Logo text
If you come into Jason Bergh’s The Symphony of Dance with a pre-existing investment in Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert’s love story, the health-related derailment of their 2023 touring show and her subsequent recovery and return, it’s likely that the documentary will reduce you to a blubbering puddle.
It’s more than likely that even if you’ve never watched Hough’s competitive dancing, his Emmy-winning Dancing With the Stars contributions or Erbert’s So You Think You Can Dance run, The Symphony of Dance will generate at least some tears. It’s undeniably emotional stuff. But it’s less a love story than a commercial for a love story, with a running time — 110 minutes — that’s a minimum of 20 minutes too long and one self-indulgent triumphant sentimental climax after another. The film evades addressing so many physical and psychological complications that it makes something that was obviously incredibly difficult come across as unsatisfyingly easy in places.
The Symphony of Dance
The Bottom Line
