Baltimore's inner-city teens in spotlight in documentary "Step"

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The inspiring new documentary "Step" is about some young women from Baltimore's inner-city who are all part of a high school step dance team. The goal: to get every single one of them into college.

The "Lethal Ladies of Baltimore" have been stepping together since sixth grade. With the help of their dedicated coach and their devoted guidance counselor, high education is the plan for all 19 girls - and every other student graduating from this school.

"I'm always on the phone, making phone calls," said counselor Paula Dofat. "I will show up to campuses just to make sure that I'm meeting the right people. We have to go outside the box if we want the girls to go outside the box, so everything we do has to be modeled for them, you know? So it's not just a 'Do what I say.' It's a 'Do as I do.'"

"I hope that teachers, educators, counselors look at this as a tribute," said said coach Gari McIntyre. "Young people, believe that if you rise up and shoot for the moon, you at least touch the sky."

Members of the team started college last fall, stepping away from dance and focusing on academics.

"We'd never been to colleges, we're first generation college kids, so we can't ask our parents how college goes or what flows," said Tayla Solomon. "So we have to figure it out yourself or look at outside resources and just focus in on ourselves academically was the main focus for each and every girl on the team."

"The possibilities are endless for me," said Blessin Giraldo. "For business, my degree is business marketing, double minor in graphic design and communications, but my passion lies within the arts. I'm not an actress, I never took classes. I never even took a dance class, but I'm willing to learn, and I know I have natural raw talent. And whoever comes to grab me up one day will be one very lucky person."

"Step" is rated PG and is in theaters Friday.