{"id":1519,"date":"2017-08-05T07:14:37","date_gmt":"2017-08-05T14:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/?p=1519"},"modified":"2017-08-13T18:10:45","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T01:10:45","slug":"step-young-women-use-step-to-become-empowering-role-models","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/2017\/step-young-women-use-step-to-become-empowering-role-models\/","title":{"rendered":"Step: Young women use Step to become empowering role models"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1525 size-full alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Step.poster-e1501942343548.jpg?resize=135%2C200\" alt=\"\" width=\"135\" height=\"200\" \/>Step <\/em>documents the senior year of a girls&#8217; high-school step dance team against the background of inner-city Baltimore. As each one tries to become the first in their families to attend college, the girls strive to make their dancing a success against the backdrop of social unrest in the troubled city. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Calista B. comments, \u201cThis is a film about life, dreams and passion\u2026This movie is basically <em>Dance Moms <\/em>but with a heart, a soul and overall positivity.\u201d See her full review below.<\/p>\n<p>Step<br \/>\nBy Calista B., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, Age 13<\/p>\n<p><em>Step<\/em> can be best described as a rollercoaster. This is a film about life, dreams and passion. You go on a journey with three amazing young woman who have used Step to shape themselves into empowering role models. This movie is basically <em>Dance Moms <\/em>but with a heart, a soul and overall positivity.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JqzAGrCSEIY?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-1520\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.a-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.a.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.a.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.a.jpg?zoom=3&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/em>This documentary follows three strong, intelligent, beautiful African American high school seniors. It shows these girls in their home life and in their school life. It also shows what it was like for these girls living in Baltimore, a year after the Freddie Gray Protests in 2015. Many scenes in the film portray the \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d movement and the importance of it. Blessin, our first protagonist and main focus of STEP is very likeable and relatable. The audience can <em><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1522 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.c-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.c.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.c.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.c.jpg?zoom=3&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/em>understand her struggles and her angry outbursts. Blessin struggles more than the others with her grades, but she is the powerhouse and founder of the Step team. She shows her tender side when she cares for her nephew. The other girls, Cori and Tayla take school more seriously and have strong parental figures that help them through the tough times. Even though Tayla\u2019s mom can be a bit overbearing, she has her daughter\u2019s back, and in the end, that\u2019s what\u2019s important. Cori lives with six siblings, her stepfather and a mom who, in Cori\u2019s own words, \u201cis like a magic wand.\u201d Cori\u2019s mom was a teenager when she was pregnant with Cori but her faith helped her <em><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-1524\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.e-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.e.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.e.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.e.jpg?zoom=3&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/em>get through the rough times.<\/p>\n<p>A big focus of this documentary is feminism and racial equality. The girls discuss this at the memorial for Freddie Gray. Their coach \u201cCoach G\u201d tells them that they are not only black but they are women. So they have to fight harder than others and how it should not be this way. \u00a0Not only that, but the two dance numbers shown in the film deal with these issues. The First Routine is about Black Lives Matter, and the other one is about Sisterhood. I was really impressed and found myself cheering these girls on through their journey and desperately <em><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-1523 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.d-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.d.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.d.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/step.d.jpg?zoom=3&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/em>hoping for them to succeed. Even though I am not a big fan of dancing, I have to admit these girls were really talented.<\/p>\n<p>I definitely give this documentary 4 out of 5 stars. I would recommend this film for 10 to 18 year olds. Anybody who wants a positive and motivational movie should watch this film. This FOX Searchlight documentary comes out August 4th.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Step documents the senior year of a girls&#8217; high-school step dance team against the background of inner-city Baltimore. As each one tries to become the first in their families to attend college, the girls strive to make their dancing a success against the backdrop of social unrest in the troubled city. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feature-film-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paS5I2-ov","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1519"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1527,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519\/revisions\/1527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/kidsfirstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}