For all the underprivileged youth desperate to turn their lives around before a family member dies in a street dance-fight, the male cheerleading film “Stomp the Yard” has arrived just in time.

Director Sylvain White has almost managed to draw a compelling drama of a troubled youth from the streets of Los Angeles who comes to terms with his past and future at the historically black college of “Truth University” in Atlanta, but the film overestimates the transcendence of step dancing and is ultimately undone by the male equivalent of jazz hands.

Mr. White has used his experience in music videos to bring some gritty and layered dynamics to many of the dance sequences here, but the energy of hip-hop does not manage the transition to the competitive step-dancing world, despite the amazing feats of his cast.

In addition to outstanding dancing and stepping skills, the young cast members have more than their share of acting talent, but the story line fails them when it invests its dramatic weight in synchronized dance.

“Stomp the Yard” follows the story of DJ (Columbus Short), a troubled but talented dancer, as he tries to adjust to life among his overprivileged peers at Truth U. Young DJ is still recovering from the death of his brother, the victim of gun violence at the hands of a sore-losing dance squad back in L.A.

This odd start is surprisingly compelling, as is DJ’s pursuit of April (Meagan Good), a campus hottie with a hotheaded fraternity boyfriend (Darrin Dewitt Henson) who has it in for our hero.

As soon as the stepping starts, however, the film begins to lose its footing. Watching DJ’s first interaction with the fraternity step squads is amusing, as Mr. White builds the anticipation of DJ’s inevitable schooling of the pompous fraternity brothers.

But rather than proving the silliness of this strange ritual, DJ joins their ranks. What follows is a veritable boot camp of emotional development, where DJ is indoctrinated into the hallowed fraternity of step squad brethren, gets the girl, and starts to grow into a man.

DJ’s transformation from unrepentant street tough to obedient pledge is a disappointment. There is a vague illusion to the significance of historically black fraternities and a brief trip to “Heritage Hall” to legitimize the fraternity chauvinism that DJ has encountered, but the fraternities fail to rise above the level of cheap posturing. Photos of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Michael Jordan only serve to accentuate the superficiality of the current fraternity brothers, despite occasional serious faces and talk of character building. The one opportunity DJ’s brothers get to prove that they care about more than letter jackets and coordinated hand gestures — when DJ’s status at the school becomes shaky — they are all too caught up in their step routine to care about what will happen to DJ’s life if he gets thrown out of school.

Other plot points that begin promisingly enough are resolved sloppily. Mr. White has aspects of an intriguing African-American college drama on his hands, but it ends more on par with the Kirsten Dunst cheerleading vehicle “Bring It On” than Spike Lee’s more socially centered “School Daze.”

By the time the fraternities make it to the national step competition, the emotional weight of the film is buried under screaming crowds, oversized candy cane props, and matching karate kid costumes. It becomes difficult to discern which step moves are laughable and which impressive, except by the camera angles employed.

And unlike the physically adept actors onscreen, the film eventually falls flat. In the end, step dancing does not appear dynamic enough to make the transition to widespread pop entertainment. Diehard step enthusiasts may appreciate this film, but the genre is aesthetically handicapped on the screen compared with breakout freelance moves by talented dancers. “Stomp the Yard” wants to make an argument for the historical and cultural significance of stepping, but no amount of trick camerawork can make hissing snake hand puppets look tough.

mkeane@nysun.com