Born to Dance

Born to Dance is a 2015 New Zealand feature film. It was written by Steve Barr, Hone Kouka and Casey Whelan and is the feature film direction debut by Tammy Davis, best known for his role as Munter in Outrageous Fortune. The film was released on 24 September 2015 in New Zealand. Born to Dance was choreographed by Parris Goebel. Plot A coming of age tale told through the eyes of Tu, a young Maori man from South Auckland who dreams of being a professional hip-hop dancer. His father, a military man, dislikes his lack of direction and threatens him with army enlistment in six weeks. Tu conceals his dancing from his father. He dances with a local crew 2PK, but also hides from them his personal ambition to win the national championships. Tu’s dancing appears in a YouTube video of smooth moves that goes viral, and is noticed by the country’s reigning hip-hop stars, K-Crew. Kane (Jordan Vaha’akolo) the ruthless troupe leader, invites Tu to audition. Tu trains with K-Crew along with other hopefuls over several nights, and ultimately none of them are selected - instead, Kane steals Tu's best moves. It is revealed that the auditions are a sham, designed to bring K-Crew new dance material, which they rip off and use every year. Tu befriend's Kane’s girlfriend, American dancer Sasha (Kherington Payne), but Kane's jealousy halts their relationship. Her affluent North Shore lifestyle clashes with his own. Tu admits to his father his love of dance, and received his blessing. He returns to 2PK and trains relentlessly for the national championships along with the K-Crew rejects. The film's finale is the dance-off for places in the finals, and Tu cleverly forms a new crew called Freaks, literally during the competition itself, by pretending that 2PK members are from different crews - they battle and suddenly synchronise. Freaks battle K-Crew in the final and win the competition. Tu and Sasha kiss.