Step Up

Nora (Jenna Dewan) is training to be a dancer at the fairly exclusive Maryland School of the Arts. Tyler (ex-model Channing Tatum) is a rebel from the wrong side of the tracks, doing community service at the school after getting caught breaking in and vandalising the place for kicks.

She is classically trained in ballet and contemporary dance. He can breakdance like there's no tomorrow and throws in body popping and cool good looks. She needs a dance partner and there's the usual footsie storyline of boy gets girl, breaks up with girl, aspires, is gonna dance, is not gonna dance… They make each other feel good in public together. Kiss kiss finale.

This is the same formula used in every modern dance movie and Step Up has no surprises, but for an enjoyable slice of this particular cake, it is no worse than average. It doesn't have the glossy editing/directing and punchy acting to make it stand out, like Fame, Dirty Dancing, or Flashdance, but is perfectly competent on its own level and has some good dance sequences.

Classical ballet is very upright, geometrical, relatively inexpressive emotionally and performed in a precise manner. Breakdance, using different heights, opening and closing in fluid motion to express feeling, and working off the beat more like jazz, is its natural opposite. Mixing the two gives an interesting and explosive combination. Nora finds that her dance routine is greatly enhanced by Tyler's style, while hers gives him a crash course in posture and control.

A good hip-hop soundtrack boosts these joining of opposites, adding violin to the funkier beats. A forgettable movie, but worth seeing by dance fans and teenagers, looking for easy viewing.