6/13/13
DANC 2303-36086
Step Up 3
The street dance performances by the actors and actresses in the film Step Up 3 have always caught my attention. This style of hip hop dancing is entertaining to watch. During the film the mail character, Moose, is dealing with financial troubles and finds a street dance competition with the first place prize being cash. He decides he could use this money and throughout the film the audience sees multiple hip hop, street dances in which Moose is preparing and practicing for the competition. These dances are fast with pop music that makes anyone watching want to get up and dance along as well.
In my opinion the Water Dance in this film shows some attribute of our society. Before the dance starts we can see a group of men sitting down making bets on the different teams. Most of these men being the same race as one of the group of performers I infer that these men were most likely making a bet on the team that was the same race as them. In our society today, not always, but sometimes we can see this happening. Most people feel comfortable around their own race or religion and normally side with these people. As the dance goes on and the team the men were rooting for start stumbling and losing the battle we can see these men frustrated. I associate this dance with society based on how people who are alike associate and stick together more so than someone of a different race, religion or someone who has a different liking than you.
The initial dance in the film struck me by surprise. The one on one dance battle made a few memories pop into my head. As a kid growing up in this town all the middle school children would hang out at the local recreation center on Saturday nights. We would all play games, hang out and talk for a while and there was always a dance contest. This dance in the film took me to that exact memory in my mind where our dance contests would always have a battle round with the two last remaining contestants. The pressure of the crowd around, the moves flowing in and out of your body, the music blaring and taking your moves right out of your head is incredible. Watching this film puts those good memoires back into place and lets me relive the moment. You can tell Moose is out there having fun, showing off and battle the other guy just like my friends and I did back in middle school.
This film uses the dances to express art. I chose the Water Dance again because I feel like this dance shows the ways of art in a good way. The way the water falls down towards the end of the battle, the way the clothes get completely soaked, the pyramid of performers falling showing that not everyone is perfect and the splashing of the water is all forms of art. The dancers have taken a natural object and turned it into a prop during their performance. I would choose this dance as real art because of how simple yet complex the dance is. They have taken simple, everyday things and turned the battle into something interesting to watch. Everyone will interpret this dance in a different way, which in many ways is how art is taken. Everyone