If - heaven forefend - you can't get tickets for this celebration of urban jitterbugging, then never fear. Get Step Up 1 out on DVD. It's practically the same.

First time round, a rebel from the wrong side of the tracks hooked up with a posh bird at the dance academy and together they wowed all the naysayers at the Senior Showcase.

Here gritty teenage bopper Andie (Evigan) is an outcast living with her late mother's mate but who regards the street-dancing 410 Crew as her real family.

Like a sort of high-stepping guerrilla gang, their stock-in-trade is launching into complicated routines to the surprise of commuters on Baltimore's rapid transport system. Think an edgy Pan's People going off on one on the Metropolitan Line.

But Andie's not making her grades...and is threatened with internal exile in - deep breath - Texas. Offered the option of studying her craft at the Maryland School of Arts, Andie reluctantly agrees to go along and spare herself a trip to the Lone Star State.

However, this waltz into the mainstream doesn't go down well with her street buddies and she's expelled from the crew. What is a swaggering, swivel-hipped urban hoofer to do? Well, recruit a rival gang from her school buddies and hit back. Go get 'em girl.

You're not going to be watching this for any fresh insight into the human spirit. What's on offer is essentially a dancing masterclass with a bit of dramatic window-dressing.

Directed by former dancer John M Chu, it's a fast-moving affair with Evigan delivering a performance of a depth and richness that doesn't click with the stereotypes throwing shapes next to her.

"This isn't High School Musical," snarls a hip DJ. Well, actually it is...but with a few of the corners sharpened up.

Clichés tumble like confetti and the familiar character constructs are all present and correct. Yet, for fans of the genre, there's much to enjoy even when some of the solo routines look less like dance and more like a nervous disorder.

It's difficult not to be won over by a mass boogie down in the rain, a sequence which looks more Bollywood than Baltimore.

Tim Evans