By “Stomp the Yard” is a combination of tragedy, love, perseverance and personal growth. The film follows DJ, a street dancer from Los Angeles who moves to Atlanta to attend college. We watch DJ’s journey from losing his younger brother to gun violence and dealing with the subsequent guilt to watching him go forward with fulfilling his brother’s dream of attending college and joining a fraternity. Throughout the film, DJ deals with the pressures of grades, partying roommates, falling in love and class discrimination.
First-time director Sylvain White succeeded with chronicling DJ’s transition from a street-hustling dancer to a college frat boy. What impressed me about the movie is that it captured the strength and history of black fraternities while realistically depicting the rivalries that have plagued the organizations since their inception.
The movie also shows several examples of positive black family structures, which are usually lacking in mainstream cinema. We see a variety of relationship bonds, including those between husband and wife, father and daughter, friends and budding love interests. This is important to the film because it strengthens the internal conflict that DJ experiences and validates his fight to succeed, although we see many reasons for him to simply give up.
Although the film does well developing its strong story lines, I have to say that I expected more dance sequences. After watching the previews of “Stomp the Yard,” I expected more displays of competitive dance. The film opened and ended in competition but had little throughout.
Overall, I recommend this film for everyone to see. There is a mixture of new and familiar faces, but the cast is mostly comprised of relative unknowns. Newcomer Columbus Short (DJ) did a great job in his first starring role, exhibiting authenticity as a less-privileged dancer while displaying believable chemistry with all of his co-stars.
“Stomp The Yard” is in theatres now.
