Dance With Me
Escapism from Houston
Dance has local angles but an unimaginative story
By Skylaire Alfvegren - Houston Press: Published: August 20, 1998
When successful romance authors pick the settings for their sappy, melodramatic novels, they know better than to conjure scenes of windswept lust in a fish-packing plant or the cubicle of an accountant's office.
According to the rules, after all, love only comes to those who dwell within lush and dreamy-eyed surroundings. Like the stables of thoroughbred racing horses, the telephone repairman's van, or an imperiled -- romantically imperiled, that is -- business in need of that special someone to breathe new life into the bosom of its proprietress. Dance with Me opts for formula number three.
Rafael Infante (Latin megastar Chayanne) leaves his native Cuba for Houston, where the American ex-boyfriend of his recently deceased mother has a job waiting for him at his dance studio. (Though it may be set in Houston, don't expect any familiar sights. A pan of downtown as Rafael's Greyhound pulls into the station and a few sunset-framed skyscrapers are all you'll get.) There Rafael is mesmerized by Ruby (Vanessa Williams), an African-American dancer known for her mambo. She has vowed to return to competition after six years of raising her young son.
But America is tougher than Rafael expected. The studio's owner, John Burnett (Kris Kristofferson), may have once romanced Rafael's mother, but he has no intention of making the Latin stranger feel at home. And Rafael soon finds that the beautiful Ruby has no desire for romance. As hard as he tries, Rafael can't seem to break through to either of them. Can he soften Ruby's icy heart? Can he win the love of the father he never had? Can he keep himself alive in the vast, calculating urban wilds of Texas?
Chayanne, in real life, is more Madonna than Banderas, enjoying dual careers as a platinum pop star and soap-opera heartthrob in Latin America. There is mucho chemistry between him and Williams. Chayanne's electrifying smile will certainly find a place with American audiences, and there's no way around the natural gorgeousness of Williams -- or her dancer's legs that go on forever. Except perhaps on the cover of a Harlequin romance, two more photogenic people are not to be found.
But Dance with Me is equal parts Harlequin romance and PR for the Latino immigrant community adapted to the big screen. The eternally optimistic Cubano brings nothing but love, zest and warmth to the cold-hearted, self-absorbed Americans. They're all hard-working, friendly and determined. They're sucking the very marrow from life! Americans need to appreciate Latins, as good people, as good for the country, and as a revitalizing force! A nice thing to see in a big studio production, even if the concept is given shallow and hackneyed treatment.
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