''How She Move'' is a 2007

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Ian Iqbal Rashid Ian Iqbal Rashid (born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) is a poet, screenwriter and filmmaker known in particular for his volumes of poetry, for the TV series '' Sort Of'' and ''This Life'' and the feature films ''Touch of Pink'' and '' How She Mo ...

and starring

Rutina Wesley Rutina Wesley (born December 21, 1978) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Tara Thornton on the HBO television series ''True Blood'', and Nova Bordelon on OWN’s ''Queen Sugar''. Early life and education Wesley was born ...

Clé Bennett Clé Bennett is a Canadian actor. He is best known for voicing DJ, Beardo, Leonard, and Chef Hatchet (Seasons 1 - 6) from ''Total Drama'', and his portrayal of Lemar Hoskins / Battlestar in the Marvel Cinematic Universe miniseries ''The Falcon an ...

and Romina D'Ugo. The film showcases the street culture of

step dancing Step(s) or STEP may refer to: Common meanings * Steps, making a staircase * Walking * Dance move * Military step, or march ** Marching Arts Films and television * ''Steps'' (TV series), Hong Kong * ''Step'' (film), US, 2017 Literature * ' ...

. The film is produced by

Celluloid Dreams Celluloid Dreams is a French film production and distribution company that also operates as an international sales company. Additionally, the company runs a video on-demand platform, The Auteurs, in conjunction with The Criterion Collection. Cel ...

, Sienna Films,

Paramount Vantage Paramount Vantage (also known as Paramount Classics) was a film distribution label of Paramount Pictures (which, in turn, has Paramount Global as its parent company), charged with producing, purchasing, distributing and marketing films, general ...

and

MTV Films MTV Entertainment Studios is the film and television production arm of MTV Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Founded in 1991 as MTV Productions, it is a consolidation of the former MTV ...

Plot

Unable to afford the tuition needed to fund her

private school Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

education, Rayanna or Raya (

) returns to her family home in the city while reluctantly re-evaluating her future. Upon learning that the top prize for an upcoming step-dancing competition is $50,000, Raya uses her impressive moves to earn a coveted slot in her good friend Bishop's (

Dwain Murphy Dwain Murphy is a Dominican-born Canadian actor. He is best known for playing Eric in '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'', Giles in ''The Line'', and Bishop in '' How She Move''. Murphy has made an appearance in Tom Clancy's '' Splinter Cell ...

) predominantly male JSJ crew. Isolated from the local women due to jealousy and separated from her fellow dancers by her sex, the ambitious dancer is subsequently kicked off the team for showing off during a preliminary competition. Now, if Raya has any hope of realizing her medical school dreams, she will have to either earn back Bishop's trust or organize her own dance crew and start over from scratch. In the end, she eventually learns "how she move".

Cast

as Rayana 'Raya' Green *

as Bishop *

as Garvey * Romina D'Ugo as Selia * Kevin Duhaney as E.C. *

Shawn Desman Shawn Bosco Fernandes (born January 12, 1982), better known by his stage name Shawn Desman, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, dancer, and television personality. He was signed to Universal Music Canada. He is known for his energetic stage presenc ...

as Trey *

Nina Dobrev Nikolina Kamenova Dobreva ( bg, Николина Каменова Добрева, ; born January 9, 1989), credited professionally as Nina Dobrev ( ), is a Canadian actress. She is best known for portraying Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce on ...

as Tall Girl In The Bathroom * Brennan Gademans as 'Quake' *

Merwin Mondesir Merwin Mondesir (born February 21, 1976) is a Canadian actor. He is of Saint Lucian descent. He resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Selected filmography Film * 1997 '' Critical Care'' as Head Injury * 2000 '' Steal This Movie!'' as Private Ken ...

as Niko Niles *

Tré Armstrong Tré Armstrong (born August 17, 1978) is a Canadian actress, choreographer and dancer. Early life and education Her early dance schooling at age five in ballet, tap and jazz dance techniques is what has shaped her into who she is today. Car ...

as Michelle * Jason Harrow as Himself * Jai Jai Jones as Lester Johnson * Tristan D. Lalla as Manny 'Big Man Manny' * Daniel Morrison as Wayne *

Keyshia Cole Keyshia Myeshia Cole Johnson; born October 15, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Born and raised in Oakland, California, Cole began her career as a backing vocalist for MC Hammer. After signing with A&M Records ...

as Herself *

DeRay Davis Antoine DeRay Davis (born February 26, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian and actor.Todd Davis (February 2, 2008)Steph Jones: Heart & Soul ''HHNLive''. Accessed July 18, 2008. Life and career Davis was born in Chicago, Illinois. He began ...

as Himself *

Melanie Nicholls-King Melanie Nicholls-King is a Canadian actress, perhaps best known for playing Cheryl in the drama series ''The Wire'', and for her portrayal of Officer Noelle Williams in the drama series ''Rookie Blue''. Personal life Nicholls-King is from Toron ...

as Faye Green, Raya's Mom

Production and release

''How She Move'' was originally slated to open in Canada in March 2007, but when it picked up a distribution deal from American companies

and

(both owned by

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...

