Step Up Family Review

Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with an up and coming dancer, Nora.In Baltimore, the troublemaker and street dancer Tyler Gage lives with his foster parents in a lower class neighborhood. His best friends are Mac Carter and his little brother Skinny Carter and they used to hang around together, going to parties and stealing cars. After being expelled from a party, the trio breaks in the Maryland School of Arts and commits vandalism, destroying the stage. Tyler is arrested and sentenced to 200 hours of community service in the school and Director Gordon assigns him to help the janitor cleaning the place. One afternoon, the ballet dancer Nora Clark sees Tyler dancing in the parking area and when her partner Andrew has a strain and Tyler offers to help her in the choreography, she accepts the offer; they rehearsal and become close to each other while Tyler becomes friend of the students Miles Darby and Lucy Avila. When Andrew returns, Tyler that is known for quitting everything he starts gives up dancing and leaves Nora alone. After an incident, Tyler has to decide to follow his dream or return to his life of rebel loser.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilLate teen Tyler Gage is a directionless young man, despite the care provided by his loving foster family. With his best friend Marcus "Mac" Carter and Mac's younger brother "Skinny" Carter, Tyler spends his time stealing cars, playing pick-up games of basketball, and attending house parties where hip-hop is king. After he is caught and convicted of vandalism, Tyler is sentenced to community service at the scene of the crime: the Maryland School of the Arts. Tyler feels out of his element among most of the students at the school. But after her dance partner Andrew suffers an injury, classically trained dance student Nora Clark, who is preparing for her potentially career starting senior showcase, asks Tyler, who she spied doing an impromptu hip-hop dance out on the street, to replace Andrew in her showcase for rehearsal purposes only until Andrew recovers, despite Tyler not being a trained dancer. Getting the reluctant OK from the school's director, Miss Gordon, Tyler agrees. This partnership begins Tyler's association with the artistic side of the school and the students. Although their partnership has its many bumps, Nora helps Tyler see his life in a different way, while Tyler makes Nora examine how she sees her craft. Their professional partnership and burgeoning personal relationship is threatened by Nora's self-centered boyfriend, Brett Dolan, and Nora's commitment to Andrew as a dance partner. Tyler also feels like he's being pulled in two directions, especially as Mac sees him leaving his old friends behind him. An incident concerning Skinny makes both Tyler and Mac examine in which direction their lives should lead.—HuggoEveryone deserves a chance to follow their dreams, but some people only get one shot. Tyler Gage is a rebel from the wrong side of Baltimore¹s tracks ­ and the only thing that stands between him and an unfulfilled life are his dreams of one day making it out of there. Nora is a privileged ballet dancer attending Baltimore¹s ultra-elite Maryland School of the Arts -- and the only thing standing in the way of her obviously brilliant future is finding a great dance partner for her senior showcase. When trouble with the law lands Tyler with a community service gig at Maryland School of the Arts, he arrives as an angry outsider, until his skills as a gifted street dancer draw Nora¹s attention. Now, as sparks fly between them, both on and off stage, Tyler realizes he has just one performance to prove that he can step up to a life far larger than he ever imagined.—Anonymous