Five Dances

Following an old Hollywood tradition, writer-director Alan Brown's independent film Five Dances uses a rather thin narrative as a frame on which to hang numerous dance sequences. A cast of five outstanding modern dancers are at the center of a small, New York City-based company led by a taskmaster choreographer named Anthony (Luke Murphy). Ryan Steele stars as Chip, an 18-year-old fleeing an awful domestic situation (his overbearing mother back in Kansas keeps calling to demand that he return home), who joins the troupe, although he has little money and nowhere to live. Coming under the wing of the older Katie (Catherine Miller), Chip lands a roof over his head just as Theo (Reed Luplau) begins making romantic moves on him. Adding to the soapy mix is an affair between Anthony and the married Cynthia (Kimiye Corwin) that brings a destructive tension into the group dynamics. All of this drama still only comprises about 40% of the movie; the rest is pure dance, and happily the dancers are a talented bunch who make it all worthwhile. Recommended. (T. Keogh)