On Pointe

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Follow the real-life stories of students from the School of American Ballet in On Pointe. All episodes streaming Dec. 18, only on Disney+

Promo:

 

[GaT]

I haven't started yet, but I'm all ready to start tonight, I can't wait!

Edited December 19, 2020 by GaT

[ElectricBoogaloo]

4 hours ago, GaT said:

I haven't started yet,but I'm all ready to start tonight, I can't wait!

I've only watched the first episode so far which was a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of introductions and exposition about SAB. I didn't mind it, but I'm excited to watch the next episode now that we've gotten all that establishing info out of the way.

I'm already a little annoyed with some of the dance footage. You'd think that people shooting a documentary about dancers would know better than to shoot so many closeups from the waist up or the knee down. I get it. They're en pointe. Let me see them from head to toe, damn it! There's time for closeups of their pretty faces during their interviews, so let me see them dance!

I loved seeing the auditions they do for the younger kids at schools around New York. I am not a foot fetish person but even I was like wow, that girl has amazing feet!

[meatball77]

I think they allowed this to try and rehab their image after the sexual harassment mess.  They're following the few dancers of color (and dancers on scholarship) that they have in the school and it's a very smiling happy documentary. 

The SAB and Balanchine worship is a real thing in the ballet world, dancers who attend their school talk about the school like it's the only thing in the world and talking about Balanchine (who was a really shit person) in godlike terms.  Those adorable nine year olds in class, there might be one that makes it to the top level, half of them will be gone by the time they get to be twelve year olds.  They bring in talented kids from around the country and that's the majority of their classes, casting (and even staying in the program) is based a lot on whose parents donate the most money.

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S1.E1: Getting In

Quote

The school year begins at the School of American Ballet (SAB) in New York City.

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1.1

While part of me appreciates that the school makes an effort to hold auditions all over the city in order to allow children from different neighborhoods to try out, their whole "we come to them" thing only lasts for that one trip. As we saw, the kids then have to take multiple trains and buses 3-5 times per week to attend classes. I can't imagine how much the transportation cost alone adds up for their families, especially when the kids are too young to take the train by themselves.

I thought it was interesting that Domenika said her dad didn't have as much of an issue letting her leave home to attend SAB because he did something similar to play hockey in Russia when he was a boy. Ballet is a lot like gymnastics in that it favors the young so a year or two of professional training can make a huge difference in someone's career. Leaving home at 14-16 so you can train at SAB for a few years greatly increases your chances of getting an apprenticeship at a company (versus waiting until you're 17-18 to leave home). But I also think about how much more pressure they're under if they're at SAB at 14-16 (as opposed to staying in their hometown to finish high school). But I do understand that going from a big fish in a little pond to being surrounded by other talented dancers can really push you to improve. I just worry about kids feeling that level of pressure at such a young age, especially since ballet already stresses the idea of perfection.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S1.E2: Casting & Competition

Quote

Casting for George Balanchine's "The Nutcracker" begins, and students begin professional training.

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1.2

The partnering class was a perfect example as to why going to SAB gives dancers a leg up. If you stay in your little home town, chances are you will not get extensive partnering experience. At my sister's dance studio, there was ONE boy in her age group by the time they were teenagers.

As one of the teachers said, partnering is a HUGE thing that's taken into consideration when companies decide who to take as apprentices. If you can't dance safely with a partner, you're not of much use to the company.

I thought it was interesting that one of the teachers said that the children want to perform and they needs a performance opportunity like The Nutcracker to work towards. In my experience, dancers like to perform but it's really that the parents need an annual reminder of what they're paying for, hence the recitals. And for many ballet companies, The Nutcracker is one of their most profitable shows of the year (if not THE most profitable show of the year). At recitals, you can get parents and families to buy tickets but you can get the general public to buy tickets to The Nutcracker because it's considered a Christmas tradition.

Not surprisingly, the girls in general show a lot more talent and technique than the boys in the same age group. With the girls, I see very pointed toes, 180 turnout, and beautiful attitudes/arabesques.

It was interesting to hear Sophia's mom talk about how her 11 year old was giving up things like her friends' birthday parties, outings with her cousins, etc. because of dance.

I thought it was cute to see the different nutcracker collections that the kids had, but I never understood the appeal of getting signed pointe shoes (maybe it's because I had my own pointe shoes?). As one of the kids pointed out, they're smelly used shoes. 

