A film about love, hope and achieving the impossible, Musical Chairs surprises everyone with the story about unlikely lovers who come together in a wheelchair dancing competition.
Musical Chairs, the movie about wheelchair dancing, is actually a story of star-crossed lovers.
Armando Ortiz is a dance instructor from the Bronx. He teaches ballroom dance, but he’s also not afraid to shake his hips. Always moving, Armando — played by E.J. Bonilla of Crazy Beats Strong Every Time and The Ron Clark Story — is ready to bump hips with anyone he meets, especially beautiful students from the rich side of town.
Hot, hot, hot…!
When uptown girl, Mia — played by Leah Pipes of Odd Girl Out and Her Best Move — comes to Armando to take ballroom dancing lessons, the two spark an intimate relationship. They dance, they sweat and they fall in love.
But when Mia gets in an accident that leaves her paralyzed from the waist down, her ability to dance seem permanently lost. With her spirit crushed, she doesn’t know where to turn.
Armando convinces her to consider training for a ballroom dance competition, one where she can compete in her wheelchair. At first, she is shocked and embarrassed by the idea, but over time, she comes to realize her Latin lover believes in her more than anyone else.
Considering dance movies are on the rise — with the new Footloose, the remake of Fame and Dancing With the Stars reaching a wider audience — this comes at the perfect time. If you didn’t think it was possible to show your soul while confined to a wheelchair, you’ve go to see this. Armando and Mia fight for their right to live passionately even though they come from two different sides of the tracks.
The film co-stars Nelson Landrieu and Laverne Cox. Musical Chairs releases March 23 in New York and Southern Florida and March 30 in Los Angeles and Chicago.
Photo credit: John Clifford
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