By Grazie Pozo Christie

Most movies offer viewers an escape from humdrum reality and entrance into a world of adventure or romantic glamour. “Step,” a documentary playing in theaters now, is a movie about escape – that of African American girls from the chaos and difficulty of their urban society into a brighter future.

Challenges abound for these young women, including the still lingering undercurrents of racism in some parts of American society, which was vividly driven home, for anyone who still needed a reminder, by the horrific events in Charlottesville.

But this movie is exhilarating and uplifting, giving viewers a sensitive and heartfelt glimpse of young African-American womanhood and the dedicated teachers and advocates who believe fully in their potential.