Happy Dance Movie (and Chayanne) Perfectly in Step With Little Girls

In “Dance With Me,” a fatherless young man (Chayanne) with a secret leaves Cuba to work for the burned-out owner of a dance studio (Kris Kristofferson) in Houston and falls for a gorgeous competitive dancer (Vanessa Williams) who’s seeking a comeback. (Rated PG.)

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What could Rafael, the handsome, hunky handyman laboring at the dance studio, possibly have to offer Ruby, the studio’s most glamorous dance instructor, a single mother who knows all the steps better than he does?

Well, besides that. Aiming for a more spiritual uplift, this happy dance movie makes it clear right off that what Rafael has that Ruby needs most is soul, Latin soul in particular, and feet that respond to the music, not a dance diagram. He may not know quick-quick-slow, but he knows how to dance. After all, he tells her, he’s Cuban!

Her “lessons”--held in an exuberant Latin nightclub and continued through the world open dance championships in Las Vegas--were not lost on 10-year-olds Kristy Esparza of Fountain Valley and Crystal Davies of Santa Ana, who couldn’t stop jiggling after seeing the movie in Santa Ana.

“It’s funny, but it’s true. If you hear music, you get the beat and you can just start dancing,” Kristy said.

“It’s so fun; you just go with the rhythm and the beat,” Crystal added.

“I’d love to see it again,” said Kristy, who had already seen the movie once before, and not just because her cousin is an extra in the film. “It’s, like, the best movie we’ve seen this summer.”

One reason, she said, was the dancing (“It’s, like, really fast”); another was the music (“It’s, like, really wild”). A third was Chayanne, the Puerto Rican singer/soap opera star who plays the good-hearted and soulful Rafael. Maybe not cute as in Leonardo DiCaprio cute, but Chayanne is in the same league, Crystal said. “His face is, like . . . no bumps. It’s a smooth face. His hair’s nice. He’s just cute.”

Anyone over 12 could probably figure out the plot (Rafael’s father met his mother in a shipboard romance? John Burton, the studio owner, is a former shipboard dancing instructor?) But the girls were kept guessing by the story, which they liked almost as much as the dancing.

After they buy the soundtrack, Crystal said, “We’re going to learn how to do that dancing. Then we’re going to go to a dance contest.”

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PARENTS’ PERSPECTIVE: The movie shows some drinking in bar scenes and at Rafael’s home; there is stylized sexy dancing; Ruby and Rafael, though attracted, restrain themselves because there is a child in the house.

The movie was fine for her 7-year-old niece Lorena, said Angelica Salazar of Santa Ana. “There were no people having drugs or being in gangs,” she said.

For adults, it was a nice diversion, she said. “It makes you forget your problems,” Salazar said. “I’m Latin, and for me it’s fun to see the Latin nightclub.”