# Dance with Me (1998)

### reviewed by
Steve Rhodes

    DANCE WITH ME
    A film review by Steve Rhodes
    Copyright 1998 Steve Rhodes
    RATING (0 TO ****):  **

Get out those foot protectors, ladies. The cherubic Rafael Infante, played with charm by popular Latin American entertainer Chayanne in DANCE WITH ME, is a klutz when it comes to dancing. When he takes a partner on a spin around the dance floor, his feet have all the grace of a sledgehammer.

In a movie with exactly two "surprises," one is that Rafael as actually an extremely accomplished dancer. His problem is that he is not familiar with the more popular dances. Coming from Cuba, he knows the rhythms and the moves of the local dances there, but in America, he is a fish out of water, or more precisely, a fish swimming in a different pond.

The movie begins with the story's second surprise. John Burnett, the owner of a cheap Texas dance studio, gives Rafael a job as a handyman in his studio as soon as he arrives from Cuba. John bends over backwards to help him because of some unexplained sense of obligation. In the most underwritten of a group of underwritten roles, Kris Kristofferson delivers a bland rendition of John, an aging small business owner and fisherman. The movie devotes considerable time to John and Rafael's relationship with little payoff in return. The mystery of their relationship doesn't amount to much, and neither does the movie's unsuccessful attempt at poignancy when the secret is revealed.

The other major serious subplot has the shy but charismatic Rafael falling in love with Ruby Sinclair, one of John's dance teachers and a professional Latin dancer. Vanessa Williams, who plays Ruby, is a perfect match for the equally beautiful Chayanne, and the sweet chemistry between them feels genuine.

These mini-dramas have little appeal and are not the reason to see the film. People come to see the dancing and hear the music. Audiences, however, are likely to be disappointed as director Randa Haines spends an inordinate amount of time off of the dance floor in a film that inexplicably comes in at over two hours in length. Why do the characters spend so much time on boat docks and in truck junkyards when they could be dancing?

When the Latin music cranks up, the show comes alive. The costumes are fun, and multicolored lights bathe the dancers. Cinematographer Fred Murphy, regretfully, thinks it is his job to jazz up the picture with tight close-ups of the dancers' backs and sides. This results in a swirl of images that blur into a montage reminiscent of a late Monet painting. It becomes difficult to ascertain the skills of the dancers since we are rarely given the proper perspectives.

In true formula fashion, the storyline drives toward the big game - dance in this case - at the "XXII World Open Dance Championship." Ruby decides to partner again with her estranged husband Julian Marshall, played by real-life dance star Rick Valenzuela. Julian treats her like dirt and even dances in a hostile manner. In contrast, Rafael leads with his buttocks in a comical but slightly sensual style of dancing that has to be seen to be believed.

Dance movies should be energetic, not pensive. DANCE WITH ME comes alive periodically but spends way too much time with low-grade soap opera material. Say what you will about the film, its two stars are charming.

DANCE WITH ME runs too long at 2:06. It is rated PG for a brief male topless scene that sent our audience into a chorus of hoots and giggles. The film would be fine for kids around nine and up.

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