My review was written in August 1991, after watching the movie on Cinemax in Boca Raton, Florida.
This okay youth-oriented musical was made by the same team that did "Dance Academy" with Julie Newmar. MGM pickup was briefly released in Philadelphia in late 1989.
Notable for choreography by Paula Abdul, "Dance to Win" is one of a half-dozen low-budgeters MGM acquired to fill its slate when the studio was stalled between owners in 1989.
Familiar format has warring dance groups competing for a $100,000 prize for their Los Angeles dance school. Good guys are nominally the street gang led by Carlos Gomez, who have been court-ordered to paint the facade of mean Adrian Paul's dance academy after being caught applying graffiti. Their in-fighting and romantic travails involving pretty dancers like Christina Aaack are as corny as the pic's anti-drug message.
Dance numbers shine, however, including a music video starring singer Sally Stewart.
Gomez, Haack and Stewart all bear potential, and Daniel Quinn effectively provides comic relief . Film is squeaky clean but earned an R rating for an outburst of foul language in the final reel.
