Take the Lead
—1. Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—5. Posters (Dance)
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads
From the trailers alone, you learn everything you need to know about Take the Lead. It’s Dangerous Minds meets Save the Last Dance. With every plot point shown in those commercials, save yourself the trouble of sitting through another 'going-through-the-motions' film.
Based on a true story, Take the Lead is meant to be part inspiration and part fable. I suppose what rubbed me the wrong way was how the movie treated social issues with a near cavalier lip service. But I digress.
The situation is familiar. A group of students come under the wing of an inspiring teacher who garners their devotion with creativity and passion. In the process, he wins their respect and teaches them about life.
When Pierre Dulaine (Antonio Banderas) blows into the lives of a motley bunch of students in a detention system minus resources, we’re not sure of his motives. But he seems mainly interested in spreading his love of dance and manners.
I almost called Take the Lead “Footloose with Negroes,� but I'm experiencing fatigue for the “Negroes for Dummies� sentiment that can accompany movies like this. This movie tries to do too much: explore the tensions of race and class; provide social studies into the home lives of the students; and examine the inner city street life. Unfortunately, it starts with caricatures instead of real people. And there are many disparate threads that don’t come together in a cohesive whole. It even lacks the passion and the heart of the documentary Rize.
God created us to dance, to move our lives in His rhythm. Sin moves us out of that rhythm and into our own rhythm, so much so that our lives become all about our individual dance. We need to hear His dance and move with Him. In so doing, we honor each other, create space for Him, and follow His lead.
As he takes his message to their world, the inevitable clash occurrs. Like any other starting conversation, he has to contextualize his message to their culture. In casting the vision, Dulaine provides hope; it's up to the students to decide whether or not to buy into it. But in accepting it, they learn respect, dignity, and self-worth. His message builds bridges between two cultures until they are “like two songs working together.�
Dulaine’s students start with broken rhythms. Each dances to their own beat, moving ever further from the rhythm of life. In learning then how to truly dance, they meld their dance to a greater one. They find life’s rhythm and move in accordance with it.
We were all made to dance.
In the discipline of dance, there is power, grace, elegance, and beauty. There is sensuality, also. We were created with bodies meant to feel and enjoy creation. We have to discipline ourselves to learn to be comfortable in our bodies. Often we buy into the idea that our bodies are bad, that they're havens of unbridled lust or the total of our identity. Our culture makes us feel uncomfortable in our own bodies; we feel self-conscious and unable to live up to its ideas of beauty. Dance helps us learn how to live in our bodies in a physical and real way. We learn from it the discipline of movement, how to move in community with one another, how to celebrate the vitality of our bodies, and the truth that our bodies are capable of much beauty.
The themes and images in Take the Lead have been seen in many films. It hits every cliche and does nothing new with the subject matter. It lacks the magic spark that moves a film from earnest message to good story. With Take the Lead, you'll have to be satisfied with its earnestness, though you can’t help but leave with a greater appreciation for dance.
— Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—5. Posters (Dance)
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads
From the trailers alone, you learn everything you need to know about Take the Lead. It’s Dangerous Minds meets Save the Last Dance. With every plot point shown in those commercials, save yourself the trouble of sitting through another 'going-through-the-motions' film.Based on a true story, Take the Lead is meant to be part inspiration and part fable. I suppose what rubbed me the wrong way was how the movie treated social issues with a near cavalier lip service. But I digress.
The situation is familiar. A group of students come under the wing of an inspiring teacher who garners their devotion with creativity and passion. In the process, he wins their respect and teaches them about life.
When Pierre Dulaine (Antonio Banderas) blows into the lives of a motley bunch of students in a detention system minus resources, we’re not sure of his motives. But he seems mainly interested in spreading his love of dance and manners.
I almost called Take the Lead “Footloose with Negroes,� but I'm experiencing fatigue for the “Negroes for Dummies� sentiment that can accompany movies like this. This movie tries to do too much: explore the tensions of race and class; provide social studies into the home lives of the students; and examine the inner city street life. Unfortunately, it starts with caricatures instead of real people. And there are many disparate threads that don’t come together in a cohesive whole. It even lacks the passion and the heart of the documentary Rize.
Just like in my Rize review, this movie makes spiritual connections for me because of the natural connection between worship, dance, and spirit. The word 'perichoresis' describes God as Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) and has the same root from which we get the idea of choreography; here it is used to describe the Trinity as a divine dance, showing each person of the Trinity in movement together.“Maybe I’m not made to dance.�
“Do you like dancing?�
“Yes.�
“Then you were made to dance.�
–Caitlynn (Lauren Collins) and Mr. Dulaine
God created us to dance, to move our lives in His rhythm. Sin moves us out of that rhythm and into our own rhythm, so much so that our lives become all about our individual dance. We need to hear His dance and move with Him. In so doing, we honor each other, create space for Him, and follow His lead.
“Dance is like life.� –Pierre DulaineThe Christ figure in this movie, Dulaine, carries his message of liberation—that escape and freedom can be found in dance—from his world to another. He's all about this calling and purpose. Beginning with his own (the wealthy elite), he moves on to another group (the students) when his own prove inadequate hearers. The outcasts, the lowly students—these are the ones he adopts as disciples.
As he takes his message to their world, the inevitable clash occurrs. Like any other starting conversation, he has to contextualize his message to their culture. In casting the vision, Dulaine provides hope; it's up to the students to decide whether or not to buy into it. But in accepting it, they learn respect, dignity, and self-worth. His message builds bridges between two cultures until they are “like two songs working together.�
Dulaine’s students start with broken rhythms. Each dances to their own beat, moving ever further from the rhythm of life. In learning then how to truly dance, they meld their dance to a greater one. They find life’s rhythm and move in accordance with it.
“All I see are choices. Choices waiting to be
made.� –Dulaine
We were all made to dance.
In the discipline of dance, there is power, grace, elegance, and beauty. There is sensuality, also. We were created with bodies meant to feel and enjoy creation. We have to discipline ourselves to learn to be comfortable in our bodies. Often we buy into the idea that our bodies are bad, that they're havens of unbridled lust or the total of our identity. Our culture makes us feel uncomfortable in our own bodies; we feel self-conscious and unable to live up to its ideas of beauty. Dance helps us learn how to live in our bodies in a physical and real way. We learn from it the discipline of movement, how to move in community with one another, how to celebrate the vitality of our bodies, and the truth that our bodies are capable of much beauty.
The themes and images in Take the Lead have been seen in many films. It hits every cliche and does nothing new with the subject matter. It lacks the magic spark that moves a film from earnest message to good story. With Take the Lead, you'll have to be satisfied with its earnestness, though you can’t help but leave with a greater appreciation for dance.
— Overview
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