Head fake, once more

To say am a movie buff would be an understatement. However the quality of movies coming out of Hollywood these days are making me realize how worthless it is to spend money on any of them. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie Take the lead.

Anyone familiar with ballroom dance will recognize this movie instantly. The movie is one of the greatest examples of a head fake I've ever seen on the screen. (The movie is based on a real story). In New York City, A ballroom dance teacher takes up the initiative of teaching poor African American kids, ballroom dance, in a detention center. The movie isn't great, but there are some subtle lessons that can be learned from the movie. The intention of 'Pierre' (played by Antonio Banderas) to teach dance to the extremely poor African American kids is completely morphed by this 'element' of learning dance.He manages to teach dignity, respect and discipline to these stubborn kids who live in a society filled with apathy and violence. He accomplishes this by a 'head fake', by enticing the kids to ballroom dancing.In fact there is even a lesson of leadership one can learn from the 'lead-follow' concept of ballroom/latin dance. It's so subtly displayed that the lead dancer can lead only to the extent allowed by the follow dancer. The lead dancer can only proceed to lead and unless the follow lets him lead he can't do so. This holds true in almost every walk of life and emulates the 'power of following'.

As the society evolves and becomes more 'team oriented' the concept of leadership will also evolve and we can see this happening today. Leaders are only as powerful as the followers will let them be.

The movie depicted these concept in a very nice, subtle and enjoyable manner.