Did it occur to any of you that perhaps he was afraid he'd have an erection if he partnered with her? The excuse that she was taller than he seems weak. At that age, many if not most girls are taller than the boys. There had to be something more to it, don't you think?
shareI think I picked up in the discussion between the girls when they were worried about the team being "toast" if thier problems weren't worked out. Kelvin didn't want to dance with her either. They said that Angie was having problems, that she was lazy? I thought that the chemistry between Angie and Kelvin was amazing! Watch the DVD with the subtiles in English on. She was taller than the other girls but I agree there must have been something more going on. Her name is Karina but she and her partner could really do the swing!
They referred to gossip about Wilson but he and his partner were awesome. The guys said he was "gay" or something. I think there was jealousy there. The girls all loved him. I know that these are children but kids have the crushes and drama at that age.Women LOVE a guy that can dance! Most ballroom dancers are not gay! I know that women think how a man dances is a clue to how he makes love. Some people have "it" from birth and often don't have a clue as children.
I understood that it was a racial problem; Jonathan simply refused physically to touch a girl of her race.
I think you can forget the erection idea - boys in that age group don't have that problem. Yet.
The Wilson problem was indeed that Jonathan said he was gay (for whatever reason - boys this age do not need a reason), and the teacher required him to apologise publically to Wilson. I think Wilson found that more embarrassing than Jonathan.
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"dogmatrix must be a girl"
No, I'm not. And it's Dogmatix without an 'r'. Dogmatix is actually the English name of a famous French cartoon character (his French name is Idéfix).
And whilst most boys of that age group do indeed not like girls, in this particular case, there was more to it, and it was, as I wrote, a race problem.
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Where did it say in the movie that it was a race issue? I didn't get that at all, and I've watched the movie several times.
shareI think that everything everybody said here had nothing to do with what was actually going on. As pathetic as it may seem, i've seen the movie about 20 times, half of those times with english subtitles on. Mrs Reynoso (the teacher) was telling Kelvin to dance with Karina so that she could get her practice for the day. She's tall, but not so tall that he'd actually have a big problem with it or anything. The teacher pointed out that he'd dance with any girl EXCEPT for Karina. I don't think it had anything to do with race either. They're all different races and I don't think it would be a big deal. I think either he liked Karina...and would just get embarassed about dancing with her because maybe his buddies would make fun, or he didn't like her at all. That's my best guess.
shareI also agree that it wasn't a racial issue. In one of the earlier scenes Jonathan was dancing with a cute little black girl with glasses and he didn't seem to be having any problems with her. We may probably never know. Maybe Jonathan was just too obstinate.
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It wasn't a race issue. THEY ARE ALL DOMINICAN!
-Fine!! In the meantime, shut your god-damn Daywalker mouth!!
i also think/feel that she´s "the very special girl" for him and it would be embarrassing for him to dance with her. and the whole situation, that he was forced to explain, was so embarrassing for him, i´m sure! (and the teacher was a bit (?) insensitive in that scene)
that scene is one of two severe (is that the right word?)in the film for me; the other is the one when john can´t find a partner. both are very touching and sad.
wave
m.
ALL LIFE IS EQUAL
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I understood that it was a racial problem; Jonathan simply refused physically to touch a girl of her race.
i totally agree....jonathan was the one that called wilson gay..but jonathan IS jealous...I LOVE WILSON!!!!!
shareI can't understand what was so important that he just quit?? I sure hope there is more to it than they showed in the film because they made it look like he just had a cob up his **** that day. Perhaps she had been unkind towards him?
shareYou all are absolutely cluess on the race thing...these kid are all latino/hispanic...98% of them dominican and puerto rican. And one of the boys happens to be my boyfriends nephew...whom is dominican. I am astonished at your ignorance.
shareI'm not sure from reading the thread exactly how people are showing cluelessness, and which folks you think are doing so. (I can't make any claims about what the troublesome issue is at that point in the movie; it wasn't clear to me, but maybe will be more so on a second viewing.) Of course many of the kids are from Latino countries like Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico; I think many of those kids do have some African heritage in their long-term family background (as in so many other countries). Am I wrong in thinking that? In any case, one can certainly be "Latino/Hispanic" (or whatever labels one wants to use--I'm not a fan of labels), and have some African (or any other ethnicity) heritage in the mix.
shareIs that what he said? That she was too tall for him? I missed exactly why he didn't want to dance with her and I figured it must have been terribly important to him that he risked being removed from rehearsal to avoid dancing with her. I thought she maybe had a hygiene problem or something. I missed the part where he said she was too tall for him.
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these people are all ignorant! ALL the students from Washington Heights were Dominican! Lord....
shareOh. My. Lanta. I am gobsmacked that y'all didn't pick up on what was going on . It was clear as day and didn't need to be explained nor will it be.
For all you folks who have watched it a gazillion times, take another look with your eyes wide open this time. Butterfl is on the money. I didn't see it in the theater but on DVD and when he had the altercation with the teacher to the point that he gets kicked off the team, I immediately thought, he's got an erection. So, I went back to right before he refuses to dance with her and my intuition was confirmed.
Notice what dance it is that they are doing. I can't remember what the name of it is now, its been quite a while since I watched it, but its that dance where they are dancing so close together they are kind of touching - but worse - they are wiggling back & forth, etc.
Since that girl WAS taller than the others, she was wiggling up against him higher on his body than the others were. And because he WAS taller than the other boys, he was probably ahead of them as far as beginning puberty earlier. Add to that the fact that the girl in question - take a look at the way she is dancing - she is REALLY wiggling. This poor kid got an erection and then got embarrassed about it and that stupid teacher didn't bother to use her head to think it through and figure it out...
He had been interested in the dancing and was good at it. He had come to all the practices. Now all the sudden he is going to quit the program because he refuses to dance with a girl who he had no problem dancing with before??
For those of you who said something about them being to young to be getting erections - please - they are *not* to young to get erections, 3 yr olds can get erections. That boy is on the cusp of puberty where he is going to be getting erections for no reason at all - they just happen all the time and the boys need very little if any stimulus for one to be provoked. It is a very embarrassing thing for them.
There is another part of the movie where he is dancing that same dance with another girl. The focus is on something else and he is just in the margins. But even then you can see him looking down after they break apart and looking uncomfortable. He appears to try to hold her away from his body as she is advancing closer in.
So, yes Butterfl, it certainly occurred to me. And it should have occurred to his teacher. I know it occurred to the filmmakers and I'm pretty certain that the teacher - upon viewing the completed movie - picked up on it too.. So, 14 replies to your post - all of them positing some OTHER reason than an erection for why he acted so out of character?? All of them grasping at straws to account for why he wouldn't dance with the girl, instead of - upon reading your post - smiling to themselves and thinking "So THAT's what it was... , makes more sense than anything I have been able to come up with.."