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Champion street dancer DJ Williams (Columbus Short) loses his brother who is killed in a street brawl that follows a dance contest in LA. Depressed and disoriented, he travels to stay with his Aunt Jackie (Valarie Pettiford) in Atlanta where he is accepted as a working student in Truth University , a prestigious learning institution attended by black Americans. At Truth U he is introduced to “stepping” a kind of dancing with African-American origins that has become a tradition in the campus He feels somewhat out of place at Truth U with its elite fraternities and the community’s expectations of professional success, but with his dancing talents and academic ambitions he becomes a sought-after dancer by the rival stepping fraternities, the Theta Nu Theta and the current champion the Mu Gamma Xi. He eventually gets attracted to April (Meagan Good ) who happens to be the girlfriend of Grant ( Darrin Henson ), Mu Gamma Xi’s star stepper. In time DJ wins April ’s heart and joins the Theta Nu Theta frat. Grant plots to have DJ expelled, digging into his past, unearthing a record of the brawl that resulted in his brother’s death and reporting the discovery to the school authorities. The school president ( Allan Louis ), April ’s father, frowns on her romance with DJ and uses his office to nip it in the bud.
Stomp the Yard tightly interweaves the physical and the psychological in electrifying dance and intense drama sequences. While the movie’s trailer may give the impression that it’s yet another showcase for black dancing talents, the whole film is actually a multi-layered story made up of different components---frat rivalry and bonding, clean romance, class conflict, coming-of-age jitters, parent-child issues---revolving around the rich black campus tradition of stepping. The talented performers do their own astonishing dance numbers while proving themselves as actors capable of depth. Razor sharp editing and cinematography make for the unforgettable acrobatic choreography that was done without wires, special effects or camera tricks but only with pure human energy.
The viewer is bound to journey with DJ who initially thinks it’s all about stepping but through trials and triumphs enveloped in the dancing, the self-centered and arrogant young man soon puts aside his pride and savors the enduring bond of brotherhood that his presence infuses into his chosen fraternity. Fraternities in Stomp the Yard do not accidentally kill or maim their members in hazing; instead they channel their energies into the honored tradition of creative stepping. Many values are presented through the positive tone of the story, foremost among them being unity: overcoming the ego, coming together, and combining individual strengths to work as one body towards success.
(Date Reviewed: 06 April 2007)
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