What do I want out of life?  What do I want out of love?  These are fundamental questions of human existence, the answers to which will often differ from person to person…and even differ FOR a person as age and life circumstances change.

“The Dance” is a new LDS film that looks at these two questions through the eyes of six main characters—three men and three women, conveniently organized into three ‘couples’—all in different stages of their lives and pondering those same questions for themselves.

We have the young couple, just starting into the ‘adult’ phase of their lives and trying to figure out exactly what that means.  We have the older couple who have been married for several decades and are beginning to wonder if their relationship still has that ‘spark’ after all those years.  And we have a thirty-something man and woman—never married and divorced, respectively--who originally had held hopes that their romantic relationships would transition smoothly from the young love of the first couple into the long-lasting mature love of the second, but wound up taking an unplanned detour somewhere along the way. 

If you didn’t happen to know that “The Dance” is based on a play (written by Carol Lynn Pearson), it won’t take you long to figure it out.  As with “The Best Two Years”—the best comparison among existing LDS films--“The Dance” features colorful, interesting characters who talk constantly to and about one another with razor-sharp dialogue, and very little ‘action’.  You’ll recognize immediately that all the characters talk in ‘play-speak’, featuring broader than usual characterizations and rapid-fire witty observations, with a slight bit of over-acting.  All of this is par for the course in stage plays—and movie adaptations--and the writing is good enough that we ignore the lack of ‘realism’ and just go with it.

LDS movie viewers will recognize a cast of LDS regulars from “The Book of Mormon Movie”, “The Best Two Years”, and “Mobsters and Mormons” among others.  The acting stands well above the level most other LDS films attain, bringing to mind the axiom that actors rise to the occasion when given good material, and will usually produce their best work.

In addition, “The Dance” discusses some of the benefits and challenges of being LDS from a variety of perspectives, especially in terms of forming and maintaining relationships.  Some of the key questions brought up by the film:

• What happens to those single/divorced members of a Church fundamentally built around married, stable families?
• What are the challenges of couples who marry young, and whose ‘honeymoon’ period ends very quickly?
• How do you keep a relationship alive and growing when you’re so busy you rarely have time to talk…and even if you did, you’ve already lived with each other for decades and don’t have that much to talk about anyway?

Although the LDS-ness of “The Dance” is never a secret, the analysis of life and love is done in a general enough way that it can easily apply to non-LDS relationships as well.  The writing is remarkably efficient in creating well-formed characters who can discuss their primary ‘problems’ with life and love in a short period of time.  As one who complains regularly about writing quality in Church films, it’s always welcome to find a film that knows how to create memorable characters and fill their mouths with meaningful words (even in slightly exaggerated ‘play-speak’).

Sounds pretty good so far, you’re probably thinking.  Why the B+, then?

Well, I have to confess that while “The Dance” is well-written and acted, it is also fundamentally…unsatisfying.   The film as constituted feels like all ‘setup’ and no ‘closure’—like we’re only seeing Act I of a three act play.  We get the ‘introduction’ to each of the six characters and their romantic concerns, and each one gets to talk briefly about those concerns with their companion for the evening…and then the movie ends.  And we’re left essentially with one big cliffhanger, where some sort of resolution seems tantalizingly close in the following acts…which, of course, never arrive.

Granted, it is to the film’s credit that it has created characters where we CARE about what happens next (many films fail miserably at this).  And it’s still impressive how efficient each of the three stories end up being in the short time they are given in terms of characterization and dialogue.

And yet, when the credits roll we’re still waiting for the second half of the movie to start.  Isn’t that fundamentally a flaw?

Even “The Best Two Years”—also based on a play--was able to combine the same sort of strong characters and sharp dialogue with a fulfilling plot progression and an appropriate conclusion.  In comparison, “The Dance” just feels incomplete.

Still, “The Dance” belongs on the short list of LDS films to check out.  It is certainly worth seeing—especially for couples--and I suppose we’ll just have to wait until the sequel comes out to get the rest of the story… 

Final Grade: B+