Review of “Stomp The Yard”
You may have never heard of “stepping”, a dance form that’s part war dance, part human percussion, and all urban street ballet. It’s performed as an elaborately synchronized group routine and – with its African roots – has been popularized by fiercely competitive African-American and Latino college fraternities in America. Stomp The Yard takes us inside this macho world of rhythm and drill with some high-energy moves and a low energy storyline.
At the story level, it’s a woefully predictable underdog affair about ghetto step boy DJ (Columbus Short) who finds a backdoor into the elite Truth University in Atlanta after his street dance battles in L.A. bring him to the attention of the police. Promising to become a good boy, he falls for rich girl April (Megan Good) daughter of the University Dean and girlfriend of law student Grant (Darrin Henson), the powerful leader of the Mu Gamma Xi fraternity step team. Grant and his pack of militaristic dancing wolves have won the last seven national stepping championships, and have no intention of being shown up by a new kid on the block. DJ - of course - joins rival stepping group Theta Nu Theta and ignores the warnings to stop dating April. The plot then stomps full steam ahead for the national championships where both the dancing and the romance get the full treatment ending, but not before adding a dash of civil rights nostalgia into the mix.
There’s no shortage of energy here, and the dancing is clearly the most spectacular element of the film - often more spectacular than the camerawork and editing which seem to strip it of its pace and vigour in places, leaving you wanting more. Director Sylvain White comes from a background in music video and this - his first feature – comes with a highly contemporary style, relying on hand-held camera, roving focus and fast jumping zoom to keep the look fluid and edgy. The cast does a nice job given the obvious storyline and conventional characters, and the choreography – from Short himself – is highly original. Overall, Stomp The Yard will get you tapping rather than clapping.
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