Streetdance 3D

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I’ll admit before I begin this article that I have danced my whole life, so I do generally like, although not always love, films with dance in them. I will try not to let this bias influence my judgement on the recent film StreetDance3D. Despite a terribly predictable plot line, StreetDance3D is saved by its use of any excuse to dance, which leads to, thankfully, ninety percent of the film being just dancing.

Like I said, the plot line is unoriginal enough to allow viewers to easily anticipate the film’s ending. Carly and her street dance crew are set to appear in the British finals for street dance, but after the main leader leaves, taking half of the crew with him, Carly is forced to take on ballet dancers to fill the gaps. The crew bumble along, failing to teach the ballet dancers successfully, until, boom, someone suggests they put the two dance forms together. Step Up déjà vu anyone? The acting also leaves a lot to be desired, and Carly’s love interest is not quite Channing Tatum.

However, although a bad plot line would be a major downfall in most films, StreetDance3D only needs the plot so as to have a reason to make a film. The film focuses on showcasing the best talent there is, rather than focusing on storytelling, and it doesn’t disappoint. Any opportunity is used to dance or to participate in a ‘dance off’. The street dancing is amazing, with plenty of locking, popping and flipping. The ballet dancers are undeniably talented yet it is specifically the two male dancers who steal the show from their female counterparts; they bound across studios, with rippling muscles allowing them to jump, leap and spin to extremes. Although I’m not a big fan of 3D technology, it definitely gives shows off an art form that is not intended for 2D much better than an average film. The film’s urban soundtrack is also bound to get you dancing yourself.

Making the dancing more exciting are the amount of cameos. Flawless have the most screen time, due to their being the rival competitors in the competition. So although they sometime seem like ‘the bad guys’, it doesn’t stop the audience admiring their, naturally, flawless dancing. George Sampson also stars and until this film, I had never really understood the fascination about him. But he provides the film with an endearing and lovable character that can dance just as well as any of the others. Diversity makes a small but hugely entertaining appearance. One can assume this is probably because they have so many other commitments as a consequence of their phenomenal success. Whatever you think about Britain’s Got Talent (and believe you me, I’m not a big fan), you can’t deny that these three dance acts really do have talent.

My only other criticism is the Ballet, but again I have always done ballet rather than street dance and so am more apt to pick out and critique the ballet. While a wide range of street dance is shown, a very limited and traditional view of Ballet is shown, which doesn’t reflect many of the great leaps Ballet has made in adapting the dance form (see Wayne McGregor’s work for the Royal Ballet). I also hate the view that all ballet dancers are stuck up snobs, which seems a bit of a generalisation. Furthermore, I found that some of the funniest parts of the film were when the street dancers were learning to do ballet and I would have liked to have seen more of it. However, and this is a big however, the film is called StreetDance3D, and so it naturally focuses on street dance, assumedly because it appeals to a wider audience.

In my personal opinion, the final dance off is not as original as Step Up, or even Honey, yet it is definitely better than Step Up 2. Referring to the last paragraph, I feel it’s because the ballet they mix in with the street dance is very traditional and the film would have perhaps benefitted from more modern ballet. Nonetheless, the dancing in the finale still has the power to wow the audience and it concludes the film nicely. StreetDance3D aims to bring dance to a wider audience, the 3D technology allowing the magic of dance on stage to be brought to the cinema. So, if we forget the bad plot line and acting, it delivers just that; a film that is thoroughly enjoyable for both dancers and non-dancers alike in it’s showcase of incredibly talented dancers.

Roisin O’Brien