Synopsis

An aspiring medical student whose sister has recently died and who may be forced to relocate from a private school to the neighbourhood in which she was raised enters a step-dancing competition in hopes of securing the funds needed to continue her education. Unable to afford the tuition needed to fund her private-school education, ambitious teen Raya (Rutina Wesley) returns to her family home in the city while reluctantly forced to re-evaluate her future. Upon learning that the top prize for an upcoming step-dancing competition is $50,000, Raya uses her impressive moves to earn a coveted slot in her good friend Bishop’s (Dwain Murphy) predominately male JSJ crew. Isolated from the local females due to jealousy and separated from her fellow dancers by gender, the ambitious dancer is subsequently kicked-off the team for showing off during a preliminary competition. Now, if Raya has any hope of realizing her medical school dreams, she will have to either earn back Bishop’s trust or organize her own dance crew and start over from scratch.

Reshoot and Release

This Canadian film was original slated to open in Canada in March 2007, but when it picked up a distribution deal from Paramount and MTV at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, the release date was pushed back to allow for reshooting several of the dance sequences, particularly the finale. The film was shot on Super 16mm for $5 million, and Paramount invested another $2 million in the new sequences, re-editing, and new sound mix. They created a new soundtrack with American and Canadian hip-hop artists. The film was originally set and filmed in Toronto, Canada, but the new edit removes references of the team traveling from Toronto to Detroit for the dance competition. Paramount/MTV spent another $10 million in promotion and distribution to 1500 theatres in the United States and 50 in Canada.

Soundtrack

1. G-Slide (Tour Bus) – Lil Mama feat. Kadar
2. Out Here – Mayhem Morearty
3. My Boots – Montell Jordan
4. Perfect – Carl Henry
5. Jane & Finchin’ – Smugglaz
6. It Don’t Make Any Difference To Me (acoustic version) feat. Akil Dasan – Kevin Michael
7. Hot Hot Hot – Montell Jordan
8. Reflectionz – Fenom
9. Ms. Golly – Lenn Hammond
10. Rude Girl Remix – Montell Jordan
11. Monster – Saukrates
12. Work That Stick – Montell Jordan
13. Still Burnin’ – Fenom
14. Don’t Let It Slip Away – Mood Ruff
15. Tempo – K Smith

Cast

• Rutina Wesley     Reyanne
• Dwain Murphy     Bishop
• Clé Bennett     Garvey
• Romina D’Ugo     Selia
• Kevin Duhaney     E.C.
• Shawn Desman     Trey
• Brennan Gademans     Quake
• Tré Armstrong     Michelle
• Jason Harrow     Himself