Wow, I didn't realize that SAB casts 126 kids in The Nutcracker. That is a lot of kid wrangling!

It breaks my heart to see how stressed these young kids get about Nutcracker auditions though. And as some of the kids learned, it's not always about how good you are. Sometimes you just aren't the right height. Of course, that doesn't make you feel any better when you're 10 or 11 and all of your other friends/classmates get cast but you don't. I know the teachers are trying to be kind when they dismiss the kids from one group by saying, "We really need you for the party scene instead," but you know those kids are still crushed. I'm glad they made sure to remind the kids to be considerate of their classmates about being cast.

Maybe it was seeing so many kids get cut, but when they announced the Marie and Prince roles, I was SO HAPPY for those four kids!

Damn, a 50% discount on pointe shoes is huge.

I enjoyed seeing the students TA the lower level classes. It's great because the little girls get to see the older girls who they look up to, but it also gives the older girls the opportunity to learn how to give corrections and be nice to the younger girls. It's a good introduction into learning leadership skills and how to teach. There's more to dancing than just dancing on the stage.

My mom was great at doing my hair. I always had the sleekest buns and perfect French braids. Unfortunately, I did not inherit her skills so it's a good thing I don't have daughters who are dancers because they would have some sloppy buns. I'm glad we're seeing some of the parents because it's easy to focus on the little kids and forget just how much work this is for the parents too. It's a huge time commitment for the parents just to get them all the way to the school for auditions and then spend all day sitting around waiting to hear the results.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S1.E3: Practice Makes Perfect

Quote

Rehearsals begin for George Balanchine's "The Nutcracker," as students are put through their paces.

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1.3

I love watching behind the scenes/rehearsal stuff so I really enjoyed this episode.

It's always interesting to see the differences in Nutcracker productions. When my sister was one of the little ones who came out from Mother Ginger's skirt, they were bon bons in red and white.

And I really loved that they showed the younger girls getting their first pair of pointe shoes. That is a HUGE milestone for every ballet dancer. Having a professional shoe fitting is definitely another benefit of attending SAB. I liked that they had a meeting with the parents so they would know what to expect once their daughters go en pointe.

Ha, watching everyone take ballet class in Halloween costumes cracked me up. There were some hilarious costumes. The guy dressed as Cher from Clueless (complete with the platform shoes) was my favorite, but I also loved the balls it took to dress up as their teacher.

Awww, I loved seeing how happy Zoe, her parents, and her friends were when she was offered an apprenticeship.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S1.E4: Sacrifice & Support

Quote

Opening night approaches for the young dancers. The older students face new challenges.

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1.4

There was definitely a marked difference between Ella having a pony and talking about how she's been riding since she was 6 years old and then Isabela's family talking about how expensive tickets for the Nutcracker are.

I know there are 126 kids in the show, but you'd think that they would provide discounted tickets for the parents (you know, the ones who are paying for their kids to take dance classes all year). $90/ticket might seem like nothing for Ella's family, but it was clearly an expense for Isabela's family. When one of the teachers said that the girls cast as the angels have only seen the Sugar Plum Fairy from the audience, she's assuming that all of these girls come from families who can afford 2-5 tickets that cost $90 each to see the show.

Even though SAB made it a point in the first episode to say that they go to different neighborhoods so that they can have a diverse student body, ballet is expensive. Aside from the cost of the classes, the students need leotards, tights, and shoes and the price increases noticeably when they start dancing en pointe because a pair of leather ballet shoes can last a whole year if their feet don't grow, but pointe shoes don't last nearly as long. The older girls said they go through 2 or 3 pairs a week at $50 each (and that's with the 50% discount). Isabela's parents clearly support her dance dreams but if they can't afford to take her to see a professional ballet show once, SAB needs to understand that they might not be able to afford to keep her in ballet once the costs begin to increase.

I have questions about the timeline of what we're seeing. They began Nutcracker rehearsals on October 1. We then saw everyone in their Halloween costumes, and then Zoe, who was in the advanced class, was given an apprenticeship at the end of episode 3. At the beginning of episode 4, Zoe said she had been cast as hot chocolate. It was stated that dancers in the intermediate and advanced classes were not eligible to be in The Nutcracker (just the children and the company) so she shouldn't have been cast until after she joined the company as an apprentice. It's highly unlikely that they would have waited until November to cast her in that role, so I wonder if they offered her the apprenticeship earlier in the year and just edited it in later because it didn't fit into the earlier episodes.

