Ha-Chan Shake Your Booty Dances Through Grief and Into Our Hearts

Dancing With The Stars is one of my favorite shows to watch.  Watching the art of ballroom dance is so beautiful to behold with professionals hitting the floor weekly with routines rivaled by the most skilled dancer. Ballroom has the innate ability to turn emotions into a beautiful experience through the art of dance.  Dance can transform, heal and help you reimagine life as you know it.  But, what happens when grief paralyzes and transforms your personality into somehow you barely recognize?

Haru  (Rinko Kikuchi) and Luis  (Alejandro Edda) love competing in Tokyo’s ballroom dance scene, but after tragedy strikes, Haru withdraws into isolation. When friends coax her back to the studio, she develops an infatuation with the new instructor Fedir (Alberto Guerra) and sparks fly.

At first, the film begins to give vibes of a very quirky version of “Silver Linings Playbook,” but takes a dark turn very rapidly.

Director Josef Kubota Wladyka’s effervescent depiction of a woman dancing through her grief turns out to be a heartwarming journey through grief and fun.

Artists use brushes to paint on the canvas. With this film, it’s a dance floor and canvas of visually bold, whimsical  palates  grounded in emotional truth with vivid colors, vibrant music, and zesty characters.

Kikuchi brings profound sensitivity and endearing charm to Haru, while balancing weight of a mourning widow with the spark of newfound desire. The Tango between her and Guerra is brilliant, full of fire and gorgeously, invigoratingly choreographed. Guerra is perfection as the sexy, Latin

My favorite moment of the whole film is when Haru takes Fedir to see an Asian version of  “Dirty Dancing,” which quickly turns into a fantasy dance for our two leads.  It’s hysterical, nostalgic and leans into one of the many ways we are inside how vivd Haru’s imagination can stretch.

While the film is anchored by processing grief, Haru’s journey bursts with so much messy life that it serves as a joyous reminder of the beauty of living, and loving full and out loud.

Ha-Chan Shake Your Booty teaches us all that grief is only a sum of the parts you lead it with.  You can disappear into a shell of who you use to be or you can use this moment to explore the many exclamation marks in life you have yet to explore.