When we're first introduced to DJ (Columbus Short), he's participating in an urban, L.A. team dance competition with his younger brother. If I'm understanding this right, two teams face off in the center of a large group of people, dance their asses off, and then the members of the losing team try to kill the winning team outside because they're bitter. This is how DJ loses his younger brother.

What really got my attention during the dance competition was that there was a midget in the middle of the whole thing. I think he was carrying around a hat, so the MC could pick numbers out of it or something. However, this isn't about the midget's quality of participation, it's simply about him being there at all. It's common knowledge that with midget you get spectacle. This movie is about spectacle.

After DJ loses his brother, he moves to Atlanta to live with his Aunt and Uncle and re-enact the entire plot of "Drumline" only with stomping or stepping or dancing or whatever you want to call it. There is actually a term called "Stomping the Yard," which is kind of a cross between break-dancing, marching and a riot.

There are several lessons we learn in "Stomp the Yard" that we also learned in "Drumline," which also featured a young, hip black guy going south to show southern black folk how to do things with flair. The biggest lesson is that hip, non-southern city kids can always do things better than southern kids, even if those southern kids live in a big city like Atlanta. The South isn't connected to anything and they're basically about five years behind the times when it comes to anything cutting edge. Their moves are very "Electric Boogaloo."

Of course, the problem with these hip, non-southern city kids is that they're undisciplined and they only think of themselves. So once DJ learns to be a part of a team, everything works out. Between thinking only of himself and not thinking only of himself, DJ goes after the school's hottest chick like a dog in heat. Of course, she happens to be the girlfriend of a guy who's a stomper in a rival stomping group. Eventually, he gets to meet her father, who's a rich, educated dude and gives that speech about wanting better for his daughter than some hip, urban kid who only thinks of himself.

Predictably, there's a competition at the end where DJ puts everything he's learned and overcome to use. "Stomp the Yard" makes plenty of noise, though it's mostly the kind that makes it hard to think straight.