I'm glad that the school has nutrition classes for the students and I'm also glad that the show is talking about injuries. Like sports, ballet is an activity where injuries are expected and commonplace. Seeing how many of them are sitting out class because of injuries was a stark reminder of just how common it is to be hurt.

It's been nice to see how self aware and articulate so many of the dancers are, even the younger kids. They are all still kids, but they are smart, driven, responsible, and able to express their feelings.

Sophia's little gymnast sister is adorable! And she's already level 6 - so cute!

I loved seeing how excited all the kids were about their Nutcracker costume fittings. I also liked how amazed they were when the seamstress said she could make one of the party dresses longer.

I liked that they brought in a former prince to talk to the new princes to give them advice and let them ask questions. The fact that the former prince played the part three years in a row seems like a strong indicator of how much smaller the pool of boys is, even at SAB.

It was also nice to see the two current princes going over the role and talking about it. Even though it's a huge honor to be chosen for such a big role as a child, it's also a lot of pressure so it's nice that they have each other to lean on because they can understand each other in a way that no one else can.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S1.E5: Stepping Up

Quote

Younger dancers prepare for dress rehearsals. An older student receives a surprising announcement.

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1.5

It was really cute to see how excited the kids were for their first dress rehearsal. It was interesting to see in the previous episode that the kid playing Fritz get to have a shoe fitting at Bloch for his costume.

I loved all the dress rehearsal scenes. I really love watching a show come together. And we got to see exactly why dress rehearsal is so important. You can practice all you want in the studio, but until you are on the actual stage with the lights and the scenery with everyone in their costumes, you never know what will happen (Mother Ginger stepping on a kid's foot, an angel following the girl in front of her too closely and stepping on the back of her skirt, causing her to face plant, the prince not being able to see well with his nutcracker mask on).

Sidenote: I don't understand why in this day and age of technology and tiny gadgets they don't put a small light under Mother Ginger's skirt. It doesn't have to be super bright either. If they had one small LED light on each side of his skirt, the girls could see where the stilts and avoid getting stepped on more easily. It seems really dangerous that a grown man wearing an 85 pound skirt could step on a little girl's foot (especially the foot of a dancer, which could end her career).

The "recycle or die" tote bag that Elias had cracked me up.

As much as I've enjoyed all the Nutcracker stuff (because duh, it's Christmas time!), I wish we'd gotten a little more focus on the older students. We got intros to so many of them but all we've really seen is that Zoe and Ruby were made apprentices and Sam has an injury. I really liked when we saw Taela and Dominika rehearsing for the performances they do for students so I wish they'd let us see more of that.

Edited December 19, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S1.E6: Showtime!

Quote

Opening night arrives. A student wins an award from Lincoln Center. SAB closes due to COVID-19.

 

[pasdetrois]

Speaking of Balanchine, I'm reading Mark Morris' autobiography, and he has a few words about how the Balanchine ideal prevented so many talented women from having a dance career. Morris uses dancers with normalized bodies and there's very little pointe work in his choreography. I had to laugh when he wrote that one of his dancers was huge, and her photos show a slender woman with some height and average breasts.

Thanks for posting ElectricBoogaloo.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1.6

OMG seeing all those kids backstage made feel simultaneously nostalgic and SO GLAD that I'm not a dance/theater mom! But it was really fun to see them playing Uno, complaining about all the hairspray, etc. I thought it was hilarious that Brandon was spraying the crap out of his short straight hair while the girls who had perfect sausage curls were just sitting around not worrying about their hair at all (with their skirts hanging over the backs of their chairs to prevent wrinkles, of course).

The wall with all the dancers' signatures was cool to see. I loved how excited the girls were to find the different names there.

One thing I really enjoyed about this series was hearing all of the company members talk about much they loved having the kids in the show because they remembered how much they loved being in the Nutcracker when they were younger.

I'm glad there's a green room for the parents. I hope some of the families who can't afford to buy tickets were able to take advantage of that. It was also really sweet to see that Kai's grandparents had flown in to see him perform in the show. His instantaneous costume change while onstage was pretty impressive. I loved Sophia high fiving one of the snowflakes when she came offstage during the first act.

