After burying his mother, Rafael Infante comes from Santiago, Cuba to Houston, Texas to work for a man named John Burnett as a handyman in Burnett's dance studio. It soon becomes clear to the audience that Burnett is the father Rafael never knew. While there he finds himself falling for a dancer and instructor Ruby Sinclair, who incidentally brought him to the studio.
It turns out that the dancers in the studio are preparing for a dance competition in Las Vegas and that Ruby will be taking part as well. Rafael gets close to Ruby and their attraction to each other grows, but she is not willing to commit herself to a relationship as she seems more interested in her dancing.
Meanwhile, Rafael's arrival and persona win him the friendship of an older dancer Bea Johnson as well as the studio receptionist Lovejoy, but also causes some discomfort to Burnett, who suddenly begins to withdraw into himself and takes less interest in the preparations for the competition, much to the chagrin of his own partner Patricia Black.
While visiting Burnett at his home, Rafael notices and offers to repair his old and broken-down truck. He and Ruby go downtown to get the parts needed to repair the truck and are invited to an engagement party by a Cuban man whose daughter is getting engaged. While there, both of them discover more about each other as he tells her that his mother had died but that he never knew his father.
Later, Rafael invites Ruby to a dance party at a club in the city and they agree to go on the following Saturday night. Before leaving, Rafael helps Patricia learn a dance lift she had been practicing, explaining that his mother made him take a little ballet. The following Saturday, he and Ruby go to the party in which they perform, along with other dancers, the Latin Salsa dancing to a song by Albita Rodriguez.
After the party, he takes Ruby home and discovers that she has a 7-year-old son Peter who is "looked after" by Bea in Ruby's absence and who happens to be fathered by Ruby's former dance partner, Julian Marshall. While there, he comes up to Ruby and they share a passionate kiss, but she eventually breaks it up.
Later on, Rafael comes to Burnett's home to show him the refurbished truck, to the latter's delight. While there, Patricia comes to the house and has a discussion with John asking him to explain why he suddenly lost interest in their choreography preparations. John then tells her that she can dance with Rafael if she wants and both she and Rafael start their practice to the amazement of the other dancers at the studio.
After the rehearsal, Rafael overhears John telling Lovejoy that Ruby will be in Las Vegas without them and also asking her to switch his name with Rafael's when Patricia's dance comes up.
Sensing that she wants to reunite with Julian, Rafael goes to see Ruby who explains that she wanted Peter to see his father often and that she did not want to be in love. While on a fishing trip with Burnett, Rafael is shocked when Burnett tells him to go back to Cuba after the competition and that he does not have a son. Devastated by the double rejection, he decides to return to Cuba after his dance with Patricia.
In Las Vegas, Rafael meets Ruby and tells her he is returning to Cuba after the competition. Burnett (who did not go) reflects on his cruel rejection of Rafael and decides to come to the dance to apologize to Rafael and persuade him not to go back to Cuba. Rafael dances with Patricia and while watching them, Ruby realizes that she is in love with Rafael and feels a stab of jealousy seeing them together.
Just as Rafael and Patricia leave the stage, Bea comes in, saying, "I wanna do that too" and she and Rafael perform a very humorous dance to the amusement and delight of the crowd. After the dance, Burnett meets and apologizes to Rafael, eventually convinces him to stay back, and also commends his dancing.
The main dances begin and Ruby and her partner Julian are involved. Despite the slight tension between them, they win the competition although Ruby almost all the time seems to keep her eyes on Rafael, who is in the audience and who is watching her. However, he leaves and when Ruby looks around without seeing him, she breaks down in tears.
Later at a dance party for all the contestants, Ruby is met by a man who wishes to promote her. However, to her relief, Rafael appears again and leads her to the dance floor for a final dance scene that has the rest of the dancers watching with admiration.
The movie ends at the studio with the entire studio members and some new dancers dancing to the theme song "You Are My Home" by Chayanne and Williams themselves.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 51% of 43 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.5/10.The website's consensus reads: "Shallow script, weak direction."[2]
Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, writing: "Like Strictly Ballroom and Shall We Dance, Dance With Me uses the dance scenes as a way to sneak musical numbers into a film that is technically not a musical. It sneaks in a lot more, too, and I was surprised by how much humanity Vanessa L. Williams brings to a character that could have been a cliche. This is a movie of predictable pleasures, and then it has those surprises."[3]
Awards
Nomination
Satellite Awards: Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Musical - Joan Plowright[4]
Elmer Figueroa Arce, better known under the stage name Chayanne, is a Puerto Rican Latin pop singer and actor. As a solo artist, Chayanne has released 21 albums and sold over 15 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists.
