ALIVE AND KICKING
A lively dance documentary best enjoyed at home by discerning adults.
Should You Watch It?
ALIVE AND KICKING offers an energetic glimpse into swing dancing and the people who build their lives around it. The personal stories include hardship as well as triumph, and several dancers describe finding renewed hope and motivation through dance. The performances, especially the fast footwork, aerials, creative interpretations, and colorful costumes of the Lindy Hop, bring much of the film’s energy.
But the documentary is not suitable for a family movie night. It includes foul language, brief female and male nudity, suggestive dancing, and a Romantic viewpoint. The film’s positive emphasis on community and perseverance may encourage some viewers, but the content requires a level of discernment better managed at home.
If you are an adult willing to navigate those concerns, stream it at home rather than taking the family to it.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESThis documentary introduces the world of swing dance through performances and personal stories from several prominent dancers, including “The Queen of Swing,” Norma Miller. It explores the movement’s development, its Harlem roots in the African-American community, and the ways dancing shapes the participants’ hope, work, relationships, and sense of community.
The Lindy Hop receives the most attention, while a brief section considers Blues dancing.
Is It Any Good?
Two stars means ALIVE AND KICKING has appealing energy but limited overall strength. The documentary effectively intersperses personal stories with dance performances, creating a natural ebb and flow between tragedy and triumph. The dancing itself is entertaining, especially the Lindy Hop’s fast footwork, aerials, creative interpretations, and colorful costumes.
The film is also heartfelt and energetic, but its uneven personal stories and occasional “spicy” language keep it from rising higher.
The Worldview
ALIVE AND KICKING presents a generally positive moral worldview. It celebrates swing dance as a way to build community, create harmony, overcome personal challenges, and push back against technology-enhanced isolation. The film values hope, perseverance, passion, and human connection.
At the same time, it includes a nod toward a Romantic viewpoint. The documentary also traces swing dance to Harlem’s African-American community, notes concern about the movement’s diminished presence there and low African-American participation, and treats its reference to Christians or “religious types” as inclusionary rather than labeling.
The film’s central longing is for meaningful community and renewed life amid hardship. Scripture calls believers to encourage one another and build one another up: “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Light moral worldview with a nod toward a Romantic viewpoint that extols the virtues of swing dance to build community and create harmony in a world shifting toward technology-enhanced isolation, plus a homosexual banner depicts two men kissing; several obscenities and profanities include the “f” word; no violence; brief image of subway banner depicting two men kissing and occasional suggestive dancing styles; brief image of upper female nudity and brief upper male nudity; brief reference to drinking alcohol; no smoking or drug use; and, and suggestive or somewhat revealing dance costumes.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The dancers describe swing dancing as a source of hope and motivation. Where do you turn for hope when life is difficult, and how can a community encourage you?
Romans 12:12 · 1 Thessalonians 5:11The documentary celebrates dance as a way to create community. What makes a community healthy, welcoming, and focused on what is good?
Romans 12:9–13 · Philippians 2:3–4The film includes suggestive dancing and other content that requires discernment. How should Christians decide whether entertainment is beneficial for them?
1 Corinthians 6:12 · 10:23–24The documentary connects swing dancing with its African-American roots in Harlem. How can remembering a community’s history shape the way we value its contributions today?
Philippians 2:4 · Romans 12:10The Final Word
ALIVE AND KICKING is lively and heartfelt, with engaging dance performances and stories of hope. Its foul language, brief nudity, suggestive dancing, and Romantic elements make it unsuitable for children and young teens. Watch it at home, if at all: WAIT FOR HOME — ADULTS ONLY. For family viewing, see.
