'Madu' Review: Dance Like Nobody's Watching

Young Anthony Madu travels from Nigeria to England to pursue a ballet career. Now on Disney Plus.

Now Streaming: Attributed to songwriters Susanna Clark and Richard Leigh, the lyrics to their 1987 song "Come From the Heart" includes: 

You’ve got to sing like you don’t need the money

Love like you’ll never get hurt

You’ve got to dance like nobody’s watchin’

It’s gotta come from the heart if you want it to work.

Young Anthony Madu 'danced [barefoot in the rain] like nobody was watching' outside his home in Lagos, Nigeria, 2020. Captured in a 44-second video, it drew worldwide publicity, as well as the attention of Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham, England, which invited him for a three-day visit in May 2021. At the conclusion of his visit, he was offered a place in the school, and he returned to begin his studies in September 2021 "on a full bursary scholarship and boards full-time," according to the school. 

Directed by Matthew Ogens and Joel Kachi Benson, the documentary Madu picks up the story as Anthony and his close-knit family are adjusting to the news that he will shortly be traveling more than 3,000 miles to be 'a stranger in a strange land,' for many months. His parents are loving and supportive, though torn at the thought, while his brother and sisters are simply torn. 

Anthony remembers first falling in love with ballet at the tender age of 5, and has kept dancing despite the ridicule of classmates -- 'why does he dance like a girl?' -- and limited facilities, though he takes dance classes near home. He is eager to pursue a career in ballet, and dreams of becoming a principal dancer, but perhaps not quite ready for all that entails. 

Elmhurst Ballet School is established and respected for the training and education they provide their students, which includes, naturally, all sorts of dance training, but also school sessions on the usual subjects that a 13-year-old child would be expected to study. He shares his room with a British boy, and they are far from the only boys in school, so they all gradually adjust to each other and become friends. 

There's also the allure of girls in school, and Anthony becomes close to at least one, yet this is not a prelude to a romantic story. The primary preoccupation of Anthony, and everyone at school, is developing as a ballet dancer. 

Beyond the expected cultural challenges for Anthony, he is also faced with the diagnosis of a health issue that could affect his school, and also his future in dance. That's all handled with care and consideration. 

I can't imagine that the documentary crew following Anthony around school and on trips outside the school and into Birmingham made things any easier for him in all the many adjustments he had to make: first of all, as an adolescent; second, as an adolescent who moves away from a loving family; third, as a dancer who is receiving the most demanding training of his life. 

From the initial moments of faint ridicule by classmates, Anthony demonstrates poise and confidence, through and through, in whatever situation he is in. He is a boy, however, and his emotions are in play; it is very easy to empathize with him and to wish him the best. 

Madu may not be riveting television, lacking extreme dramatic or incredible fantasy, yet it's a good watch, a human story, which rewards viewing and provides insight on a subject I knew very little about. Recommended. [Disney Plus]