Savage Rhythm

Netflix sold Colombia a dance battle with a hair-salon walk

On 18 January 2022 Variety ran an exclusive clip from Ritmo Salvaje, the eight-episode Colombian dance drama Netflix would drop on 2 March. Greeicy Rendón, in the clip, walks from the humble side of Bogotá to a hair salon job, then lands in a studio and leads one side of a battle. The track is reggaeton. The voices are Dawer and Damper. Director Simón Brand, Variety noted, is a double Grammy-nominated video director for Shakira, Ricky Martin, Juanes, and a long Latin-pop list, latestnetflix.com maintains, plus the 2008 feature Paráiso Travel. The English title on the service is Savage Rhythm.

The synopsis Variety printed is the whole pitch. Two groups from opposite worlds walk their own paths until they meet in a dance battle. The dream to stand out is born in urban neighbourhoods and in high society. Paulina Dávila shares the lead with Rendón. The series comes from Caracol Television's output deal with Netflix, first signed in 2016 and renewed in 2019, the same pipeline that delivered The Queen of Flow season 2. Juliana Barrera supplied the original idea. Arlen Torres is the showrunner. Brand is joined by series directors Rafa Martínez and Andrés Beltrán. Older blurbs sometimes credit Beltrán and Martínez as if they ran the show. Variety is clearer. Brand is the banner director. The other two share episodes.

Decider's March recap fills in the floor plan the clip only hinted at. Dávila's Antonia trains at Bogotá's Royal Academy of Dance and is the favorite for Juliet in a Romeo and Juliet production. Her mother tells her dance is a hobby, a whim, not a life. Rendón's Karina works a steel mill shift to feed herself and a sick grandmother, then dances with Pura Kaye, a street troupe with social-media heat and no cash. A new choreographer, Brant, played by Andrés Juan Hernández, squeezes Antonia's scholarship. She and Vicente, Sergio Herrera, watch Pura Kaye at Al Garete. Antonia knocks on Karina's door with a proposal. "I need to become you."

The Netflix Latinoamérica trailer, posted 2 February 2022, is the public version of that Variety tease. Rendón and Dávila show their best steps. The card says 2 March, Netflix only. Wikipedia lists one season, eight episodes, status ended, Caracol producing for Netflix, Barrera as creator. Episode titles run from "To Hell with It" through "Sabotage." Martina la Peligrosa plays Bombita. Sashua López plays La Chama. English Wikipedia's cast table does not invent a second season. ,

The documented gossip is the clip itself. Netflix chose Rendón's walk to work as the first thing trades would see, then hired a music-video specialist to shoot a telenovela about who gets to dance for a living. Decider called the Al Garete number the reason to stream and the plot thin when the dancing stops. That is a critic's shrug, not a production leak. The production leak, if you want one, is already in Variety. Caracol and Netflix renewed a deal, then spent it on eight hours of reggaeton class war with a singer who can actually move. Rendón is a recording artist. Variety used that body of work as the sell. Dávila, known to Narcos viewers, plays the academy girl who has to steal pesos from her mother's purse to pay for the education she wants. Money, Decider wrote, drives everybody, including the Royal's boss whispering to creditors. The dancing is what Netflix bought. , ,