About all I know about the Sundance award-winning documentary Step is that my friend and colleague Tim Gordon couldn't stop raving about it. Documentaries are usually the last thing I seek out at Park City but he almost changed my mind. Fortunately, none of us will have to wait much longer to see what the big deal is all about with this film about the power of dance.
There have been numerous movies on just such a subject, and many of them involve African-Americans in the inner city, but Step is particularly timely as it focuses on seniors at a Baltimore high school as the city goes through racial and social unrest. Every year a couple of documentaries break out and connect with a wider than expected audience, and this may be one that does.
Here's the synopsis: STEP documents the senior year of a girls’ high-school step dance team against the background of inner-city Baltimore. As each one tries to become the first in their families to attend college, the girls strive to make their dancing a success against the backdrop of social unrest in the troubled city.
Directed by Amanda Lipitz, Step hits theaters on August 4th.
