Strike a Pose (2016) Reviews

• an exhilaratingly heartwarming story

  richbw2016-06-11

  Having just watched the UK premiere at Sheffield Doc fest last night I have to say that this film is an heartwarming, intense, emotional and hugely satisfying journey going all the way back to Madonna's 1990 Blond Ambition tour to the present day documenting the seven backing dancers who worked with Madonna on her extremely popular worldwide tour. Be in no doubt this film does show bits and pieces of the 1990 tour (with Madonna's permission on music rights too) this film is not about Madonna but about her loyal and extremely talented dancers and the aftermath of the tour bringing us up to the present time dealing with their deeply personal issues that each dancer has gone through. Its an emotionally heartwarming film and one not to be missed, if you get the chance to watch it then don't hesitate- just go see it with your eyes open and you'll be rewarded.

  More

• Madonna's Dancers Are Forced to Grow Up

  gregorybmowery2017-05-07

  I'm actually shocked at the number of insensitive reviews of this excellent documentary about a group of talented, young dancers who got lucky enough to enter the surreal performing world of Madonna at the top of her stardom during her 1990 "Truth or Dare" tour, and what happened in ensuing twenty five years. Seven young, attractive and blazingly talented dancers were plucked out of an audition process by Madonna and her team to support of her TRUTH OR DARE tour. Six are gay and mostly closeted to the outside world and have significant ballet and dance training. The seventh performer both straight and fro the hip-hop world. For many months these kids performed with the most famous pop singer in the world with audiences for each concert ranging from 20 to 80 thousand fans. It was a heady experience where they concentrated on supporting their their star and with all their needs being taken care of by the backstage tour personnel. Everything was first class. In this heady time, the dancers wore designer clothing, were photographed everywhere with Madonna. A bit older than her charges, she became their big sister, tour mother, their shining star. She took care of them, loved them, coddled them. Arguably, the biggest star in the world at the time, Madonna was fearless in her pronouncements. At the height of the world-wide AIDS crisis, Madonna was outspoken in her support of friends who were dying, and in the process, insisted that those brave enough to come out were deserving of the world's respect and compassion. It was a naive assumption and it compelled her to out some of her dancers who were not emotionally ready to share that information. One of the dancers she publicly outed, died of AIDS. Once the tour was over, there was creeping reality that there lives would go back to being ordinary again, and some of the dancers sued her for breach of privacy. Hurt and angry, Madonna withdrew from them all completely. At least two more members of the group contracted HIV and had to learn how to cope with their fear. The straight hip-hop kid headed straight for Las Vegas after the tour where he attached himself to the club scene, and drowned himself in booze for a long time. There was only one really successful member and that was Kevin Alexander Stea (so much for those who have written none of them were a success after the tour), who worked with Michael Jackson, Gloria Estefan, Prince and Beyonce, among others. Carlton Wilburn, another dancer, has had success as an actor and writer. Here you have seven young dancers who got swept up in Madonna's orbit and then they were left to figure out the rest of their lives. Most of them were ill-equipped to make that transition. And that's both the inspiration and the heartbreak of this documentary. Madonna was generous in giving the filmmakers access to the music and images of the tour. But she is completely absent here and that's too bad. All the dancers professed to having no bitterness, or feelings that they're owed something from her and that's a good reality check. They were not exploited by having worked with her, except perhaps in her over-zealousness in outing some of them. All of them express a deep love, respect and gratefulness to Madonna for touching their lives. Too many here are critical of the tears shed in this film, and are very dismissive of this team's emotional ties and that's too bad. They were naive kids, barely out of their teens, and not at all sophisticated to the dangers of the world out there. They were beautiful, and because they were dancers had beautiful bodies and were admired for their looks as well as their talent. This period in their lives could not have been an easy one to traverse without some emotional fallout. I felt terrible for the man whose mother shares her disappointment that her son should have continued dancing with Madonna in order to buy her a house she always wanted. I'm surprised he's even speaking to her. How selfish. Her son is vulnerable and trying to carve out a life for himself. He admits to crippling self-doubt and it can't be easy to in the place he is now in--living in a room in his mother's apartment. Yes the final reunion dinner seems a tad stagy--how could it not be? Six guys--a brilliant team--were getting together who had not seen each other in years. Their joy at being in each other's company is palpable. They get to share war stories from their youth, and measure their own sense of self-worth at this stage. I was never a Madonna fan--I didn't dislike her--but her music didn't touch me and her outlandish PR machine seemed more silly. I also was put off by her failure to become a successful working actor, further distancing her from interesting me. But there is no question of her mark on the culture of her time. Some of the videos are still magical to watch. She was a massive star and it was virtually impossible to ignore her. For me, STRIKE A POSE, humanizes her in a way that was surprising. I hope her dancers from that tour stay in touch. They have a lot of emotional investment in each other. And they will always have the memories of that astonishing period in their lives to draw on.

