The latest feature from Toronto’s Sienna Films is underway in Hamilton, ON, with Ian Iqbal Rashid at the helm of the dance drama Step.

Sienna’s Jennifer Kawaja produces with her partner Julia Sereny, Brent Barclay and coproducer Claire Prieto. Rashid – who also helmed Sienna’s successful 2004 comedy A Touch of Pink – has been teamed with DOP André Pienaar (Dead Aviators), editor Susan Maggi (Lie with Me, A Touch of Pink) and hip-hop choreographer Hi Hat.

The music-heavy feature will include original songs and material sourced from Canadian and U.S. artists. Composer Andrew Lockington is writing a score.

‘There are one or two American songs we’re working on for the dance sequences,’ Kawaja says.

The story by Annmarie Morais is set in Toronto’s notorious Jane and Finch neighborhood, and follows a young girl out to win a dance competition so that she can pay her way to a prestigious private school. Rutina Wesley leads a large cast of dancer/actors that also includes Dwain Murphy, Tracey Armstrong and singer Shawn Desman – brought together by casting director Stephanie Gorin.

It was hard finding actors who can dance, and vice versa. ‘Sometimes those two things don’t go together,’ says Kawaja, ‘so the casting process was very prolonged and agonizing.

‘We put calls out all over the country, to dance schools, drama schools, high schools, colleges, universities and dance groups – you name it, across the board.’

The picture was supposed to shoot last year but the casting process and the loss of a U.S. cofinancing deal contributed to delays, says Kawaja.

Step is backed by Telefilm Canada, Astral Media, CTF, the Ontario Media Development Corporation, CHUM Television, The Harold Greenberg Fund, the Shaw Rocket Fund, the Corus Family Feature Fund, Movie Central and The Movie Network.

Step is set to wrap in early April and will be distributed in Canada by Mongrel Media.

Sienna is also working to finance two new projects – a 2 x 120 miniseries about the world diamond trade, to be copro’ed with the U.K., and the half-hour series Altar Boy Gang. Both are for CBC.