The Dynamic Movement In The Movie Take The Lead

Paper B

Dynamic characters are built by dynamic movement in film. Whether the character is sitting down giving a lecture, or is a ballerina dancing on stage, character are born through movement. Movement in emotion, or physical, a characters action and re-actions are what draw audiences into their story. The characters in the movie Take the Lead gain power through their character transformations through dance, their movement on the dance floor directly impacts the way they carry themselves through life. In this paper I will explore three scenes, each scene will show different levels of progression in each character’s life, and I will show how the characters gain more power in their own lives the more successful they become with the movement of dance.

Take the Lead follows the story of a Ballroom dance teacher, Pierre Dulaine, and the kids he begins to teach at a inner city high school. The film opens with a character named Rock being denied access to a school dance, Rock then leaves the school and is encouraged by thugs to vandalize the principal’s car. While Rock is vandalizing the car, Pierre witness the crime, but before Pierre has a chance to question Rock, Rock runs away. The next day Pierre decides to go to the school’s Principal and let her know that he witnessed the crime, while at the school Pierre offers to teach the high school detention class how to ballroom dance, the principal agrees but does not think Pierre will last very long. This first part of the movie already shows how the students are not being giving the best school treatment, and that they are only acting out because of the environment that they are living in. After agreeing to teach the detention class, Pierre returns to the school at 3:00 pm to begin hi...

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...nte and Danjou who through dance are competing for Sasha. In this scene, for the first time, the camera angles fluxuate between low and high angles on the detention students showing that they have mastered the art form and or now respected for their skill. With these camera angles we are no longer looking down on them but up to them as they dance on a stage for an audience. In contrast we mostly on see Morgan dancing in the background and rarely is their a close up or her dance, again showing that the detention students have earned the respect of the audience.

Take the Lead is a great movie, and although it does stereotype the idea that lower class children are not interested in ballroom dance, it does a great job of showing the power or dance, and how dance is more than something people do for fun, but that people and cultures can be brought closer through dance.