Take the Lead

Take the Lead (2006) is a movie about a concerned citizen who uses ballroom dancing and etiquette as a form of character education for students in a violent inner city neighborhood. The basic premise is that, those who have, are in a position to share with those who do not. This is underlined by the encouragement the instructor gives to white, wealthy Caitlin: "Do you like to dance?" "Yes." "Then you were made to dance." She passes on the same encouragement to a black, overweight boy.

Antonio Banderas, owner of an upscale dance school, encounters a troubled youth one evening and decides to make the local high school principal on offer of help. To overcome the objections of jaded students to what they see as the staid music of Ira and George Gershwin, he brings in a star pupil and demonstrates with her a sizzling hot tango.

The instructor defends the universality of love against the haste to "get down to the ill na-na".

Although the story is in the conservative mold of an educated, middle-class person giving of themselves to elevate the less fortunate, it contains one flaw: the teacher tells one pupil, "You need to dance for yourself, not for anybody else." This was in response to excessive pressure from the pupil's parent, which was backfiring and hurting the pupil's confidence. But the correct Christan answer would be about enjoying her God-given gift as well as giving joy to others by employing that talent for their benefit.