I totally cracked up when we could see some of the company members dancing to the hoop dance in the wings. I loved seeing the kids downstairs dancing along in front of the tv monitor too.

But again, so much focus on the kids. Why couldn't they show us some footage of Zoe the new apprentice in the hot chocolate dance or with the snowflakes?

I found it interesting that according to the show's timeline, Zoe was offered an apprenticeship first (and made an apprentice immediately) while Ruby was offered her apprenticeship later (and it would not begin until the end of the year), yet Ruby was the one given the fancy award. I liked that her mom said that even though it was hard to let her go, she said that her goal as a parent was to raise her child to leave. I wish more parents would realize that.

And yay, an appearance by Ali Ewoldt!

Wow, poor Sam. Being out with an injury for so long is rough enough, but being injured during audition season really sucks. It takes away so many of your options.

Awww, I loved seeing all the tiny kids at the lecture performance. But I was disappointed to see that the camerawork was back to extreme closeups of faces and feet. Let me see the dancing!

I've been involved in various performance groups in my lifetime, so I recognized that post-show letdown that some of the kids were describing. It's really weird when your whole life revolves around rehearsals and then performances of the same show for months on end and then suddenly it's gone and you feel like you have all this free time and you aren't spending every waking minute with the same people and the same music in the same room.

Overall, I enjoyed this show so I hope they do a second season when things reopen.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

A few other things:

Since the 2020 Nutcracker isn't happening, NYCB is streaming the 2019 performance (the one seen on the show) with Sophia and Kai as Marie and the prince. You can watch it now through January 3 here.

Georgina Pazcoguin, one of the company dancers seen talking to the little girls during rehearsal, was the first Asian American female promoted to soloist at NYCB. That was in 2013, so that should tell you just how diverse the company is (seven years later, NYCB is still not very diverse in the principal dancers and soloists). Georgina cofounded Final Bow for Yellowface, an organization that encourages dance companies to eliminate the racist stereotypes used in many Nutcracker productions.

Charlotte Nebres, the other little girl who played Marie in the 2019 Nutcracker, was the first Black dancer to play Marie at NYCB (she is Trinidadian and Filipina).

[go4luca]

I finished the series in one night.  I have been waiting for this documentary to sign up with Disney +. 

Although I overall enjoyed it, I couldn't help wishing the series was longer.  I love seeing BTS of anything SAB or NYCB.  However, one area I feel they were missing:  the difficulty of this chosen life.  The daily pain a dancer deals with, the emotional rejection so many experience when proving not good enough.  The physical and mental exhaustion, what they give up at such a young age to pursue this career path.  For me, this part of the process seemed glossed over.

I wonder if the original intent had been for more episodes but Covid cut them short?  I would love to see them do another season if ever it becomes possible.  But this virus is a beast and not going away anytime soon.  

I feel for the dancers who are or may age out of their window of opportunity due to Covid.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

2 hours ago, go4luca said:

I wonder if the original intent had been for more episodes but Covid cut them short?  I would love to see them do another season if ever it becomes possible.  But this virus is a beast and not going away anytime soon.  

I feel for the dancers who are or may age out of their window of opportunity due to Covid.

I'm guessing that they intended to do at least one full episode about the spring showcase and the older students, but they weren't able to do that. Even so, I wish they had used some of the footage from earlier in the season to show us more of the older students. The younger kids got so much more screen time. I was totally fine with following several of the younger students, but I wanted the same attention given to the older students.

I feel bad for all of the students (ballet and otherwise) who had to miss things this year, from proms and graduations to NCAA finals and Nutcracker performances. For many of them, this was supposed to be their final year to do XYZ and those things had to be cancelled (and with good reason - obviously we need everyone to stay safe) so I can't imagine how disappointed they must be knowing that next year they will be too tall or too old for the Nutcracker.

10 hours ago, pasdetrois said:

Speaking of Balanchine, I'm reading Mark Morris' autobiography, and he has a few words about how the Balanchine ideal prevented so many talented women from having a dance career. Morris uses dancers with normalized bodies and there's very little pointe work in his choreography. I had to laugh when he wrote that one of his dancers was huge, and her photos show a slender woman with some height and average breasts.

