Dance with Me

Young Rafael (Chayanne) leaves Cuba to seek his fortune in America. He stays with an old friend of his mother’s (Kris Kristofferson) who runs a dance studio. There he meets Ruby (Vanessa Williams), a professional dancer who has split with her partner and is having a hard time finding a new one for the big competition coming up. Rafael is a natural but he doesn’t know the steps. Sparks fly. But can they make this partnership work? Dance With Me has a lot going for it. Chayanne and Williams have good chemistry, the dance sequences and the salsa music on the soundtrack are great and the ending is a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, the plot, lifted from dozens of movies, is paper-thin. It doesn’t have the attitude of Strictly Ballroom or the interesting characters of Shall We Dance. This movie is a pleasant diversion, but not much more.