Madonna's former dancers Strike a Pose

STRIKE A POSE - Documentary - 2016

(photo by Linda Posnick)

Strike a Pose;top row: Salim Gauwloos, Oliver Crumes III, Carlton Wilborn, Kevin Stea 

bottom row: Luis Camacho, Jose Gutierez

In a continuation on my reviews of films that were screened at Hot Docs 2016 in Toronto this festival May 2016,  on the last weekend of the festival I attended the screening of Strike at Pose at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema.  I heard I missed the screening that had all the men from the film at the screening but the screening I attended was just as popular and full.  I had to sit in the stiff neck section at the front of the theatre even.

The documentary was directed by Ester Gould and  Reijer Zwaan.

The subjects of the film were Madonna's former dancers from her Blonde Ambition tour and were seen in her controversial documentary TRUTH OR DARE.

The directors take a look at what has happened to these acclaimed dancers since the Blonde Ambition tour ended.

The film is a combination of laughs, sadness, irony, tragedy and triumph with all of these characters and I mean characters with big personalities and insane life stories.

Sadly Madonna doesn't appear in the film but is seen through clips from the Blonde Ambition tour and the Truth or Dare movie.  After the tour was over they all went their separate ways even though during the tour they became like a family with Madonna being the Matriarch.

The Truth or Dare documentary was Madonna's plan to push buttons and boundaries and the world and question everything that is thought of as the norm.  But there are always consequences to these actions and Madonna's challenge to her dancers to kiss turned into a legal battle following the outing of the dancers on film.  It's one thing for you to choose to come out in a public forum but another to be pushed out by a dare.

Strike a Pose tells each dancers story from the tour until current day.  I would say that all of the dancers have had various major life struggles since riding high on the tour.  Nothing lasts forever as they say.

The dancers hadn't kept in touch even though they loved each other but it took these documentary filmmakers to bring them together many years and many lives later.

This film will make you laugh and make you think and make you feel for these individuals that never attained the superstardom that Madonna did.

Although I am not big on giving films star ratings... I would give this one a SuperStar!!

Go see it if you get the chance..  It's a fun look at where we have come from.

for more info on the film go to their website:  http://ctm.nl/