it, where the police wouldn't be able to do anything about it because it wasn't their territory. His sidekick is his best friend in the town, Willard, who sticks by him and helps him out whenever he gets into fights. The antagonist of this movie can be the town board and the town's views on rock and roll music and dancing, or it can be viewed as Ariel's ex-boyfriend. Either way there was a struggle between good and bad.

Footloose is a dramatic musical directed by Herbert Ross in 1984. It accurately shows the struggles some small towns went through. It also shows the social life of high school accurately when dealing with drugs, peer pressure, and teen rebellion. Overall this movie showed the typical characters that would be present in a hero story.

Throughout life people will dream of things that they wish they will one day become. IN order to achieve your goals you will need a lot of dedication and you need to be able to put a lot of hard work into what you do. Within the movie Honey, a romantic drama directed by Bille Woodruff, the main character Honey Daniels is a hip-hop dancer in New York's East Harlem who dreams of making it big as a music video choreographer. This movie can be categorized as a fairytale because it has a big dream that becomes fulfilled through hard work and faith.

Honey teaches hip-hop dancing class at a local youth center. It's a free class and she encourages and invited local kids to attend. She wants these kids to get involved with her classes so she can help to keep them off the streets and out of trouble. A famous music video director, named Michael, soon spotted Honey, after she was done working her bartending shift at a local nightclub, dancing at a club. Michael saw a lot of potential and talent in Honey and casted her in a music video. After seeing all of her talent not only with dancing but also with choreographing she asks her become choreograph the music videos that he in charge of.

Fame is coming in Honey's direction and soon her name is out and people are requesting her as their choreographer. Michael takes Honey out to a black and white, fancy, party and tries to make sexual contact with her. Honey refused to do anything with Michael, and Michael took away her job and started to try to sabotage her career by blackballing her.

In the end Honey gets what she wants and raises the money to buy a studio for the kids she used to teach hip hop to at the center through a dance benefit they put on. She ends up becoming happy and getting what she wants and what makes her happy. This is a traditional fairytale.

The movie Honey is a fairytale. The movie contains a dream that the main character, Honey, pursues and is extremely dedicated to. Then a conflict comes up and it seems like all hope is lost for her, and she came this far for nothing. But, as in all fairy tales, there is a happy ending in which the main character is able to regain what they once had despite what the antagonist is planning.

Throughout history there has been hardships for African Americans. Slavery, human rights, discrimination, and racism have been very obvious problems for them. Although they have gained their human rights and slavery has been abolished, discrimination and racism are still around in the twenty-first century. Within the romantic drama Save The Last Dance directed by Thomas Carter, 2001, it lets its viewers see and recognize what people are still like to this day when dealing with different races such as white and black.

Within this movie the main character Sara wants to be a ballerina. Her mother died in a car accident on her way to see her perform, in attempt to get into Sara Lawrence University. She had to move in with her father who is a struggling musician and live in a rundown apartment, in Chicago. Sara's new school is mainly of African American descent and she is the minority. She makes friends with a girl named Chenille and starts adopt some things that Chenille does in order to fit in.

Chenille has a brother Derek. Derek and Sara fall in love and it is hard for them because they get a lot of problems just because they are in interracial couple. Sara and Derek both get into fights defending themselves from their peers and friends. The explanation for Chenille to Sara about why she shouldn't be with Derek was because she was white. She said that since Sara was white, she was taking one of the only good men left for the black woman. This is complete discrimination against Sara, even thought Chenille is her best friend there in Chicago.

. Sara who grew up in the southwest, was not used to this ghetto Chicago area. She was taught how to dance like everyone else, and started to listen to the same music as they did, so she would fit in and have a good time. Her best friend from home doesn't think it's even possibly for Sara to find a guy down where she is because no one is white. She asks questions such as, "Have you seen anyone get shot yet?" Such questions and statements show that the low class status of this neighborhood is discriminated against.

Save The Last Dance portrays the discrimination that still going on during this day and age. Gun fights, death, clubs, music, romance, tragedy, dancing, and racism are all present within this movie. The lower class Chicago area shows how dangerous things can be. The events that happen between the Sara and Derek and other events within this movie truly show how America is still discriminatory towards people.