Volver a Empezar is a Mexican telenovela produced by Emilio Larrosa for Televisa in 1994–95. It originally released on the Mexican television network Canal de las Estrellas.
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is a 2004 American dance musical romance film directed by Guy Ferland and starring Diego Luna, Romola Garai, Sela Ward, John Slattery, Jonathan Jackson, January Jones, and Mika Boorem. The film is a standalone prequel of the 1987 blockbuster Dirty Dancing, and serves as the second feature film in the titular franchise. While the movie follows a similar plot structure, the story takes place in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution. Patrick Swayze, star of the original film, appears as a dance instructor.
The Reckless Moment is a 1949 American film noir melodrama directed by Max Ophüls, produced by Walter Wanger, and released by Columbia Pictures with Burnett Guffey as cinematographer. It starred James Mason and Joan Bennett. The film is based on The Blank Wall (1947), a novel written by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. The 2001 film The Deep End is a remake based on the same source material.
The Cheetah Girls is a Disney Channel media franchise based on the novel series of the same name by Deborah Gregory, who was also co-producer of the film trilogy. The films are about a female vocal group seeking success and fortune.
Ruby is a 1992 American drama film, released in the United States, about Jack Ruby, the Dallas, Texas nightclub owner who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement garage of a Dallas city police station in 1963. The film was directed by John Mackenzie and stars Danny Aiello, Sherilyn Fenn, and Arliss Howard. It is based on a play written by British screenwriter Stephen Davis. Ruby was released three months after Oliver Stone's movie JFK.
"Lessons" is the eighth episode of the first season of the HBO original series The Wire. The episode was written by David Simon from a story by David Simon and Ed Burns and was directed by Gloria Muzio. It originally aired on July 21, 2002.
Tropico is a telenovela produced and filmed entirely in the Dominican Republic by Venevisión International, Iguana Productions and Antena Latina. It is a remake of the 1997 Peruvian telenovela Escándalo.
Miss America 1984, the 57th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 17, 1983, on NBC Network. Miss America 1983, Debra Maffett crowned her successor, Miss New York 1983, Vanessa Williams of Millwood, New York at the end of the nationally televised event. In July 1984, Williams was forced to resign over the unauthorized publication of nude photographs and was succeeded by first runner-up, Miss New Jersey Suzette Charles, who served as Miss America until September 15, 1984. Among the contestants who did not place among the ten finalists, Miss New Mexico 1983 Mai Shanley, eventually went on to win the Miss USA 1984 pageant on May 17, 1984.
Vanessa Marigold Abrams is a fictional character in the Gossip Girl novel series. She is portrayed by Jessica Szohr in the television adaptation. Vanessa was introduced on the first season as a recurring character, but became a series regular after a successful run due to the popularity of her character. She left the series at the end of the fourth season.
Lucas Fitzgerald is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Scott Major. The actor had previously appeared in Neighbours in 1993 as Darren Stark. He received a call to play Lucas shortly after he was getting the feel for acting again. Major accepted the role as the character seemed like fun and he wanted to work with his friend Brett Tucker. He made his first screen appearance as Lucas during the episode broadcast on 22 July 2008. The following year, Major signed a new contract and was promoted to the regular cast. On 1 July 2013, it was confirmed that Major had left Neighbours and his character departed on 24 September 2013. He made a brief return on 4 March 2015 for the show's 30th anniversary celebrations. Major made numerous guest appearances from 2015 until the show's final episode broadcast on 28 July 2022.
Before I Self Destruct is a 2009 American direct-to-video crime drama film starring Curtis Jackson, who also served as writer, director, producer and executive producer, that is included with his fourth studio album of the same name. It was released on November 23, 2009, two weeks after the release of the album.
"We Built This Glee Club" is the eleventh episode of the sixth season of the American musical television series Glee, and the 119th overall. The episode was written by Aristotle Kousakis, directed by Joaquin Sedillo, and first aired on March 13, 2015, on Fox in the United States.
William Jackson is a fictional character in Wentworth Prison. Will is portrayed by Robbie Magasiva. Will is notable for his friendships with Matthew Fletcher and Bea Smith. Will has also been involved in a one-sided rivalry with Joan Ferguson.
High Strung is a 2016 American drama film directed by Michael Damian and written by Janeen Damian and Michael Damian. The film stars Keenan Kampa, Nicholas Galitzine, Jane Seymour, Sonoya Mizuno, Richard Southgate, and Paul Freeman. The film was released on April 8, 2016, by Paladin. A sequel High Strung: Free Dance was released in 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
