The Lead Sparknotes

The Lead is based on a true story, Antonio Banderas portrays Pierre DuLaine, a New York City dance instructor who gets the concept of teaching the beauty of ballroom dancing to a group of detention students in a troublesome inner-city Manhattan high school. Pierre Dulaine rides the streets dressed immaculate on his bicycle. One day, he observes a student named Rock (Rob Brown) striking a car with a golf club. Rock has his logics, but rather than calling the cops, Mr. Dulaine voluntarily takes leadership to help. Dulaine comes into the school the next day and communicate to the principal (Alfre Woodard) that he wants to interpret ballroom dancing to the detention class. The principal is a rationalist who walks the hallways forcing students to
Sasha (Jenna Dewan) is the romantic ambition of both Ramos (Dante Basco) and Danjou (Elijah Kelley) on and off the dance floor. There is also the friendship between the very big, unskillful Monster (Brandon T. Andrews) and the very small, declared ugly duckling Caitlin (Lauren Collins), who practices for her upcoming cotillion with Pierre’s inner city detention group because she feels more comfortable with them than she does with those on the Upper East Side. The movie presents an impartial view of leadership because all of the kids got treated fairly by Mr. DuLaine. I particularly liked the line: “Do you like to dance? Yes… Then you were made to dance.” which Caitlin shares with the large and shy “Monster.” It shows that there are no losers and that we can do whatever we puts our minds to. Of course, everyone thinks Mr. DuLaine is foolish—along with the instructors at his high-class dance studio and the high school principal, Mrs. James (Alfre Woodard). However, with his persistence, he slowly wins the kids’ trust, and captivates them on the magic of the tango and waltz. Pierre assures these kids, their teachers, and maybe the audience that the stature of ballroom dancing can co-exist in the same world other dance moves. As a group, the kids agree