MCN Interview: Mad Hot Ballroom

She's Got The Moves Down ...
An Interview with
Mad Hot Ballroom's
Marilyn Agrelo

New Yorkers Marilyn Agrelo and Amy Sewell had been friends for about eight years when journalist Sewell published an article in her local community newspaper, The Tribeca Tribune, in July 2003, about a fifth-grade class who learns ballroom dancing. Sewell convinced producer Agrelo that the subject would make an even better story on the big screen, and the following year they became co-producing partners, Agrelo directing, and Sewell writing the project that became Mad Hot Ballroom. The documentary follows public school kids from different New York City boroughs as they tango, fox trot, and rumba their way through citywide competitions called the Rainbow Team Matches. Earlier this year the film made a splash at Slamdance and was picked up by Paramount Classics. Director Agrelo came through town recently to talk about what makes her feel like dancing.

ANDREA GRONVALL: How did you choose what schools to follow in your film?

MARILYN AGRELO: I had this notion we should pursue three groups. So, Amy and I scouted like 25 schools. The Tribeca school, P.S. 150, was clearly going to be good because they were so verbal and they're a very diverse mix, and these kids come from homes where the parents are for the most part professional. They've been exposed to a lot, they have a lot going on in their lives, they're busy kids, they have a lot to say. The Brooklyn kids-the kids from Bensonhurst's P.S. 112-to me represented the most pure, childlike group. They didn't have any huge aspirations; their parents have jobs, they grew up in the neighborhood, they'll probably be drinking beers together ten years from now in the same local bar. They're like normal, working-class kids, also very racially diverse. It used to be all Italian-American; now there are a lot, a lot of Asians, and Muslims are coming in, so they're all adjusting to that. The kids from Washington Heights' P.S. 115 came from the harshest reality: their neighborhood has a lot of crime, their economic level is not great. A lot of them don't speak English. But they have one thing that nobody else has: they've been dancing since they were born, because that's their culture. They've been watching their parents dance in their living rooms from a very early age. And I'm Cuban, and know what it's like to have an immigrant family. I knew a lot about them, and win or lose, that teacher Yomaira Reynoso was going to be an awesome character. She was so driven, and so dedicated, and tough.

AG: And she can dance!

MA: She's amazing! And real honest; from day one, she was like, "I want to win. I want to win!" And I thought, good for you-we're going to follow this school because whatever happens, she was really going to drive those kids, and that was going to be a good story. So, those were our three choices, and I think what we got from all of them was so different, that I think it worked well. My whole interest in this piece was the contrast, to always contrast: contrast the teachers, contrast the kids, contrast their neighborhoods, contrast their perceptions and their viewpoints, because that was what New York was offering. You just have to go twenty blocks and you're in another world.

AG: Tell me about the road to Park City, and your distribution deal.

MA: We were still working on the film when the IFP, the Independent Feature Project in New York was having their market in September, and had an opening for documentary works in progress. Amy and I sent them selected scenes, and they accepted us. This was our first-ever showing to industry people, twenty minutes of scene selects at the Angelika, and a little ripple started to go through the market about Mad Hot Ballroom. And this woman from Miramax asked me, "May I show the rough cut of your film to my colleagues?" I said, you know, I'm not ready for that. And she said, "Okay. Then I will tell you this: you're going to sell his movie. You need to make a really good deal. May I introduce you to John Sloss' company?" That was such an unselfish move on her part because as an acquisitions person, helping us with John Sloss, that was working against her company's driving a hard deal. So, Sloss' company Cinetic looked at our material and signed us on, which was single-handedly the most amazing thing that happened in the journey of this film, because they guided us through everything, including getting it ready for Sundance, who rejected us, by the way.

AG: That's odd. It seems to me that a Sundance audience would be your audience.

MA: Whatever the reasons, we were rejected, and I was devastated. Slamdance scooped it up like this [snapping her fingers] and made it their opening film. Cinetic said we're going to take this to Park City and make Sundance sorry. And we were in the press every day; Variety and all those publications would have their Sundance articles, and we would be right there, with all the Sundance movies. I felt bad for Slamdance.

AG: They don't care. It really is to their benefit.