Ah, yes, the completely different body standard for dancers - kind of like the one for DCC where in the real world, these are very thin women but in the dance world they're considered HUGE because anyone who weighs over 100 pounds is gigantic. I did like that one of the boys brought this up in their nutrition class and said that female ballet dancers are expected to be really tiny but that it's not healthy because they need to be strong in order to dance. Now if only we could get company directors to agree with him!

18 hours ago, meatball77 said:

I think they allowed this to try and rehab their image after the sexual harassment mess.  They're following the few dancers of color (and dancers on scholarship) that they have in the school and it's a very smiling happy documentary. 

The SAB and Balanchine worship is a real thing in the ballet world, dancers who attend their school talk about the school like it's the only thing in the world and talking about Balanchine (who was a really shit person) in godlike terms.  Those adorable nine year olds in class, there might be one that makes it to the top level, half of them will be gone by the time they get to be twelve year olds.  They bring in talented kids from around the country and that's the majority of their classes, casting (and even staying in the program) is based a lot on whose parents donate the most money.

I agree that trying to present a good image after all the scandal was a large motivation for SAB/NYCB. Although I'm glad the new director is making an effort to recruit kids who aren't rich white Upper East Siders, they need to make a huge effort to retain those dancers as they get older and dancing becomes REALLY expensive. Most of the NYCB soloists and principals come from SAB which means that if they want the actual company to be more diverse (not just the children's division), they can't just shrug when the non-white dancers fall by the wayside due to the rising costs of training as they get older. There are currently 54 corps members at NYCB. Several of them are POC, but how many of them will ever get promoted out of the corps?

But I think another important aspect is changing the standards and ideals of what dancers should look like. If you think that a ballerina needs to have a very thin and willowy body type, you are really excluding a lot of non-white dancers which is why they don't make it past the corps (or even into the corps). Misty Copeland has shown that you can have boobs and an ass and still be a ballet dancer (another example of someone who is considered HUGE by dance standards but is still thin by real world standards).

[Maelstrom]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this show, ElectricBoogaloo - if Disney ever loosens their claws and gives non-subscribers access I will definitely be checking it out.

[meatball77]

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I agree that trying to present a good image after all the scandal was a large motivation for SAB/NYCB. Although I'm glad the new director is making an effort to recruit kids who aren't rich white Upper East Siders, they need to make a huge effort to retain those dancers as they get older and dancing becomes REALLY expensive. Most of the NYCB soloists and principals come from SAB which means that if they want the actual company to be more diverse (not just the children's division), they can't just shrug when the non-white dancers fall by the wayside due to the rising costs of training as they get older. There are currently 54 corps members at NYCB. Several of them are POC, but how many of them will ever get promoted out of the corps?

But I think another important aspect is changing the standards and ideals of what dancers should look like. If you think that a ballerina needs to have a very thin and willowy body type, you are really excluding a lot of non-white dancers which is why they don't make it past the corps (or even into the corps). Misty Copeland has shown that you can have boobs and an ass and still be a ballet dancer (another example of someone who is considered HUGE by dance standards but is still thin by real world standards).

From what I've heard (discussions at SI auditions with a parent with a student at the Dance Theater of Harlem) SAB has a lot of money to increase diversity and scholarship black dancers, so much that they have problems finding teens at the talent level to study there because the training just isn't as good as at other programs (SAB offers their advanced students 15 hours a week of training while other boarding and full time programs offer 30-35 and more performance opportunities) and because while they're scholarshiping kids into the school they're not hiring them and the only reason to go to SAB is to get into NYCB (more hours and more individual training at other schools) unless you are fully scholarshiped, if you are a ballenchine lover you can go to Miami City or PNB and ABT has great programs if you want to be in NYC (although they don't offer housing).   

For their summer program they offer not only full tuition scholarships but scholarships that include tuition, room and board and transportation.  If you are a dancer that they want for their company and you don't have the money I suspect they would pay for everything including shoes and dancewear (although realistically that's only going to happen with boys, and you would need to get to the level where SAB notices you).

The top levels aren't full of upper east side kids, they don't have many locals at all.  They're the cream of the crop pulled from other schools around the country.  They aren't offering the training or individual attention that other schools are offering and it's just percentages, the chances that the random kid they picked out at nine being one of the best dancers in the country at 16 is small (although they do need to pay the bills so they're happy to keep wealthy kids in the program whose parents are big donors).

