La danseuse étoile de Noël

Good film with a cultural twist that doesn't seem forced or have just a token diverse character thrown in. The story was interesting and included actors not seen in many other Hallmark movies, More movies like this please!

Hallmark has done it again with another clean, feel-good movie. Some of you may recognize one of the female leads as Salt from Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. In real life, the actress is half-Lebanese and half-Caucasian.

Sugar Plum Twist touches on the subject of opening up the world of ballet (and the arts in general) to performers of all racial backgrounds, and experimenting in mixture classic European music and dance with Latin salsa and modern genres. But the movie doesn't shove racial politics down your throat. It's enjoyable for viewers of all racial backgrounds.

The only big complaint I have is that, deep in the movie, I don't really get why the protagonist gets angry at her love interest for speaking up in her defense. Her reaction was uncalled for. Instead of thanking him for supporting her, she takes her frustrations out on him. That's not a good way to treat your friends, let alone your future spouse. If he had said nothing, another screenwriter would have made her berate him for not having her back.

I did not know what to expect going into this one and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it is more than just another take on the 'The Nutcracker' ballet. The Puerto Rican culture along with the mixing of ballet with salsa dancing is lovely to watch on screen. Moreover, 'Sugar Plum Twist' brings together a cast of fresh faces with performances that were entertaining and engaging. The story also had some noble underlining messages around cultural diversity, which were nice to see. The movie follows Natalia (played by Jamie Gray Hyder), a professional ballerina who has returned home to Richmond after an injury ended her career as a dancer. She now works as an assistant choreographer at the local ballet company, a studio she holds fond memories of growing up, hoping one day to become its resident choreographer. During an audition for the annual performance of the 'The Nutcracker' for the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Natalia meets Viviana (played by Laura Rosguer), one of the Richmond residents who auditioned for the part. Vivi's family owns a local dance studio where she teaches Salsa, but she has always dreamed of becoming a ballerina (Natalia being one of her heroes). Natalia is inspired by what she sees at Vivi's studio one evening, and so, they decide to work together to try to modernize the Christmas classic by adding a bit of a Latin twist. One of the elements I enjoyed about the movie is the dancing. Unlike some other Hallmark dance-based movies, the dancing in 'Sugar Plum Twist' is incorporated throughout the movie and is central to the storyline. Though the movie is sluggish at first, it picks up nicely as the story progresses with some strong dialogue, beautiful dancing, and a lot of holiday spirit and festive cheer. At one level, the story is a critique of ballet today; that is, ballet needs to change with the times (modernize). And in this story, modernizing is the mixing of (dance) cultures and traditions. At another level, the story is about the difficulties some dancers face in the ballet world or classic performing arts more broadly, and what it takes to overcome this. There is, of course, a romance story here, but it is secondary and serves mainly to supplement what I just mentioned. The acting, overall, is strong. Hyder and Rosguer both have solid performances. Rosguer has some dancing skills, which is a plus. They both have a couple of awkward acting movements but these were infrequent and did not take much away from their overall performance, I felt. The supporting cast is also very good, entertaining to watch on-screen. Though there is plenty of skill and energy in the final dance scene, which I enjoyed, there is not much ballet (and a lot of salsa) in the ballet and salsa sugar plum twist. Given that ballet is most popular in Russia - it's considered a 'state treasure' and is 'the dance of the Russian people' (rich and poor) - I would be curious to see how they felt about the mixing of ballet with salsa. Anyway, in addition to the dancing, there are plenty of Christmassy scenes that instill a bit of festive cheer. The (Puerto Rican) baked goodies at Vivi's parent's house looked delicious. All in all, if you enjoy (watching) dancing and are a fan of Hallmark Christmas movies, look no further, this one is for you.

I enjoyed this Latin twist on the boring Balanchine nutcracker...don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Tchaikovsky and disagree with those classical snobs who think his work is too Plebeian! (Check out his piano concertos...they are amazing.)

I love Latin dancing and I enjoyed its incorporation in a Hallmark holiday film.

The acting was great, the music good...I think they could have used a bigger budget for the costumes...but otherwise was happy.

I watched this movie and when I heard Richmond, I was hoping they were talking about Richmond VA. Nothing I saw in the movie or heard in the movie told me it was Richmond, VA. The only thing that came close was when they said the dance studio was on Grace St. There is a Grace St. In Richmond and they do have store fronts that could house a dance studio like this one. Also, there is a ballet company in Richmond that presents the Nutcracker each year. But neither of these look anything like what is in the movie.

This was just another love story. And Hallmark is advertising they have a radio station now. Whoppee, opportunity to hear more or their cheesy music. The karaoke scene showed that a good singer can even make a bad song sound better.

Now that I have panned this movie, the good part was the diversity of this film. I loved the latin music and dancing. That is the reason I gave it 8 stars.