KEY POINTS:
HOW SHE MOVE
Cast: Tre Armstrong, Cle Bennett, David Carmon, Keyshia Cole, Rutina Wesley, DeRay Davis
Director: Ian Iqbal RashidRunning
Time: 95 mins
Rating: M (drug use and offensive language)
Screening: SkyCity, Hoyts, Berkeley
Herald Rating: * * *
Verdict: Great step dancing, shame about the predictable teen flick story.
How She Move is a low-budget MTV flick, roughly shot on 16mm film, featuring a cast of mostly unknowns who stomp their way through this teen drama showcasing the increasingly popular form of dance known as stepping, or step dancing.
If you've never heard of stepping, it's a form of dance made popular in the mid-90s by American fraternities and sororities, and involves using the body like a percussive instrument creating complex rhythms and sounds with tricky foot work, clapping and vocals.
It's generally performed in groups and combines military drills, tap dancing, break dancing and gymnastics - basically it's like a cool form of cheerleading. In combination with a soundtrack including artists like Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes, it's infectious. If you liked Stomp the Yard or Step Up then this is your cuppa tea.
Like most dance films aimed at teens, How She Move is filled with captivating and invigorating dance routines starring talented dancers that are tied together by a corny and predictable story, in this case about misfit Raya Green (Wesley) who finds self-empowerment through dance.
Raya, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, is a smart and driven high school student who has escaped the projects to attend a prestigious private school, the exclusive Seaton Academy. However, her dreams of attending an Ivy League college and becoming a doctor are shattered when her older sister Pam dies.
A serious druggie, Pam's addiction has used up Raya's tuition fund, and she finds herself back in the projects at her local high school.
Determined once again to break out of the drug- and crime-ridden community, Raya joins a step group run by a childhood friend, the reigning champ of the local stepping scene, in the hope of raising enough money in step competitions to get her life back on track.
This might be a film about following your dreams but it's also about learning some lessons along the way. Raya is not the perfect role model - she's ambitious, lacks loyalty and doesn't always see other people's points of view - and these imperfections make this predictable tale a little easier to stomach.
While it remains steadfastly entertaining rather than inspirational, in the end How She Move is about the dancing rather than the talking, and the dancing is good.
