From the desk of The Movie Snob:

Mad Hot Ballroom (A-). Another outstanding documentary. Apparently not so very long ago, someone got the idea to introduce ballroom dancing into the fifth-grade curriculum in several New York City public schools. The program caught on, and now sixty schools participate in the program, culminating in a city-wide competition. This movie follows the progress of the dance classes in two or three schools, showing how dedicated the teachers are but focusing on the children. Mostly we see them dancing, but they also get a fair amount of time just to talk about whatever’s on their mind—dancing, of course, but also their perspectives on poverty, family break-ups, growing up, etc. And of course we get a natural dramatic build-up by following our teams through the quarterfinals, semi-finals, and final round of the city-wide championship. The whole thing is really well-done, and the theater I saw it in burst into enthusiastic applause at the end (in contrast to the scattered, tepid applause at the end of my recent viewing of Star Wars: Episode III). I can’t imagine anyone with a soul not liking this movie. Stay seated during the closing credits to enjoy a few parting thoughts from the kids.