Offering likeable characters and some killer footage of couples throwing each other around at high speed without mussing their hair, the documentary will please at fests and on TV while likely nudging more than a few sedentary viewers to go find dancing shoes of their own.
Serena Donadoni of The Village Voice stated that "Although it's been used repeatedly as a movie title, Alive and Kicking perfectly captures the joyous enthusiasm of Susan Glatzer's debut documentary, which presents swing dance as a vibrant, living art form".[8]
According to Moira MacDonald of the Seattle Times "Though it adheres to documentary convention by picking out a few competitive swing dancers and following them throughout the film, "Alive and Kicking" keeps dancing off into other areas, and we just hold its hand and follow".[9]
While attending its premiere at the SXSW, Wayne Alan Brenner of The Austin Chronicle wrote "The music, the interviews, the interleavening of stock footage, the way the various modern narratives and backgrounding histories are fitted together: All of this works toward a successful expression of what means a thing because it does have that swing".[10]
