Leading Ladies Blog

Choreographer Dances Into First ‘Leading Lady’ Role

15 Aug, 2011 By: Ashley Ratcliff

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 Melanie LaPatin (center) stars in Leading Ladies alongside newcomers Shannon Lea Smith (left) and Laurel Vail.

As a choreographer with decades of experience, Melanie LaPatin knows her way around the stage. When the Brooklynite signed on to create ballroom and swing dance routines for the lesbian-themed comedy Leading Ladies, LaPatin was in her comfort zone.

But co-director Erika Randall Beahm, who also co-wrote and co-produced, had a different role in mind for LaPatin. She asked the dancing queen to audition to play Sheri Campari, the overbearing stage mom to two twentysomething daughters whose entire lives revolve around ballroom dancing.

“I said, ‘Why not?’ I’ve never done anything like that before, and I’m always open to new ideas and new things. … I knew I was dramatic,” LaPatin said with a laugh. “But I had no idea it would lead to that. I would do it again in a minute.”

Wolfe Video releases the film on DVD ($24.95) Sept. 13. Bonus material includes a blooper reel and alternate and extended scenes. [purchase]

In Leading Ladies, the Campari family is preparing to have one of its own compete in an important regional ballroom dance championship. However, Sheri spins out of control when her youngest daughter, Tasi (Shannon Lea Smith), gets pregnant and her oldest daughter, Toni (Laurel Vail), falls for the free-spirited Mona (Nicole Dionne).

LaPatin said she drew inspiration for the part from her real-life mother, Barbara LaPatin, whom she called “very high-strung and controlling.”

“I would describe Sheri as the person that I really don’t want to be, but I have a feeling that I’m a lot like her,” LaPatin said. “I was definitely obsessed about the dancing, more than she was, actually. It was myself that I was criticizing and nothing was good enough and had to be the best, so I really understood where she was coming from. If I had children, I probably would have been the same.”

While working on Leading Ladies, LaPatin had the opportunity to reunite with several dancers she’s gotten to know through “So You Think You Can Dance,” the Fox dance competition series that she and her longtime partner, Tony Meredith, choreograph. They included season-two winner Benji Schwimmer, Katee Shean, Kherington Payne, Courtney Galiano and Sara Vongillern.

As for the film’s message, LaPatin said people should take Leading Ladies’ tagline — “Let love lead” — to heart and not judge others based on whom they fall in love with.

“Live and let live,” she said. “Don’t we have more important things to criticize? I just believe that you are who you are, and who are we to decide who you should be?”

…[Full Story]…

Did you know that Melanie LaPatin has a starring role in the new feature film called LEADING LADIES?!

Melanie plays Sheri (pronounced “Cheri,” as in the French pronunciation) Campari, the overbearing backstage mother of two daughters, one whom she lives through vicariously on the ballroom dance floor, and the other who is relegated to the role of “practice partner.”  See what happens to each as they redefine their roles in life and on the dance floor and learn to “Let Love Lead.™”

So You Think You Can Dance fans will see some more familiar faces in the film, as season two winner, Benji Schwimmer, joins Melanie on screen as her daughters’ best friend and competition dance partner (wait till you see Benji perform an amazing West Coast Swing duet with long time friend and West Coast Swing World Champion Jordan Frisbee!).

There is also a fantastic “Grocery Store Musical” number choreographed by Melanie and starring past SYTYCD finalists Courtney Galiano, Kherington Payne, Katee Shean, and Sara VonGillern!

The film has been doing extremely well on the festival circuit, screening at more than 50 festivals around the world so far and still going strong.  Past highlights include a Gala Presentation at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, winner of the Showcase Award at the film’s premiere at the Sonoma International Film Festival, selling out an opening weekend screening in the Directors’ Guild of America Theater on Sunset Boulevard at Outfest in LA, winning Best Picture at the Palm Beach Women’s International Film Festival, screening at the Marché du Film at the Cannes International Film Festival, and most recently winning the Audience Choice award for Best Narrative Feature at the San Francisco United Film Festival right after screening to nearly 900 people in the historic Castro Theater at Frameline International Film Festival.

The film has been picked up for North American distribution by Wolfe, and will be released on DVD and VOD in the U.S. on Sept. 13, 2011.  Click the image of the DVD to pre-order your copy from the Wolfe website!

You can also visit the Leading Ladies website to find out where film is playing next, so you can see it on the big screen in a theater near you!  The website also has many video clips and photos from the film, links to merchandise, information about the film’s soundtrack, and all kinds of other fun information from and about the movie!

Finally, don’t forget to add the film to your Netflix Queue by visiting this link and adding Leading Ladies to your queue!

See SYTYCD Alumni in the New Movie, Leading Ladies!

by Stephanie Wolf

Get your fill of So You Think You Can Dance stars in the new ballroom-inspired movie Leading Ladies, set to release on DVD September 13 from Wolfe Video. The movie follows the Camparinis, a ballroom dancing family whose lives get turned upside down when one sister gets pregnant, another comes out of the closet, and a zany, over-the-top stage mom starts to lose it in her pursuit for the family to take the titles at the Midwest Regional Ballroom Competition.

Leading Ladies features many recognizable names, a flashback of sorts into SYTYCD history. Ballroom diva and SYTYCD choreographer Melanie LaPatin, as well as Season 2 winner Benji Schwimmer, snagged leading roles in the film. Making cameo appearances are Katee Shean, Kherington Payne, Courtney Galiano, and Sara Von Gillern.

