It seems that each year, and early in the year at that, a new dance-related movie is released to theaters. This year we get two, How She Move and Step Up 2: The Streets. In recent years we have gotten Stomp the Yard, Step Up, You Got Served, and even a documentary in Rize. How She Move is the first to arrive this year, and judging solely from the trailers (because I haven't actually seen those other films), it offers a slightly different experience than its predecessors.  

You see, I am not exactly a part of the target demographic. Now I am sure you are asking yourself why I bothered to spend the time on it. Let me say that it was the trailer. It's that simple. It is true that trailers are designed to draw you in, but I am sure you are savvy enough to be able to tell when a movie is going to be good. Some are sure to get by the wickets, but by and large our trailer-detectors should be in fine working order. This just happened to paint a compelling picture.

The trailer for How She Move had something different to offer than the majority of those other Hollywood productions. There was a sense of honesty and a genuine feeling that the desire existed to push the boundaries of the dance movie. It also had a decidedly refreshing lack of gloss. This is a low-budget affair, populated with relative to complete unknowns, and created by a pair of first timers in director Ian Iqbal Rashid and writer Annmarie Morais.

With all of the fresh talent involved, this film had the opportunity to push boundaries and work outside the lines that have been drawn by previous genre entries. Did they succeed? Yes, no, and maybe a little bit of 'I don't know'. After all, this is my first foray into this particular genre.

Raya Green is a smart high school student who is currently enrolled in an exclusive private school. However, when her junkie older sister unexpectedly dies after spending all of the family's money (including Raya's tuition), she is forced to move back home to attend public school. Despite this roadblock in the way of her plans of going to med school, Raya has a plan to get back to the private school. She plans on taking a test that will get her a scholarship to get back on track.

Now, despite her plans and her insistence that she has everything under control, she is not welcomed back with open arms in her old neighborhood. Plus there is Bishop, leader of a local step dance crew that is bound for a big competition in Detroit called Step Monster. Bishop's crew leads to a back-up plan should the scholarship test fail, one that involves getting on that team.