As for body size, it's pretty sad, if you look at what ballet dancers looked like earlier in the 20th century, they looked like your typical woman, and Ballenchine was the one who started the change.  Things are getting a bit better now but mostly just for dancers who are super talented because directors still are looking for that corps full of identical bodies.  The competition circuit for young ballet dancers is worse because it's run by Russians and they judge based on body as much or more than talent and they love tiny.  My daughter knows that she's not thin enough to be noticed at most ballet comps because she (god forbid) has muscle definition.  She doesn't have fat on her body but she builds muscle so the Russians don't like her (she's not perfection and wouldn't expect to do as well as someone in a full time program but it's frustrating when she places behind someone who is there because she's got tiny spider limbs).  The ballet world is toxic in many ways though, the weight issue is just scraping the surface.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Directors Guild of America nomination!

Children’s Programs
Kabir Akhtar - High School Musical: The Musical – The Series, “Opening Night” (Disney+)
Larissa Bills - On Pointe, “Showtime!”(Disney+)
Dean Israelite - The Astronauts, “Countdown” (Nickelodeon)
Richie Keen - The Healing Powers of Dude, “Second Step: Homeroom” (Netflix)
Amy Schatz - We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest (HBO)

[TrixieTrue]

Recently rewatched this with my mom, who used to dance. She really enjoyed it. Her one complain was that the students kept calling it Balanchine technique, when it's really more of a specific style within the classical technique. She also thought it was both sad and interesting that the direct connections to Balanchine were fading. I think Kay Mazzo was the only teacher there (or the only one featured on the program) who worked with him directly. 

Zoe and Ruby are both still in the corps with NYCB. Dominika is listed as an apprentice, but her (private) instagram says she's in the corps, so she may have been promoted. I can't tell if Sam is dancing. Taela is still at SAB, was featured in the spring showcase and has a leg-warmer line. 

[CeeBeeGee]

I really enjoyed this but as someone upthread said, it isn't exactly a warts and all look at the SAB--and yes, it does feel like a piece of image management after the scandals. (Which, BTW, has made me rethink exactly where I'm going to spend my ballet dollars. I like the traditional ballets but the abstract Balanchine stuff--Jewels, etc.--bores me to pieces and I am pissed at how they handled the Waterbury case.)

 

On 12/19/2020 at 10:14 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

OMG seeing all those kids backstage made feel simultaneously nostalgic and SO GLAD that I'm not a dance/theater mom! But it was really fun to see them playing Uno, complaining about all the hairspray, etc. I thought it was hilarious that Brandon was spraying the crap out of his short straight hair while the girls who had perfect sausage curls were just sitting around not worrying about their hair at all (with their skirts hanging over the backs of their chairs to prevent wrinkles, of course).

One thing I really enjoyed about this series was hearing all of the company members talk about much they loved having the kids in the show because they remembered how much they loved being in the Nutcracker when they were younger.

I'm glad there's a green room for the parents. I hope some of the families who can't afford to buy tickets were able to take advantage of that. It was also really sweet to see that Kai's grandparents had flown in to see him perform in the show. His instantaneous costume change while onstage was pretty impressive. I loved Sophia high fiving one of the snowflakes when she came offstage during the first act.

I totally cracked up when we could see some of the company members dancing to the hoop dance in the wings. I loved seeing the kids downstairs dancing along in front of the tv monitor too.

I loved seeing the kids in the green room also doing the choreography in front of the monitor.

 

On 12/19/2020 at 4:52 PM, go4luca said:

I wonder if the original intent had been for more episodes but Covid cut them short?  I would love to see them do another season if ever it becomes possible.  But this virus is a beast and not going away anytime soon.  

I feel for the dancers who are or may age out of their window of opportunity due to Covid.

I kept thinking that during the last episode--that in just a few months their world is about to come to a shuddering halt.

 

On 12/20/2020 at 1:10 AM, meatball77 said:

As for body size, it's pretty sad, if you look at what ballet dancers looked like earlier in the 20th century, they looked like your typical woman, and Ballenchine was the one who started the change.  

I was railing about that on the phone, how they kept praising Balanchine who doomed generations of women dancers to eating disorders and worse. Pavlova and Kschessinska had perfectly normal figures.