The life-affirming story of a group of young African American female high-school students whose participation in a dance team helps them rise above the hardships of their daily lives, Step is the kind of highly polished, synthetic documentary that makes my teeth hurt. There’s a slickness to this storytelling that makes everything feel slightly fraudulent, even if it isn’t. And yet I kind of loved it. Or if not the documentary itself, I loved the characters. Blessin, the strikingly beautiful founder of the school step team, is a fizzing firecracker who threatens to burn out. Cori, the super-bright student whose quiet pride in her accomplishments lights up her home, even when the electricity is cut off. And Tayla, mortified by her overly enthusiastic mom, but grateful to her at the same time.
It may be more multiplex-friendly than the intimate teen girl confessional All This Panic, (released earlier this year). But perhaps, when it comes to delivering a message of empowerment, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
