Stomp the Yard

Right now you can watch Stomp the Yard in Australia on Netflix, and in the US on Starz Apple TV Channel — and it holds up to as much attention as you give it. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. 542 people have weighed in on TMDB, and the verdict leans heavily positive. Watch it for Columbus Short — one of the stronger performances out there right now. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Netflix.

Stomp the Yard is not trying to be everything to everyone, and that focus is exactly what makes it work. Stomp the Yard trusts its audience to sit with discomfort instead of resolving it too quickly. After the death of his younger brother, a troubled 19-year-old street dancer from Los Angeles is able to bypass juvenile hall by enrolling in the historically black, Truth University in Atlanta, Georgia. But his efforts to get an education and woo the girl he likes are sidelined when he is courted by the top two campus fraternities, both of which want and need his fierce street-style dance moves to win the highly coveted national step show competition. Columbus Short and Meagan Good lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 2007. The performances in Stomp the Yard do a lot of work in the silences between the dialogue. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

For anyone looking for storytelling that takes its characters seriously, Stomp the Yard delivers. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. The complete film is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Columbus Short carries the material with a performance that rewards close attention. Worth starting sooner rather than later.