The feature toured 45 different film festivals and won numerous awards — the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2011 San Francisco United Film Festival, the "Showcase Award" from the 2010 Sonoma International Film Festival, "Best Feature" at the 2010 Palm Beach Women’s International Film Festival and "Best of the Fest" at the 2010 Newfest.

We can’t wait to check it out on DVD in September! Look for it on Amazon.

Yes, you will be able to purchase the DVD at Amazon, but please buy using this link (a much bigger percentage of the sale goes to the cast and crew!).  You can also purchase from the official Leading Ladies website.

source link

http://movies.broadwayworld.com/article/LEADING-LADIES-Comes-to-DVD-From-Wolfe-Video-913-20110719

http://www.shewired.com/box-office/leading-ladies-laurel-vail-and-nicole-dionne-interview-video

Here is a video interview Wolfe did with Erika and Daneil at Frameline that appears on AfterEllen.com (it’s toward the bottom of the post) and Logo TV.

This year at Frameline, the festival had student guest bloggers from the University of Wisconsin contribute to the Frameline Blog.  Here are a few of the posts regarding Leading Ladies.

I find it difficult, yet extremely easy to describe the film Leading Ladies because the experience of the film was overwhelming. To be honest, I went into this film not knowing what it was about and I even forgot the title, but the impact that this film left on me was huge. A film about two lesbian dance partners? To me, this was unorthodox and I thought that it was going to completely lose my attention about halfway through, yet it gave happiness throughout.

Besides just watching the film, the director and two of the main actors talked about the film in a sense I had yet to see at the Frameline Festival. Those involved in the film were excited, funny, and were willing to talk to me after the show for a few short minutes. I could not think of a better film, or director to bring back to the Eau Queer film festival, especially because of the mutual understanding of the Midwest attitudes toward queer people. Plus, I may also be slightly biased because of my love for dancing. –Bryton Fredrick

I fell in love with the film Leading Ladies almost instantly. With its carefree spirit and mindless antics what wasn’t there to love about it? I had more likes about not only the story itself but also how the film was produced and put together than I had dislikes. For starters, I loved that the characters were not hypersexual. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched any gay themed film and the main characters or important characters were portrayed as extremely sexual beings. I also loved that the actors, director, and producer all had this amazing chemistry on screen as well as when they came on stage afterwards. The story itself was amazing. It was well written, funny, light hearted, and very fun. After seeing this film I will never look at a grocery aisle the same way again.

Unfortunately, like with all films, there were negative aspects to it as well. Besides a couple personal issues I had with character flaws (ahem, the mother driving me absolutely bananas and the friend/dance partner being a “stereotypical” gay man) there wasn’t too much more to complain about. While the film wasn’t slow paced by any means it did take a bit too long to get to the gay component of it.

Overall, I found this film very easy to fall in love with. It was simple and light hearted without too much “in your face” drama like some of the films that I have seen. And for all those reasons I feel it would be a great film to bring back to Eau Claire. The queer aspect of the film slyly makes it way present and you don’t really see it as “just” a queer film. –Tatjana Trommershauser

When contemplating which films to bring back to Eau Queer Film Festival, Leading Ladies always comes to mind, it would also be a great idea to invite the actors and/or directors to come as well. The film did a great job of presenting the message of LGBT issues in a non-threatening environment. Even though there were sad moments, I would consider the film to be, overall, light hearted.

After hearing from my classmates that the students pursuing a dance minor were not encouraged to create a same sex performance for the use of their capstone, I was saddened and appalled. The films use of same sex dance partners would help to broaden the minds of the Eau Claire community. The dancing within this film is impeccable. I have seen same sex dance partners perform prior to this film, but I had never seen it in such a beautiful, inspiring way. Their movement was so fluid, and clean; every time dancing would begin it literally took my breath away.  –Lindsay Miklya

Original Content: http://blog.frameline.org/2011/06/leading-ladies/

Today the pre-order for the Leading Ladies DVD goes live on Wolfe’s website.  The street date for the DVD is Sept. 13, 2011, but you can go ahead and order now to be one of the first to receive the DVD!

Click the DVD cover above and you will be taken to the Wolfe website to complete your purchase.  By using the affiliate link from this page or purchasing via the Leading Ladies website merchandise page, the cast and crew will receive a greater percentage of your purchase price.

Click here to add Leading Ladies to your Netflix queue.  Please also leave a five-star rating and maybe write a little review!

If you have a “streaming only” account, you probably won’t be able to add the title at the moment, as it will be released only on DVD for the first little while (but you can still add a five star rating and review!).

The number of people who have Leading Ladies in their queue will greatly affect the number of DVD’s Netflix orders for their initial purchase, so even if you’ve already seen the film or ordered your own copy on DVD, please place Leading Ladies in your queue!

We’ve also got a handy little widget (check it out in action to the right).  The code for you to cut and paste to add the widget to your own blog or web page is here:

<a href="http://movi.es/BW649" title="Leading Ladies on Netflix">Leading Ladies on Netflix</a> <script src="http://jsapi.netflix.com/us/api/w/s/sp100.js" settings="id=http://movi.es/BW649&q=1&h=if"></script>

If you want to let your Facebook friends know, that would be fantastic!  Here’s the event to which you can invite your Facebook friends to let them know all about how to add Leading Ladies to their queue.