MA: Our first screening ended in a standing ovation. By our third screening, the Cinetic people said, "This screening is just going to be all distributors. Everybody's clamoring to see your film." This room was filled with all these people, [some of them] sitting on the floor, and I was confused because when the screen went black and the credits started playing, I would say 80% of them ran out of the room.

AG: To get on their phones.

MA: My editor asked, "What just happened?" I didn't know if they were just being rude, if they were going to dinner; it was actually embarrassing because we did our Q&A to about ten people. And we had the kids there, and hardly anyone stayed. Then when we got outside of the room, I was told by Micah Green and the Cinetic people, "Keep your phones on. Something's going to happen tonight, we think." And it turned into a bidding war. That night by 5 AM we had a deal with Paramount Classics.

AG: I heard nothing but good buzz on your film before I saw it, but it was all this sort of, "Oh, this is a real feel-good film!" And although I have nothing against feel-good films-

MA: I have a lot against feel-good films.

AG: Well, "feel-good films"-that's a pretty broad term, a lot can fall within that. I wondered if this was going to be just another movie about some cute, plucky kids, but as the film progressed, I came away with an increased respect for youth, a greater optimism about the future of this country, it made me love New York even more than I did going in-

MA: Oh, you're going to make me cry!

AG: --and, let's hear it for teachers! The kids are the stars of this film, but you're also generous with the screen time you allotted these teachers, who are just as inspiring as their students.

MA: You know, honestly, if somebody said to me, there's a documentary about kids taking ballroom dancing, I'd be like, "Come on! What else? Next!" I agree with you. On a surface level-and frankly, I worry about this because I feel like it's not a movie about cute kids, and I would never waste my time with that, it doesn't interest me. But what does interest me is the beauty of these kids at this age, living in a huge city, opening up the way that they did. It's something that you're not even aware of, what these kids are capable of thinking and feeling, and once I started hearing them, the film took a completely different turn for me. It's almost like the dance competition was just a vehicle to get us from point A to point B, to give us their unfettered perspectives on life. The triumph and the defeat and all that interwoven was interesting, but even the teachers-Allison Sheniak in Tribeca who cries just at the thought of her kids turning into ladies and gentlemen-she's really beautiful to me, but I'm also aware that she has the luxury to cry about that. Yomaira uptown? She's focused on keeping these kids off the street and not having them lose interest and turn to something that's going to be really dangerous and scary.

AG: She has no time for tears.

MA: No, and she has no time for coddling. Her attitude is, "You're tired? Too bad; get up and dance!" And she wants these kids to taste victory because what they see as victory right now-potentially-is the drug dealer up the street, the only person in that neighborhood who's driving a big car. Her stakes are so high, and yes, this ballroom dancing program is not going to change the world, but it's something.

AG: What was your shooting ratio?

MA: We shot 150 hours on digital. It was quite a challenge, and I really owe so much to my editor Sabine Krayenbuehl, who was brilliant, brilliant in helping me tell this story.

AG: The film is now 1 hour 42 minutes, and I don't know what you shot that you chose not to include. We know that a lot of these kids-particularly those from Washington Heights, as you've already mentioned-come from troubled backgrounds. Other filmmakers might have focused on those backgrounds, probably with the best of intentions, but frequently that approach verges on the patronizing--there's just no other way for me to put it, I'm sorry-

MA: I agree with you.

AG: --but you're focusing on the kids, on what is the best in them right now, on what they have got in touch with, through the great fortune of having teachers who love them. Not just believe in them, but love them, and help them to tap into their capabilities. Your film does not give them, nor do their teachers give them self-esteem. It's not awarded to them. These kids, they find it, they embody it. I was just blown away by how together these kids are, despite everything.

MA: I have to really thank you so much for seeing that, because I have already heard from people saying, you treated that harsh neighborhood so gently, you didn't really show this, or that. It's a harsh landscape, sure, but what interested me more was that these beautiful flowers are growing there. To me, those kids up there are absolutely radiant, so why do we need to focus on their disadvantage? Look at them! It's really a story about hope more than anything else.

AG: One last question: Do you dance?

MA: [Laughing] I can dance, but I wouldn't pretend to say I'm a dancer. In fact, while I was watching all of these kids moving, I wondered if I would be as good as them after ten weeks of lessons. I don't know, but I'm inspired to learn.

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MAD HOT BALLROOM is now playing in New York,
and opens elsewhere in the country on Friday, May 20.

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May 18, 2005