Takes Five; Amy Sewell; 'Mad Hot Ballroom' Writer Wanted to Put Positive Spin On Life

Summary

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Amy Sewell spent 15 years as a marketing executive in the publishing industry in New York City, then spent a few years at home with her young twin daughters. She re-entered the workplace as a writer, doing stories about landmarks and PTAs for her neighborhood newspaper in Tribeca, a neighborhood in lower Manhattan. She met some fifth-graders taking ballroom dancing classes and preparing for a competition. She followed them and others for four months for a story she and producer Marilyn Agrelo turned into the hit documentary "Mad Hot Ballroom." Inspired by the movie, schools around the country have begun offering ballroom dance classes. Sewell will be in Milwaukee on Friday at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts for a showing, a talk and a fund-raising reception for Danceworks and the ballroom-dancing project at area schools. Sewell talked about the movie from her home with reporter Georgia Pabst.

Q. How did "Mad Hot Ballroom" change your life?

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Extract

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Takes Five; Amy Sewell; 'Mad Hot Ballroom' Writer Wanted to Put Positive Spin On Life

A. Now I get my phone calls returned a little quicker. (Laughs) The train took off, and it never really stopped. But it wasn't life- ch...

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