From Billy Elliot to Black Swan, dance has provided an intense backdrop to some of the big screen’s most emotional stories. Dancers, in turn, are inspired by films which revolve on their chosen calling. In this series, the artists of Ballet Manila share their thoughts on the dance movies that made an impact on them, that they relate to and which they have grown to love.

Ballet Manila soloist Joshua Enciso is a big fan of the Step Up dance movies, but his absolute favorite is Step Up Revolution, the fourth in the series that came out in 2012 and is also a 3D dance film. 

“I’ve always wanted to watch dance movies like this especially when there’s hiphop, contemporary and ballet. So basically, I was waiting for this movie to come out that time and I’ve watched it in the theater and on TV several times,” Joshua explains.

Also known as Step Up 4: Miami Heat, the movie stars Ryan Guzman and Kathryn McCormick as Sean and Emily whose paths cross in Miami Beach where they soon find that they have a shared interest in dance and soon fall in love.

Sean is the leader of a flash mob group known as The MOB, while Emily is an aspiring professional dancer. The conflict is that Emily’s father, a building tycoon, plans to develop an area that would mean destroying homes, among them Sean’s, as well as some of his group’s neighborhood hangouts. 

But dance, of course, is what threads the story together. “I like how they create the story by showing different categories of dance. There’s hiphop, contemporary and ballet. The leads are very stunning as they show off their moves in the group dance.”

He particularly enjoys the movie’s final dance scene, clips of which can be found on YouTube. “I really enjoyed this part as they show off what The MOB can do. It’s very smooth how they did it. It was well done, how they used unthinkable props and changed soundtracks.”

Joshua identifies with Sean, claiming that the character inspired him by doing well at partnering and also in hiphop. He finds the end of the final group dance memorable as it’s in this scene when Sean says to Emily:  "Come on, isn’t it time to start fighting for what you want?" 

“And then they start dancing together with my most favorite music – To Build a Home by Cinematic Orchestra. Sometimes, fighting for what we want is the key to show people what’s in ourselves and to show our true feelings in that situation through dance,” Joshua says. 

What resonates with him is how Emily must work with Sean and The MOB to turn their performance art into protest art and risk losing their dreams to fight for a greater cause. “As a dancer, I really can relate to this movie. You'll see different kinds of dances, how they dance as a group, how they help each other as a family, the dance culture they show to the people and what their group can do in order to fight for a greater cause by dancing.”