| You can always tell that a dance form is gaining | | | | 2007. |
| popularity when you see it on the silver screen. | | | | Directed by Sylvain White, Stomp the Yard |
| When the Brazilian dance Lambada was the craze, | | | | centers around DJ Williams, a college student at a |
| there was actually a movie titled "Lambada" | | | | fictional historically Black university who pledges to |
| in1989. Patrick Swayze's "Dirty Dancing" | | | | join a fictional Greek-letter fraternity. The film's |
| popularized a forbidden dance of the same name. | | | | central conflict involves DJ's fraternity competing |
| Some other dance movies are: | | | | in various stepping competitions against a rival |
| -"Flashdance" (1983) Breakdancing movie | | | | fraternity from the same school. The film's script |
| -"Saturday Night Fever" (1977) Disco movie | | | | was written by Robert Adetuyi, working from an |
| -"Fame" (1980) Jazz movie | | | | original draft by Gregory Ramon Anderson. The |
| -"The Turning Point" (1977) Ballet movie | | | | film was originally titled Steppin', but to avoid |
| -"Staying Alive" (1983) Jazz movie | | | | confusion over the 2006 film Step Up, the title |
| -"Footloose" (1984) New Wave movie | | | | was changed. |
| Though there are a lot more that could be | | | | -"How She Move" (2008) Canadian film directed |
| mentioned, it cannot be denied that most of | | | | by Ian Iqbal Rashid and starring Rutina Wesley, |
| these movies help disseminate information on the | | | | Clé Bennett, and Romina D'Ugo. The film |
| chosen dance topic. For a dance to be featured | | | | showcases the emerging street culture of step |
| on film is a good thing no matter what critics say. | | | | dancing and the talents of a new generation of |
| It appears the dance form Stepping is also getting | | | | Canadian-born actors. The film is produced by |
| widescreen attention. Here are some of the | | | | Celluloid Dreams, Sienna Films and MTV Films. |
| movies on this African American art form: | | | | Motion pictures through the years reflect the way |
| -"School Daze" (1988) musical-drama film, written | | | | things were and are at the time of filming. The |
| and directed by Spike Lee, and starring Laurence | | | | 1930s depression produced movies on how hard |
| Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, and Tisha Campbell. | | | | life was, the '70s showed movies on promiscuity, |
| Based in part on Spike Lee's experiences at | | | | abortion, war and other social issues of the time, |
| Atlanta's Morehouse College, it is a story about | | | | and so on. |
| fraternity and sorority members clashing with | | | | Because Stepping is a continuously growing art |
| other students at a historically black college during | | | | form, documenting it at a certain period in time |
| homecoming weekend. This was the second | | | | helps record its progress and changes. |
| feature film directed by Spike Lee, and was | | | | Though most practitioners of this dance would |
| released on February 12, 1988 by Columbia | | | | say that these movies didn't do full justice to this |
| Pictures. | | | | art form, the message all these films are trying |
| -"Stomp the Yard" (2007) drama film produced by | | | | to relay is the same: Stepping is part of African |
| Rainforest Films and released through Sony | | | | American culture and is a part of the here and |
| Pictures' Screen Gems division on January 12, | | | | now. |