Step Up 2: The Streets is a 2008 American dance drama film directed by Jon M. Chu (in his feature film directorial debut) and written by Toni Ann Johnson and Karen Barna. It serves as a sequel to 2006's Step Up and the second installment in the Step Up film series. The film stars Briana Evigan, Robert Hoffman, Will Kemp, and Cassie Ventura. Set at the fictional Maryland School of the Arts, the story revolves around rebellious street dancer Andie West (Evigan) who lands at the elite school and finds herself fighting to fit in while also trying to hold onto her old life. She eventually joins forces with the school's hottest dancer Chase Collins (Hoffman) to form a crew of classmate outcasts to compete in Baltimore's underground dance battle The Streets, finding a way to live her dream while building a bridge between her two separate worlds. Step Up 2: The Streets was released in the United States on February 14, 2008, by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Although the film received better reviews than its predecessor, it received mostly negative reviews from critics, but became a box office success, grossing $150.8 million worldwide against a budget of $17.5 million. A sequel, Step Up 3D, was released on August 6, 2010, in the United States. Plot In Baltimore, Maryland, Andie West pursues her dream of becoming a street dancer, but feels like she does not belong anywhere. Her mother recently died of cancer, so she now lives with a guardian, her mother's best friend Sarah. She is doing poorly at school, but her passion for dancing brings something good into her life. She rehearses regularly with her "crew", the 410, to retain top ranking in the illegal competition "The Streets". Andie's friend and older brother figure Tyler Gage persuades her to audition for the Maryland School of the Arts, hoping it will help turn her life around the same way it did him in the first film. Andie auditions and Chase Collins convinces his older brother Blake, the school's director, to let her join. When the 410 find out about Andie's studies, they angrily kick her out. Andie and Chase form a new crew with help from many people Chase knows at the school who are not accepted as who they are. Chase has a copied key to the studio and the crew secretly practices their routine late at