Parents' Guide to Break the Stage

Films about high school teams trying to win championships abound, from Bring It Onto Hoosiers. The plight of teenagers aiming for their first big taste of success often makes for compelling storytelling. Most of these films focus on the championship itself, but Break the Stage takes it one step earlier as we see how a team leader has to first win over the people they lead. In this case, the self-centered Tia (Katrina Rose Tandy) has to put her ego aside and create harmony in her high school's step dance team. The less she focuses on herself, the more she learns all her fellow team members are going through crises of their own.

Based on a YA novel by Erik V Wolter, Break the Stage turns the team's plight into a fascinating allegory of how freedom is only real when all of us are free. If the movie plays out a bit like an after-school special, its messages are potent and effective, and younger audience members will most likely appreciate how it gets right to the point. Lessons are delivered in pithy and effective ways, and director Dalas Davis makes up for the lack of subtlety in the dramatic moments with the electrifying poetry of the dance sequences, which make this a sort of musical. The large multicultural ensemble is a beauty to behold as well, making the film's shortcomings less obvious.