) at the

2007 Sundance Film Festival The 2007 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18 until January 28, 2007, in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It was the 23-rd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. The opening night film was '' Chica ...

, the release date was pushed back to allow for reshooting several of the dance sequences, particularly the finale. The film was shot on Super 16mm for $5 million, and Paramount invested another $2 million in the new sequences, re-editing and new sound mix. They created a new soundtrack with American and Canadian hip-hop artists. The film was originally set and shot in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, however; Paramount edited out references of the team travelling from Toronto to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

for the dance competition following test audience screenings. They, along with MTV, spent another $10 million in promotion and distribution to 1500 theatres in the United States and 50 in Canada.

Critical reception

''How She Move'' delivered mainly positive critical response. On its

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

listing, 67% of critics gave it positive response, based on 73 reviews. The critical consensus for the film was "energetic and gritty, despite a formulaic plot".

Home video release

Having been released in U.S. theaters on January 25, 2008, the film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

on April 29. The film was also released in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n cinemas on April 10, 2008, and will be available on DVD on September 4.

Streaming

On dec 2019 the film was released online on the

Canada Media Fund The Canada Media Fund (CMF, french: Fonds des médias du Canada - FMC) is a public-private partnership founded on April 1, 2010 by the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canadian cable industry. It is used to fund the creation of original ...

’s Encore+ YouTube channel.

Soundtrack

According to the film's MySpace page, the official track listing is as follows: # "

G-Slide (Tour Bus) "G-Slide (Tour Bus)" is a song by American rapper Lil Mama from her debut studio album '' VYP (Voice of the Young People)'' (2008). It was released exclusively in New Zealand as the second single from the album on September 25, 2007, by Jive Rec ...

" –

Lil Mama Niatia Jessica Kirkland (born October 4, 1989), better known by her stage name Lil Mama, is an American rapper, singer, actress and television presenter from Brooklyn, New York and Harlem, New York. She experienced top 10 ''Billboard'' placeme ...

feat. Kadar # "Out Here" – Mayhem Morearty # "My Boots" –

Montell Jordan Montell Du'Sean Barnett Jordan (born December 3, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Best known for his 1995 single "This Is How We Do It", Jordan was the primary male solo artist on Def Jam's Def Soul imprint until le ...

# "Perfect" – Carl Henry # "Jane & Finchin'" –

Smugglaz FlipTop Rap Battle League (Fliptop for short) is the first and largest running professional rap battle conference in the Philippines founded by Alaric Riam Yuson (known as Anygma) in 2010. The league promotes Pinoy hip hop. FlipTop is heavily i ...

# "It Don't Make Any Difference To Me" (acoustic version) –

Kevin Michael Kevin Michael (born Kevin Michael Seward, October 22, 1985, in Chester, Pennsylvania) is an American pop artist that was signed to Downtown Records in 2007, the same year he released his self-titled debut album. Early life Born in Chester, Pen ...

feat. Akil Dasan # "Hot Hot Hot" – Montell Jordan # "Reflectionz" – Fenom # "Ms. Golly" – Lenn Hammond # "Rude Girl Remix" – Montell Jordan # "Monster" –

Saukrates Karl Amani Wailoo (born March 6, 1978), better known by his stage name Saukrates (; "Socrates"), is a Canadian rapper, singer, and record producer. He is the co-founder of Capitol Hill Music, and lead singer of the hip-hop/ R&B group Big Black L ...

# "Work That Stick" – Montell Jordan # "Still Burnin'" – Fenom # "Don't Let It Slip Away" –

Mood Ruff Mood Ruff was a Canadian hip-hop group formed in 1994 in Winnipeg. The group consisted of Odario, Spitz, Breakz, and ICQRI. Their final album ''I Do My Own Stunts'', which was released in 2005, contained their first hit, "Rocketship". History Moo ...

# "Tempo" – K Smith # "Touch it" – Busta

References

External links

* * * * * {{MTV Films 2000s teen drama films 2007 films American coming-of-age drama films American teen drama films Canadian coming-of-age drama films 2000s English-language films English-language Canadian films Films scored by Andrew Lockington Films set in Toronto Films shot in Toronto MTV Films films Paramount Vantage films American dance films Canadian dance films 2000s dance films 2007 drama films Films shot in 16 mm film 2000s American films 2000s Canadian films