  More

• For Fans Only

  mike_NY2017-04-28

  This doc is a bit lazy (it does not go into much detail on the cultural relevance of Madonna at her peak of 1989 - 1991) but will appeal to those of us who were in our teens to mid-20s at that time. From the BA tour to the release of TOD, Madonna was the center of the universe. Her PR at the time said she was giving the dancers an opportunity and it was up to them to exploit it after the tour. (This was never mentioned in the film but is my recollection.) Sadly, none have achieved what would be considered success in the material sense: most seem to live hand to mouth. If they had more maturity and some good guidance at the time, they may have developed careers of note - perhaps even judging DWTS and choreographing big names but mostly spiraled down and those that sued Madge? Well, let's just say she holds a grudge. This doc is a little sad, yet their impact at the time on some was significant. Ultimately, this will appeal more to those of us born in the 60s - mid-70s and does not have wide appeal. Yes, Madonna exploited them but in her world view she also gave them an opportunity.

  More

• The long and harsh way down

  clytamnestra2016-11-26

  Many documentaries try to depict a hart-warming story of success, this one is all about the harsh realities of failure. And not just the failure of someone-who-never-got-a-chance, but the failure of a group of people who used to have-it-all. The background: in 1990 Madonna takes on a bunch of starving young dancers, handpicked from the then thriving underground gay art community which was all about 'attitude'. They are featured prominently in her tour and in the corresponding documentary. This should be their ticket to stardom and riches, but it isn't, at least not for very long. A few short years later they are embroiled in lawsuits against Madonna, and struggling with debilitating drug- addictions. Is it their fault for being naive and letting Madonna build them up as 'sexy and arrogant' and burn all their bridges? Madonna's fault for exploiting them to make herself look young and edgy and underground? The movie doesn't take a clear stand and that's okay, the truth is probably in the middle anyway. The view the movie gives of their present life isn't pretty: moved back in with his mother (who openly blames him for letting it all slip through his fingers), tries to carve out an existence as a dance-teacher, the occasional 'i used to dance with Madonna' show for small uninterested audiences. They try to desperately hold onto their glimmer of fame when the rest of the world has long moved on. Bragging about all the 'you changed my life, made me okay with being gay' letters they supposedly still receive. A large part of the movie is a reunion dinner. The movies makes no attempt to hide that this is staged (they don't seem to like each other very much, they just play along with the 'family' idea when it might help their career). There is even a new truth or dare game in which they all play their designated part: a dude comes out of the closet with his HIV, the straight kid tells us how he used to despise gays and their diseases, they angle for a new endorsement from Madonna, etc.

  More

• They were a family, until they weren't

  Red-1252016-10-12

  Strike a Pose (2016) is a Dutch documentary that was directed by Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan. It tells the story of the six surviving members of the seven-man dance group that accompanied Madonna on her Truth or Dare tour. It's a truly sad film. These young, talented men reached great heights during the tour. They became famous in their own right. They were like a family, and Madonna, who was in her 30's at the time, was like their mother hen. When the tour ended, they learned that they weren't really a family. Some of the dancers complained that Madonna had outed them in the movie Truth or Dare (1991). The conflict ended in a lawsuit. One died of AIDS, and the others have struggled with HIV, alcohol, and drugs. None of them maintained the heights they had achieved during the tour. All of them are struggling. (Some more than others, but still struggling.) In retrospect, these talented men would have probably done better if they hadn't been chosen for the tour. No one would have believed it then, but we can see it now. I didn't enjoy this film. The men may have been great dancers, and they may have felt like a family, but they each went their own way, and that way was down. I had hoped the movie would have had more dancing, but there wasn't very much of that either. Not my kind of movie, but the film carries an high IMDb rating of 7.7, so obviously I'm in the minority. I think dancing works better on the large screen than it does on the small screen. However, this movie will work well on either, because there wasn't much dancing. We saw the film at Rochester's excellent Little Theatre, as part of ImageOut, the wonderful Rochester LGBT Film Festival.l

  More