Aran Bell is an 11 year old student. His dad is in the navy so his family is constantly moving, but with each move comes a new teacher and new techniques. Sometimes he is able to find something close to where he lives, other times he has a 2 hour long commute just for his dance lessons. The teachers love him and praise his ability. One teacher remarked that you get lucky if you have a pupil like Aran Bell just once in your career.
Aran is friends (maybe even boyfriend -- ahh puppy love) with Israeli dancer Gaya Bommer Yemini. She first became serious about ballet when she saw Aran dancing. The two were drawn to each other and have since become great friends. Gaya's mom does choreography and admits to the director that Gaya changes when she dances. She becomes extremely focus and adult like and takes her dancing very seriously.
Miko Fogarty is 12 years old and competing in the 12-14 age bracket of the competition. She doesn't remember ever hearing about a 12 year old winning the competition but is excited not only to see other dancers but how she compares to them. Unlike her brother, who also is training for the competition, she truly loves ballet but has some problems with her flexibility (mainly her feet). Her mother is a typical stage mom and makes sure she has the best choreographers, teachers, coaches, and wardrobes. She also puts them on a strict diet to make sure that they don't gain wait, which causes people at her school to think she is anorexic.
Micheala DePrince is a 14 year old who moved to Philadelphia once she was adopted. She is originally from Sierra Leone and was born at the middle of their civil war. Her parents were killed and she was put in an orphanage. At first no one wanted to adopt her because of her skin pigmentation but she finally found a family in Philadelphia. When she discovered her love of dance, the first question she asked her mother was if you could see her spots. When she found out you couldn't she said that was perfect and has since been pursuing her dream to become a professional ballerina.
Joan Sebastian Zamora, 16, moved away from his family in Colombia to study dance in New York City. His family is extremely supportive of him, even though he lives so far away, and are proud that he used his ability to dance to stay off the streets off Colombia. Joan's dream is to pave the way for other Colombian dancers to join prestigious companies.
Rebecca Houseknect is the oldest of the group at 17. She is just your typical high schooler. She has friends, even a boyfriend, goes to class, drives a car, eats junk food, she was even a cheerleader. But with graduation coming up, it's time for her to figure out what to do with her life. She decides that she wants to be a professional dancer and is competing in the competition in hopes to get a job offer with a company.
Through the interweaving of their stories, they talk about the typical ballet struggles. Working through injuries, being teased, diets, etc. But it's the inner look at their lives and disproving of stereotypes (or in some cases being a perfect example) is what is interesting. The movie has beautiful shots within it (which isn't always hard when working with something as graceful as ballet) and at times I feel like the dance scenes might have been shot at a different frame rate or shutter speed to give it a cleaner image and capture all the movement (but that just may be my imagination). But otherwise is a pretty typical story of struggling dancers. You have your favorites and you hope to see them do well, because after watching and learning more about their lives, you feel as if you know them on a more personal level as well.
Rating: ****
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