Pierre Dulaine (Banderas) is a suave widower who takes classical ballroom classes for W.A.S.P. Manhattanites seeking to fill their pampered leisure time.

Across town, students doing detention at a run-down inner-city school view dance - the hip-hop variety - as an essential escape to the humdrum grind of making ends meet.

Their worlds collide when Pierre - resplendent atop a boneshaker with coat and tails flying - spots teen tearaway Rock (Brown) smashing up his school principal's car with a golf club.

Tracing him back to school, Pierre volunteers his services as a dance coach to a group of wrong 'uns in the basement - think a multi-racial Bash Street Kids getting the Strictly Ballroom treatment.

It's a real culture clash as the sashaying senor - smart-suited and bubbling over with latin courtesy - confronts a rag-tag mob unable to wear trousers properly and sporting trainers the size of a compact car.

Cowing them into obedience with Gershwin at full volume (they react like an elderly aunt hearing Slayer for the first time), Pierre slowly begins to win their trust.

Rock lost his brother in a vicious gang war and walked out on his drunken father. LaRhette (DaCosta) babysits her young siblings as her mother pulls tricks in the other room.

There's attitood aplenty in an unlikely gang of tango specialists including a street-smart ginge and a couple of hoofers who could well weigh more than a ton apiece.

However, their paths steadily converge as free-form hip-hop is obliged to fall in with the rigorous discipline of formal ballroom. And there's a prize up for grabs.

This draws as its inspiration the same story that was covered in the entertaining documentary Mad Hot Ballroom.

Without offering any surprises, it's enthusiastically staged and blessed with some good performances, particularly from Banderas as a sort of Zorro-with-the-moves and Alfre Woodard as a waspish principal.

Get your dancin' shoes on.

Tim Evans