Five Dances

Five Dances, dir. Alan Brown, USA, 2013, 88 min.
Friday, June 20, 7:00 pm @ Victoria

Theo (Reed Luplau) and
Chip (Ryan Steele)

It’s wonderful to watch five lovely and talented dancers develop a dance routine, going through the long, hard work of making it all look effortless, in Five Dances. The elegance and grace of their dance moves is not always matched by their personal lives, which can be a bit messy, from main character Chip’s over-the-top clinging mother to the shifting liaisons among members of the group. Chip wrestles with Theo’s aggressive come-ons, but eventually succumbs (and something similar sounding), while trying to figure out how to live in New York City as a starving student. The interpersonal dramas alone wouldn’t be enough to raise Five Dances above the middle of the pack, but the dance scenes are poetry in motion, and we get to watch the dancers collaborate to develop the choreography even as they make their way through the mundanity of life. Ryan Steele (of Newsies and Matilda on Broadway) is a standout in his film debut. Highly recommended, and a must see if you’re a serious fan of modern dance.

Director Alan Brown also made Frameline35’s Private Romeo, a Film Queen “must see.”

• IMDb page • Official website • official Facebook page • trailer • watch the full movie on Wolfe on Demand • now available on DVD