"Teach Me to Dance" Film Review

Although this film was short, under 30 minutes, it had a beautifully and well-crafted story line. In fact, I think it was more effective because it was a short film. I really enjoyed the characters and the setting of the film. The writer touches upon several themes in this short film, such as racism, culture, tolerance, and multiculturalism.

The climax of the story is when the girls cannot perform their dance at the Christmas concert. It’s upsetting to watch their reactions of sadness and disappointment. It also makes the viewer angry because as you follow the time that they put into practicing and how much fun they are having, only for them to be crushed in the final moments. Not only are the girls upset, but Lesia’s family is let down because they were hoping that their culture would be included in the concert.

The writer’s use of the two young girls and their friendship was a great vessel for his message: that children are innocent, they are not born racist; prejudices and racism is learned behavior. Also, from what I understand about the movie is that children are curious about others and more accepting of differences than perhaps older generations are. The young girls did not let their differences or their families get in the way of their friendship.

Despite the fact that the girls could not show off their dance during the concert, they continued to practice together afterwards. Sarah, the English-girl remained optimistic while Lesia was more unnerved. I believe that the ending was not really a finale, the story continues; I think that the girls still have much more to learn from each other. “We” still have much to learn from each other, whether you are English or French, an immigrant or Canadian-born. It would be an ideal world if we could all be like these two little girls and learn from each other instead of rejecting those who are different than we are.