Mad Hot Ballroom

Mad Hot Ballroom
File:Mad Hot Ballroom.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Marilyn Argrelo
Produced by	Marilyn Argrelo Amy Sewell Brian David Cange Wilder Knight II
Written by	Amy Sewell
Starring	Madeleine Hackney
Music by	Joseph Baker Steven Lutvak
Cinematography	Claudia Raschke-Robinson
Edited by	Sabine Krayenbuhl
Production company	Nickelodeon Movies Just One Production
Distributed by	Paramount Classics
Release dates	May 13, 2005 (2005-05-13)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$9,079,042

Mad Hot Ballroom is a 2005 documentary film by director Marilyn Agrelo and writer and producer Amy Sewell about a ballroom dance program in the New York City Department of Education, the New York City public school system for fifth graders. Several styles of dance are shown in the film, such as tango, foxtrot, swing, rumba and merengue.

Plot

Based on a feature article written by Sewell, Mad Hot Ballroom looks inside the lives of 11-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 as the children strive toward the final citywide competition, the film chronicles the experiences of students at three schools in the neighborhoods of Tribeca, Bensonhurst and Washington Heights. The students are united by an interest in 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.

Production and reception

The documentary premiered at the 2005 Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and was purchased by Paramount Classics and Nickelodeon Movies. It had a limited theatrical release in the United States on May 13, 2005. Mad Hot Ballroom was the second highest grossing documentary in 2005 after March of the Penguins. As of February 7, 2012, it had earned over $8.1 million, making it the sixteenth-highest-grossing documentary film in the United States (in nominal dollars, from 1982 to the present).

Awards

Awards bestowed upon Mad Hot Ballroom include:

• The Christopher Award in 2006
• Best Documentary at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2005
• The Audience Award at the Philadelphia Film Festival
• Satellite Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005

See also

• Pierre Dulaine

External links

• Official website
• americanballroomtheater.com - Dancing Classrooms
• Mad Hot Ballroom at IMDb
• Mad Hot Ballroom on Box Office Mojo