Going to film school taught me to appreciate films like Citizen Kane, The Crowd, & It Happened One Night.
However, I never confessed to my film professors my secret love of teen dance movies.
Step up? Loved it! Helloooo it had Channing Tatum in it :)
And you know I think some cheerleading movies may count as dance movies (Bring it On anybody?). Okay, I know I just lost some MAJOR cool points with that admission, but maybe, just maybe someone else gave me a secret fist pump in the air. ;)
The one dance movie I've literally watched 50 times (or more) is Save the Last Dance. I love the cheesy drama, the dancing, aaaaaaand Sean Patrick Thomas is pretty cute too. Now you may not be with me on the whole dance movie thing, but who hasn't dealt with the themes the movie portrays: loss, fear of pursuing dreams, & hope of grasping the unattatinable.
In one of my favorite scenes, after seeing the Joffrey Ballet live, Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas) senses Sara's (Julia Stiles) hope and asks her if she wants Juilliard. Slowly she admits to him (and herself I think) that she really does dream of auditioning for and attending Juilliard.
Please tell me I'm not the only one who can relate to this.
I love the beginning of a new year, because somehow this time of year is filled with a freshness & hope that allows me to do the same; give voice to my secret hopes and desires. I may not dream of attending Juilliard (because Lord knows, no matter how I try I cannot and more importantly should not dance in public), but I have other hopes and dreams for my life. And maybe 2012 just might be the year that I have the courage to voice them out loud!
Now see, that film degree wasn't wasted completely; how else could I analyze and bring out depth from a teen dance movie ;)