Dixie

Throughout history there has been hardships for African Americans. Slavery, obtaining human rights, and discrimination are examples of the hard times that African Americans have gone through. Many movies that were made around the 1940's can be offensive to many African Americans because these hardships such as slavery and discrimination are portrayed within them. Within the comical musical Dixie directed by A Edward Sutherland, 1943, it lets its viewers see and recognize what the time period was really like.

Although the movie was well directed, written and acted out, the truth of the time period shines through. Although this film was not made to be offensive, it is. Slavery and discrimination are shown through the song "Dixie," and by characters within the movie. When Daniel Emmett went and performed with his, at first three partners, they used makeup to paint their faces black and over exaggerate the size of their lips. They talked as if they were uneducated and didn't understand things. Also characters from the audience at first were insulted and appalled that "darkies" were performing on stage. This attitude is not make- believe. This was the reaction of people during this time period to African Americans.

During this time period Minstrel entertainment was popular during the 19th century. White performers would mimic African Americans as a main attraction by coloring their faces and using makeup to make it look like they have big lips and eyes. Later African Americans did participate in there own form of festivities called the Pinkster celebrations in which black and white performers would gather and celebrate the change of the season. This would ultimately change into a primarily African American holiday that slaves and free blacks would catch up with family and friends. This gave them a chance to express and pass on their traditions and cultures.

Dixie portrays the discrimination and slavery that was still going on during this time period. The racism of the audience and reference to slavery within the song "Dixie" all show how this can be offensive to a wide majority of viewers. Although these are within the film, overall the film does a good job at showing what the time period was like and had a good story.

The musical comedy Top Hat was directed by, Mark Sandrich. It was very interesting and held the attention of its viewers'. The dance scenes in this movie were connected to the emotions and moods of that character and what was going on in the story. The viewer was able to tell that the producers thought out the dance scenes and wanted them to be parallel to their plot line. During one of the dance numbers Fred dances with Ginger and sings to her about heaven. Ginger's dress and the background both symbolized the idea of heaven. When the two were done dancing they moved together and it seemed very peaceful and almost "heavenly," very happy and content, they way they were acting.

Another scene that stood out was when the dancers were attached by rope. In this scene Fred and Ginger are at a very high-class restaurant. While they are eating Ginger was singing bout a man who was looking up in the sky at the stars. This foreshadowed the design the dancers would then create which was a star. The cameras viewed the dancers at the best angles that were appropriate at this time. Towards the end of the movie Fred had another scene that was interesting and equally entertaining. He danced in a way that made it look like he was shooting down the rest of the dancers behind him.

Top Hat's plot line was believable. Traveling around and performing was very common during this time period. This movie had very extravagant dancing and grabbed the attention of the viewers. It was enjoyable to watch and wasn't hard to follow along with. Overall, it was a well thought out and enjoyable funny romantic musical.

The musical Gold Diggers of 1933 was directed by Mervyn Leroy. This black and white film was able to grab the viewers attention without the color. The use of cartoons before the movie also gave this film a uniqueness that helped grab the attention of its viewers.

After this preemie cartoon, the movie consisted of a lot of singing, music, and dancing. The dancers, beautiful girls with long skinny legs, would dance around with silver coins around their private areas, and would have other extravagant costumes. When these dancers find out their manager stopped paying his bills they were left with no job. They were left with no source of income and needed to find another job during this time of depression.

After some time passed there was word that their manager Mr. Hopkins was putting on a new show and needed dancers. He arrived at all the dancers homes and said he didn't have enough money to put the show on but there was a show. This ended in Mr. Hopkins getting money from Brad, who fell in love with one of the dancers named Polly. Trixie, another dancer that is friends with Polly, thought that Mr. Hopkins had stolen the money. Although Trixie thought this she still went on with wanting to do the show because she needed money, as did everyone else.

The movie Gold Diggers of 1933 was an impressive movie. At first seeing that it was black and white made me think that it would be a really old fashioned movie that wouldn't hold my attention. I was proved wrong and enjoyed watching and listening to the singing and dancing. The costumes made things alive and vibrant even though there was no color. I was surprised in the way the movie was made, since it was during the 1930's. I would defiantly recommend this movie to other people learning about Dance in films, or people who enjoy watching old fashioned movies.