Dancing Up a Storm in 'Mad Hot Ballroom'

By Liane Hansen

Published May 14, 2005 at 9:00 PM PDT

Young dancers are at the heart of 'Mad, Hot Ballroom'

For some viewers, the documentary Mad Hot Ballroom is a trip back to days they might long to forget.

Director Marilyn Agrelo shot dance classes and rehearsals at 60 New York City schools, following young partners in an increasingly intense competition featuring the meringue, rumba, tango, foxtrot and swing.

Agrelo, who also produced the film, has described it as a love poem to New York. It's about to open nationwide.

Liane Hansen

Liane Hansen has been the host of NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday for 20 years. She brings to her position an extensive background in broadcast journalism, including work as a radio producer, reporter, and on-air host at both the local and national level. The program has covered such breaking news stories as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Columbia shuttle tragedy. In 2004, Liane was granted an exclusive interview with former weapons inspector David Kay prior to his report on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The show also won the James Beard award for best radio program on food for a report on SPAM.